LEARNING TO READ CAN BE FUN!

I have to be honest with you - two out of my three kids really struggled whilst the third just got the hang of it without any issues. This, by the way, never ever worried me because I knew that eventually they would learn how to read and the last thing I wanted to do was to make it into something frustrating for them, but at the same time I didn't really know how to help and motivate them to give it a try despite the difficulties.  My eldest is six years old and every single night since I can remember we have been reading books together. It's one of those things I actually don't remember doing with my own parents so I sort of made it a little bit of a mission to read with my own children, even on those nights when all I want them to do is to go to bed already. 

I think reading develops kids imagination in a way that nothing else does and also gives them such a sense of independence and confidence, so when my now six year old told me a few months ago she was struggling and felt stupid because she is a slow reader, it really broke my heart.

I made it another mission of mine to do extra reading with her. I knew she could do it, she just needed a little bit more help. A few months have passed and she is doing so much better but it does take a lot of work and encouragement which sometimes can be really tough. 

Recently I discovered Reading Eggs and I delighted to have partnered up with them because I think this can really help my children improve their reading skills and enjoy it more.

In a nutshell, the Reading Eggs programme teaches kids the basic skills they need to be able to start reading in the most fun and interactive way. The programme, which is basically a collection of structured reading lessons for kids aged 2-13 called maps, which are packed with challenges and rewards that keep them motivated and eager to do more. Each section has a massive variety of options, from recognizing letters and sounds, to vocabulary and finding the sentence that matches the image and even reading whole books.

The website is super user-friendly and the first thing you are asked to do is sign in your child and their year of birth. They then have the option to start on the very first lesson, or do the short placement test, which matches them to the perfect level for their ability.  

When my kids tried it out I noticed they really enjoyed the colorful animated characters. They also loved the songs and the games. But mostly they liked the fact, that they could earn golden eggs as rewards for the progress they made which they could then use to buy fun reward games and items for their personalised avatar or house. They were also excited about the certificate at the end of each map, which can be printed. 

After ten lessons, the children complete a quiz which allows parents to see their progress and they can repeat any lesson again as many times as they like.

Finally, and this went down really well with my eldest, they have a library with over 2,500 books in it, which she thought was simply amazing. The books are in categories like mystery, funny, drama etc and you can find books according to the age they are for by using the menu.

I am excited to see how this helps my children improve their reading skills and hope this can help your kids too.

They are currently offering a limited-time four week FREE trial and you can add up to four children. Here is the link to use for the free trial: www.readingeggs.com/tova

I will be live on Facebook on Wednesday January 24th at 9 pm UK time/ 4:00 EST to tell you more about this and demonstrate how it works so be sure to tune in.