MaxScholar Reading Program- Schoolhouse Crew Review and fun!

MaxScholar is a comprehensive reading program geared to teach valuable reading skills as well as reading comprehension.  This adaptive program is good for beginning readers as well as those struggling to read or those that need just a little more practice or encouragement.  A good mixture of skill teaching and games encourages kids to practice and excel.  MaxScholar can be used on your computer at home or various mobile devices making it easily portable for parents and kids on the go!

See, school in a hotel!

We have been using MaxScholar Reading Intervention Program for a while now, with it's one year access, and you won't believe all that it entails!  By using MaxGuru, you have access to the following-

MaxPhonics- This part uses a multi-sensory approach to teach phonics.  It is geared for ages 5-7, but again, is also good for anyone who needs help with basic reading and phonic skills.  Here you can work on letter sounds as well as blends and even work on your handwriting.  Videos demonstrate correct pronunciation, perfect for auditory learners.  Fun games are included to help reinforce what your child is learning.

MaxReading- This section concentrates on, you guessed it, reading!  It contains 13 levels to work in, Questions after each chapter test on comprehension.  Your child can use a highlighter to mark passages and will learn to summarize and outline. Placement tests will help put your child where they need to be, but you can ask the company to adjust that placement if you feel the need to.

MaxWords- Here your child can practice their vocabulary skills.  Latin and Greek roots are taught, as well as prefixes, suffixes and spelling rules.  16,000 words are taught in all!

MaxMusic- By using piano and guitar skills and well known songs, kids can practice their reading while playing a tune and filling in lyrics to songs, all while improving their memory skills.

MaxVocab- Think of this area as an overgrown dictionary.  It teaches thousands of vocabulary words by interactive games like hangman.

MaxPlaces- Children can learn about 51 places in the world with just a click of the mouse.  Once you choose a location, you read about that place and then test your reading skills by answering a series of questions.

MaxBios- This area teaches about people from the past and the present in a timeline format, while kids practice their reading and organizing skills.

Our experience-
Because there is just so much content and it would take forever to tell you about it all, I want to concentrate on the two areas that Colby, age 8, enjoyed the most- MaxMusic and MaxVocab.

The MaxMusic part does not surprise me.  Like his older siblings. this boy loves music.  While he has not learned to play the piano yet, he hears it a lot with his two older sisters still in the house.  He doesn't get a lot of keyboard time, so Colby was thrilled to be able to play on MaxMusic.  He was even more excited when he found the guitar games!  His favorite part was the game in which you hear a few notes played and then you repeat it on the keyboard.  You continue to do so measure by measure until the song is complete and then it plays the song in whole back to you.  What a great way for him to practice not only his memorization but patience a well.   Another part of this area in which you choose a song and artist and then do several different activities with that song, includes filling in missing words (while practicing what various parts of speech are) and clicking on certain parts of speech in the entire song.  Kind of a grammar lesson but in a fun format.

The activity that did surprise me that Colby enjoyed was MaxVocab.  While he dd not want to engage in the dictionary part of the lesson, he loves playing the hangman game that gave you a clue of a word and then you guess the word they were looking for.  Sounds pretty basic, but it stumped me quite a few times.  Even though Colby got frustrated with this several times, he went back to it first thing when he logged in.  Go figure, the boys likes solving problems.  I liked that it made him think and helped with his spelling skills as well.

Since Colby is a strong reader, the reading specific portions of MaxScholar did not pull him as easily, but with our summer school schedule starting soon, I intend on having him access at least one additional section each day before he is allowed to play with MaxMusic or MaxVocb.  Hey, a mom has to do what  mom has to do, right!

If you have a child that is just beginning to learn to read or needs a little help in doing so, I believe that MaxScholar is a great program to get you started on a positive note.  It's multi-sensory approach to reading will capture all learning styles and help your child succeed!