Product Review: Essential Skills Advantage

I had the wonderful opportunity to review an online education program called Essential Skills Advantage.  They are an online language arts e-learning group of teachers who have done a lot of research before turning out a great option for learning online!  I believe this would be a great program for homeschoolers, as well as for parents who are looking for a little extra help for their kids.  While tutoring is fantastic, it isn't always a reasonable option for busy families.  This e-learning opportunity would give you similar results for less money and at your convenience. So, what is available on this site?  It offers a lot for the price!  When you log on, here are the options you will see:

 As you can see, the first 4 also include activity guides.  These are helpful for parents to track what their students will be working on.  They give the unit, activity, instructions (which include the questions your child will see), and the skills addressed.  Here is an example of one of the many reading passages for third grade.

The kids get options as well!  In fact, this is just one of the three pages of "games" the kids could play under 3rd grade Reading Comprehension.  And, this is only Group A.  These go all the way to Group E (plus extras like using a dictionary, features of writing, and illustrations in books), so there are plenty of options for your kids!  

For the younger grades, the skills are sub-categorized even more.  Here is an example of the choices under 1st grade spelling.  In some of the activities, students will hear the word and be asked to type in the sounds so it also helps students with keyboarding skills.  Other activities require the student to use a mouse, another important computer skill.  I will say that there is a butterfly, trees, and "outside" theme.  During the activities, there is a sound (crickets, bugs, etc.) that could distract your student at first, but I found that it didn't bother my kids at all (and my son is autistic and typically easily distracted).  On some of the activities, you could simply mute the computer, but in others, they have to hear the words, so I just wanted to put that warning out if you know your child is easily distracted by noises.  

After they complete their activity, they get rewarded by a cute dancing dog telling them how well they did (and how quickly, if appropriate).

I'm sure by now you are wondering what it costs.  The price is only $9.99 per month, per student.  There is not much out there that I have found that can be this extensive for this price.  But, I have been able to get a discount for you to make it even better!  Use the coupon code TM50to get a 50% discount!!  That is under $5 per month, per child, for as long as you stay with the program!  Fantastic deal!  They also offer a 14 day FREE trial, so you can have the opportunity to try it for your family before having to purchase it to see if it is a good fit. You can click here to visit their website and check it out yourself.   

If you decide to join, let me know what you think!  I have found it to be fun and engaging!  I can't wait to hear what you think.

Until next time,