ABCmouse.com

So many of us have watched the Spout channel and have seen the commercials for ABCmouse.com and have heard tales that someones 2 year old was reading, writing, ect. I brushed it off even though time and again my 4 year old has asked to go to ABCmouse like the tv says, he also thinks we NEED everything in the comercials including coolers and lunch pails. But for some reason today I listened, and I signed up. Warning, it is NOT free. It is a monthly subscription for 7.95 but the first month is free, so we are testing it out to see if it's worth it. I LOVE the way it is set up, it even has a mouse tutorial for kids (like mine) that have never touched a computer. I love that they have 3 ways to learn, a step by step program (more on this soon) a free for all where the kids get to pick what they do and when, and a parent guided lesson plan where the parent takes control of what they learn when. All of these are available at all times so you can't miss out on anything.

Step by Step:

Sam LOVES this. There is a map with stepping stones, each step has 4-6 lessons in it, when all of the lessons are completed the child earns a prize.

This step by step goes from toddler to age six and this is the second map of the preschool 3+ level. San is having fun and interacting in a way I haven't seen him do before. Even watching things like Super Why on PBS and other interactive shows on Sprout. He has fun listening to the stories and trying to sing along to the songs, putting puzzles together and painting by numbers.

Free for all:

this allows the child to decide what they want to do instead of following the lessons plas set either by parent or program. When Sam got bored of following the pathway he did this.

Evenutally he clicked on the little Avatar of himself and found this page:

and if you can see there is a way to change the way he looks (kids earn tickets for lessons and games completed and the prizes they earn in the step by step can be clothes as well as other relavent things on this page) here he can change his clothes with prizes he earned or things he bought with tickets earned. The next is "My Room" also something that can be customized by your child with prizes and things purchased with tickets they earn. "My Aquarium" is just that, a virtual fish tank where they feed and care for virtual fish, and there are learning games attached, and last but not least here (at least in this section) is "My Hamster"

Meet Boulder, hes the cute little guy in the bubble near the middle. This is Sam's virtual hamster, he used all his tickets today to build this habitat for him, everything that isn't pink (6 of the pieces) and the bottom cage, were things he bought today, we worked together to put it together, though he did quite a bit himself. When he ran out of tickets to buy things for Boulder he went back to his lessons to earn more. I'm confident in saying this is Sam's favorite part of the program. I have a feeling that we may end up keeping the subscription.

Sam playing today.