All You Need to Know About Reading Kingdom {Review}

Reading is one of the most necessary skills for success.  Reading Kingdom claims “Children as young as four who have not yet learned to identify letters or use a mouse and keyboard can learn to read using this program.”  I was intrigued by Dr. Blank’s “Phonics-PLUS” system that uses six different approaches to teaching reading–Sequencing, Writing, Sounds, Meaning, Grammar, and Comprehension–instead of relying solely on Phonics.

Children who become fluent readers are typically more successful in and out of school.  All four of my oldest children were reading fluently by age 5, some even younger.  Enter Miss Olivia.  This child marches to the beat of her own drum.  I have tried, unsuccessfully so far, to teach her to read.  Granted, she only turned five at the end of December, but still, she has struggled with letter sounds and recognition.

I typically eschew the use of site words, preferring to rely heavily upon phonics and spelling rules when teaching reading.  But I was curious to see the difference in their program and if it would be a good fit for Olivia.

How to Begin with Reading Kingdom

After setting up your child’s profile, the first thing your child will do is take a placement test.  Reading Kingdom stresses there should be no parental involvement, since future lessons are based on performance.  This is easier said than done.

While Olivia is familiar with using a mouse, she has not used a keyboard.  It was like watching the sloth in the DMV from Zootopia as she attempted to navigate her way around.  They do give the option of using a physical or virtual keyboard.  We tried both.  She was equally talented, so we just went with whatever she was more comfortable with. In the beginning, that was the virtual keyboard, but as she progressed, she moved to the physical. 

Reading Kingdom does have a “Letter Land” that helps a child become more comfortable with a keyboard.  For us, navigating the keyboard was one of the most frustrating aspects of the program.  I had to increase the time allotted to answer because it would take her so long to find the letter that it would mark it wrong. Definitely have your child spend time in Letter Land if they are not familiar with a keyboard before starting the program.  I was glad I had the option to increase the time allowed for each answer.

All About Reading Kingdom Lessons

Each Reading Kingdom lesson took between 15-20 minutes to complete.  Each lesson introduces one word (more words are introduced in later levels) and the child spends time playing games that help them to learn that word.  In Level 1, which Olivia tested into, the games are Seeing Sequences, Savvy Sounds, Find and Fill, and Pick the Picture.  Each one is designed to help with a different reading skill.

Children receive a performance rating for each lesson, so you can see whether or not they should re-do a lesson.

Olivia had one lesson she really struggled with and had to redo multiple times.  After about the third try, I received an email stating it appeared she was “having difficulty attending to or completing the work” and suggesting I sit with her to determine the problem.  I already knew she was having difficulty, but I appreciated the email to make sure I was aware of it.  This feature is beneficial if you have an older child working more independently.

My Overall Thoughts on Reading Kingdom

This program is different than any I have come across. I have not seen any of your typical decoding or phonics teaching, which I miss.

There are other aspects which I like, such as how it uses pictures to help convey the meaning of words like “some.”

I liked that corrections in the program were immediate.  If your child was to type the word ‘the’ and typed ‘te,’ it would immediately stop the child and say, “type this” and then show the word ‘the’ again and the correct order and then have them retry. For subjects, such as spelling, this is very useful.

Although sometimes her focus wavered, the games held Olivia’s attention.  At times I would ask her to read a word she had learned in the program outside of it and she would guess by listing off words she had learned. This made it hard for me to gauge how well she was applying what she learns outside of Reading Kingdom.

I would not say I am head-over-heels in love with this product, but I am not yet ready to write it off.  It does have benefits and a unique approach to reading.  Overcoming my own preferences for how I think reading ought to be taught has made it hard to truly embrace this program.

The full scope and philosophy of this program is too much to contain in a single review.  If you would like a more thorough explanation I would suggest checking out the website.  They also offer a reading program for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, called ASD Reading.

Other members of the Crew have reviewed this program.