I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions I have expressed are my own or those of my family. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations.
I know I have shared some of these programs with you, but I have one more to share that has made a HUGE difference in the last 6 weeks for Miss Grace: MaxScholar and their Reading Intervention Programs!
Why is THIS one different, and how did it help so much?
Like the first reading intervention prgram we ever used, it is specifically created to help students who have Dyslexia, learning disabilities, ADHD, processing problems, or who are struggling to learn to read. But the difference lies in how ADAPTIVE it is! Their program features different components, butall are based on traditional Orton-Gillingham methods, the Lindamood-Bell Process©, and other positive reading comprehension strategies. They DON'T just focus on phnics, but at the ENTIRE picture, something that these kids NEED. By giving kids systematic, explicit, and multi sensory applications, they learn the way THEY learn. let me shw just how much is included:
As you can see, you get 3 main programs, and then 4 sub categories. As your child starts each of the main 3, they will be prompted to take a test, so that the system can best determine what LEVEL they are truly at, and start them at a comfortable level, so that they can gain confidence, before moving them up.
With Miss Grace's test, the program opted to start her at Level 3, so she would be a confident reader. She quickly progressed to Level 4 after realizing, she hadn't completed the test properly (not paid attention to instructions) and the reading was too easy! As you can see, students are given topics that aren't boring, and that do appeal TOO them. Your child uses the electronic highlighters to identify important parts of the text, based on the instructions. Admittedly it took Miss Grace 2 tries to get a better understanding of how to use the highlighter correctly, but she VOLUNTARILY (!!) went back and redid those tests, to make sure she had a correct score! As your child highlights vocabulary words, they get to see them in context, which is SO important to these types of learner- they HAVE to see the big picture! I was actually very surprised how she opted to NOT use the 'read along' feature, but to work words out herself! After the highlghting portion, your child will get comprehension questions after every chapter.
If there is one thing I have learned after 2 years of homeschooling, is that all curriculum do NOT fit all kids. Even 1 child can learn DIFFERENTLY in different subjects, for example Miss Grace is a visual/auditory science learner, but more of a traditional math learner. But when it came to phonics and reading? She is ALL over the place. Some aspects she does betetr with hands on, others she can't stand that. So trying to get her reading caught up has been CHAOS. But online reading intervention programs can be the KEY for parents at home.
As you can see, you get 3 main programs, and then 4 sub categories. As your child starts each of the main 3, they will be prompted to take a test, so that the system can best determine what LEVEL they are truly at, and start them at a comfortable level, so that they can gain confidence, before moving them up.
Miss Grace started with MaxPhonics, and she and I were actually VERY surprised to see her test out at 98%! HUH. Who knew the past year's work had made SUCH a HUGE difference! This section has kids work on either individual letters, blends or digraphs, at one time, so they don't get confused. They also get to practice 'crossing the brain' memory involvement by practicing handwriting of those sounds, so they can go into long term memory. There are also fun games, like matching, to help with that.
Miss Grace said the included videos (which demonstrate the correct pronunciation of letters, blends and digraphs) were the most helpful she had seen too! She worked on the remaining blends she was having issues with and declared this section great for older kids too. Sometimes online reading intervention programs are aimed at such an younger age, that the phonics section can drivign older students bonkers because it's too 'babyish', but not this one, becuase it knows how old she is and gives her appropriate games!
The next program is MaxReading. This is a really UNIQUE multi-sensory program for teaching struggling reader, like your child, reading comprehension strategies, to help them come up to grade level in their reading skills. It features 13 levels of difficulty, and each of those features several multi-chapter bookseach, so your child isn't finished with that part of the program in a few weeks, but rather they have time to learn and GROW!
Then the student can outline and summarize each chapter after reading it, or they can go ahead and looked at their test scores. While we don't do grades right now, having this instant feedback, really helped to build her confidence, and is she made a B, she went back and looked at the reading, and then retook the test, to see WHERE she has messed up. SCORE! I REALLY saw the difference when she took her Iowa test after using the program. Her reading level bounced up to 5th grade! WOO HOO. I was really stunned, but she told me that the program helped her to understand where the main ideas WHERE and how to see them apart from the other sentences (FYI, wait til you see how she handled an older student writing program in tomorrow's post, because of THIS program!).
MaxWords is the third program, and the one she actually didn't have much interest in, but that was my fault sorta. You see I have been working a side way of teaching her spelling, by working with roots, prefixes and suffixes every week. So when she started this program she groaned, saying "Mom, it's reviewing everything you JUST taught me this year!". My bad. LOL.
Did you know that learning those types of word parts actually builds vocabulary, improves spelling and improves reading of multisyllabic words? Yup, I had learned that, so had changed my approach this past year. MaxScholar uses that same approach with this program and teaches vocabulary words via prefixes, suffixes, Greek & Latin roots, syllabification and spelling rules. By using MaxWords, MaxScholar says your child will increase their vocabulary by 16,000 words! WOW, that is way more than I had planned! I had her go through a couple of the sections anyways, and by the 3rd 'game' on Latin words, she was hooked, and declared them much more fun than the ones I had given her. LOL. And best yet, she's ready to keep working on the program for the new school year. SNEAKY way to get that added vocabulary in there! AND when did that part of the IOWA test, her score went way up as well, as she DECIPHERED words she didn't know! Woo Hoo!
With just those 3 programs she has made a HUGE turn around, and actually WANTED to do a Summer reading program at the local book store, and picked out 5 AGE appropriate books! This was HUGE, as she has always tried to grab 'easy' books. But instead, she wanted to push herself to read on level! Did you hear my scream of joy?
MaxMusic- your child can work on matching sounds, play the piano, or using lyrics by their favorite artists to find different parts of speech! I allowed Miss Grace to access ONLY 8 of their songs. Sorry, but even though MaxScholar may have approved of the lyrics, they are NOT songs or ARTISTS that my child is allowed to listen to, so she is NOT going to be working on their lyrics. While I understand they want a broad approach, I wish parents were able to select different songs to be ON their child's list here. She also found difficulty in that she has been doing grammar on a 6th and 7th grade level, and was adding helping verbs or verb phrases as verbs, but of course those didn't count, so she ended up getting frustrated with this category VERY quickly. She did enjoy the play the paino section, but again, wasn't thrilled with the song choices,a dn songs she wanted piano for, didn't have it.
MaxVocabulary- where there is a dictionary of the words your child has learned, and fun games, like hangman and definitions. Miss Grace is not a greta speller, so she has NEVER liked Hangman, and even though she would get the definitions right, the site wouldn't ackowledge her moves, and she quickly became aggravated with this section, and used it only for the dictionary.
MaxPlaces- after getting over the disappointment that Ireland and New Orleans were NOT included, she clicked on over to Austin and was able to read about the city, highlight anything she wanted to and then answer questions about what she had read. As a aprent, I lvoe that geography and more reading comprehension are included. She'll probably revisited this one, as we move on durign the start of the new school year.
MaxBios- as you can see, your child can read about different people and again answer reading comprehension questions. Again, I understand about wanting 'realtable' people, but the teacher part of me wished there was less hip hop and models and more of people who made a difference in history, and not just the 'oh we know them' variety. I wish there would have been more Jazz artists for example, and snippets of their music, to make the bios more INTERESTING. Miss Grace found them very one dimensional. She wanted photos and music. But it is a reading program at heart, so while I understand the reasoning, she probably wont's use that category any more.
As you can see, the program as a whole can REALLY help your struggling reader/speller. By seeing words in context, and learning to break them down to understand them, and via reptition, your child's long term memory CAN retain the words and they can increase their remembered vocabulary and spelling! This MaxScholar set of Reading Intervention Programs really does what it says it can, especially for older kids, who don't want babyish programs, and we highly recommend it!
Be sure to click on the photo below and check out what our fellow reviewers thought about the program as well!
Be sure to follow MaxScholar on their social media sites, Twitter and Facebook, too for info on their Summer Pricing Special, educational information and even info on a FREE trial of their program!
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