Brandi's Kaplan Experience

Two months ago, I signed up to test out an online tutoring program through Kaplan.  I signed Brandi up for it, knowing that she didn't exactly need tutoring.  She needed to be challenged, and through Kaplan, she was.

Here is a screen shot of her progress with the program:

You can see that she started the program with 44% of 3rd grade reading skills mastered, and she finished at the same percentage.  This had a lot to do with her liking the math better, and pretty much ignoring the reading.  She started the math at 22% mastered, and ended at 43% mastered.  She even started working on some 4th grade math skills, which I am sure she will master if we decide to continue the program.  There were several times I found her sitting at the computer with a pen and paper, taking notes as she did her math.  she was so proud of herself when one day at school, in her advanced class, the teacher started talking about fractions, and she already knew all about them thanks to Kaplan.

As the kids work on their skills, they rack up points that they can spend in the reward zone.  Brandi chose a room to decorate with her points, and so far, this is what it looks like:

 

She  still has several hundred points to spend, but she prefers to do the work instead of playing in the reward zone.  Weird, I know.  She loves to learn.  I love her for that.  

All in all, I am very impressed with the program.  Once I showed her how to log in, she was able to do it herself.  I would recommend this program for all kids; the ones who do well in school and the ones who are struggling.  The program can tell when a child is struggling with something, so they focus on that skill until the child masters it.  Or if a kid like Brandi uses it, the program challenges her, and lets her learn at her own pace, which is just a little faster than what she's doing in school.  

If you would like a free one month trial for your child, simply go here, select "buy program now", and use the coupon code FB1MO on the account setup page.  You can find out more information here.  You can also find Kaplan on Facebook.  For every page of theirs that you "like", and there are several, they will donate one dollar to the Make-A-Wish foundation, up to $50,000.  You can find out more information about that here.

Let me conclude by saying that I think Brandi had an awesome experience with Kaplan.  She learned a lot, and enjoyed it.  I believe that when a child enjoys what they are doing, even if it is leaning, they will want to do it more.  Kaplan makes learning fun.  I think Brandi is going to be begging us to continue her membership. 

And we just might.

I wrote this review while participating in a Test Drive Program by Mom Central on behalf of Kaplan and received the products necessary to  facilitate my review. In addition, I received a gift certificate to thank me  for taking the time to participate.

Kaplan's Online Learning Program

A few weeks ago, I was thrilled to learn that Brandi and I were going to be participating in a free trial of Kaplan's Online Learning Program, thanks to Mom Central.  When I first heard about this program, I knew that Brandi would benefit from it.  She is a super smart little girl, who is in three different advanced classes in school.  One is for reading, where she is reading a 5th grade book (she is in third grade), one is for math, and the last is a gifted/talented program that meets once a week to challenge the kids who participate.  With all of this going on with her, she still gets bored with her school work. 

Kaplan is geared towards helping kids develop the skills they are having issues with.  From what I understand of the program, if Brandi struggles with a certain skill, the program will help her understand it by spending time on it.  If Brandi excels at a skill, the program will challenge her.  She started the program by taking the assessment tests (one in math and one in reading) on October 14, and has since moved on to the program itself.  Here is a glimpse of one of the stories she is reading:

Brandi also loves doing math.  She struggled a little on some of the initial assessment questions, but I just checked her progress and she is already doing some 4th grade skills.  Not bad for my little smarty pants.

We are going to be using this program for eight weeks, and I am excited to see where she ends up.  I will be sharing the results with all of you, of course.  I mean, it's a parents right to brag about how awesome her kids are, right?

"I wrote this review while participating in a Test Drive Program by Mom Central on behalf of Kaplan and received the products necessary to  facilitate my review. In addition, I received a gift certificate to thank me  for taking the time to participate."

Kids And Music

My little nephew goes to daycare every day. I was always so against my kids being put in day care, because I didn't think they would be well taken care of. I can see now how narrow minded I was. My nephew is learning so much, and he is not even three years old. He has learned all his colors and letters, and he sings the cutest little songs. I love to listen to him sing and watch how his face lights up and he becomes so animated. My sister should look into putting him in a child music class because he loves to sing so much.

Kids learn through everything they do, and music and dancing can teach them so much. They can learn body control and language skills, and have fun in the process. There are kindermusik songs about counting and numbers, and others about letters and the five senses. I wish I knew about children music programs when my kids were little. They could have benefited so much from it. My nephew is so far ahead of where my kids were at the same age, and I truly believe it is because of the things he has learned in daycare.