I know, it seems it is a lifetime and a half away…but we all know how this goes. One day it’s Spring Break and the next the kids are OUT FOR SUMMER. Panic sets in about plans for camps and activities. Honestly, any type of entertainment and/or a time filler.
But, as moms, we also have an inner voice that wants to keep some of the focus of the school year. I have always felt reading was critical to success in life. I am even stronger in that conviction now that life is online. When our school system offered up this program last spring, I was thrilled. Hallelujah! The onus of HOW TO GET THE READING DONE was going to be handled by someone/something else. Here is your link to summertime reading heaven… https://www.georgiacenter.uga.edu/youth/reading-programs
UGA offers an age-appropriate, systematic approach to keep your kiddo entertained while also encouraging reading habits. Yes, it covers 4-year-olds up to rising seniors. My rising 7th grader’s version of the program included 2 workbooks – science and social studies – and a fictional book. The system contains a pre-built timeline to help your child space out the activities while not applying strict ‘due dates’. Each workbook was addressed one at a time. Each focused on reading retention, ability to pick out details, and tips for speed reading. The information within the workbooks was age appropriate for that particular topic. The fictional book included timed reading tests and quizzes about the content and themes. It even included some written responses (ok, ok, typed responses).
It is online, which is a positive since much of the schoolwork is moving in this direction. You and your child create an account with a login. He/she does the work. You get to review the work…and you can send questions to the support staff when you notice an area of struggle. (I believe the system will actually cue them to reach out to you if there is an area of struggle. Although, I was fortunate to not test that out.) So yes, there can be a human interaction as well! The layout was simple, clear, and easy to follow for both the user and the stalker, I mean, the status checker.
For us, this was an expected daily activity before the fun started, unless something else impinged on the schedule (aka – soccer camp). Little Man knew he was expected to do it. He also knew that Mama would find out if it wasn’t done. That meant minimal energy for reminding. The independence of managing the website and taking the appropriate quizzes at the appropriate times was also a good teaching tool.
I am not going to tell you he loved it. No 12-year-old truly loves anything that smacks of mental growth. However, he enjoyed trying to improve his reading speeds and said he really liked the workbooks. The fictional book was not his favorite, but it was tolerable. Oh, and final bonus, you get a paperback workbook of suggested books for your child based on how they do in the class AND based on genres. I can tell you right now, we found several new authors from that baby.
Our school system offered a discount code for this program. I encourage you to check with your school system for the same. However, I can vouch that it is worth the cost and this will be a repeater…starting in a few short months.
