Review of Reading Eggs

Reading Eggs is a really great way for kids to learn how to read. Several years ago, Michael and I reviewed Reading Eggs, but I haven't looked at it since. Well, there have been big changes over at Reading Eggs, so if you haven't looked at in awhile, now is the time to check it out again! For one thing, Reading Eggs has just added brand new Homeschool Program Guides! Designed for K-2 grades, these guides provide a 36-week overview and teaching plan for Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies. They are such a value add for Reading Eggs. They can be found under the Bonus Materials section of the program:

Although Michael is too old for Reading Eggs now (we got to review the Reading Eggspress portion of the program), I do want to tell you a little about it. Reading Eggs teaches children to read in 120 lessons broken into groups of ten. Spelling lessons and reading comprehension are part of the program, and a placement test is used to make sure your child starts in the right place. Of course, if you think your child has been placed in the wrong part of the program, you can adjust that placement. I'll remind you again at the end of the review, but if you have a child at the "learning to read" stage, definitely read the other reviews of Reading Eggs to find out much more about how it works.

What I can speak much more authoritatively about is Reading Eggspress, the part of Reading Eggs that Michael (12) used for this review. I'll be honest: when I told Michael that he would be reviewing this program, he was not excited. He told me that he knows how to read (obviously) and that he doesn't need to use a reading program. I told him that Reading Eggspress was much more about reading comprehension and inference and that it was for kids up to 13. He told me he understands what he reads just fine. I told him that was great - he would review it anyway.
I wish I could have recorded Michael's first half hour on Reading Eggspress. He mumbled and grumbled for the first 15 minutes or so as he took the placement test. I was watching over his shoulder. You can miss three questions before the program places you in your level. He complained that the questions that he got wrong were illegitimate and that he should have placed into a higher level, and then he started the program. I watched for a couple of minutes and then got back to my own work. After a few minutes, the grumbling stopped. After a few more minutes, I heard, "Oh, hey! Trading cards! I didn't know they had trading cards! Game changer! Wow! I got a rare one!" So it turns out that you get trading cards as rewards for reading chapters of books and taking quizzes (comprehension, etc.). 
It was all uphill from there, by which I mean Michael began to love Reading Eggspress more and more with every lesson, especially when he realized that he was rewarded with golden eggs with which he could buy things like pets. There are many components to Reading Eggspress. I can see what Michael has done in a snapshot:

It's very true that Michael reads far more advanced books than those found on Reading Eggspress, but it's also clear that his comprehension skills need some work.

I've seen a few times where he doesn't read the whole question before attempting to answer it, and that has hurt him. The arcade game style of Reading Eggspress draws him in, though, and encourages him to keep "playing."

This is what the front  page of the program looks like. Kids have all of these options to choose from. 

Because Michael is dysgraphic, spelling is particularly challenging for him. He has not minded spelling with Reading Eggspress at all, which is great. He can always use more practice.

In this graphic, Michael's avatar is standing in his apartment lobby. Here, he can customize his avatar and view his trading cards. He can also buy furniture, choose paint colors, etc. Since I took this screenshot, Michael has added a sparkly unicorn to an animal family that already included two blue dogs.

This is the library. Here you can read books for which you are rewarded with golden eggs, which can be traded for avatar and apartment accessories.

Here's what Michael has to say about Reading Eggspress in his own words: "I like the incentive to complete lessons to earn eggs and trading cards and such. It's always more fun when you have a goal to accomplish. I've learned to slow down when I'm reading the questions at the end of books so that I see the whole question before I answer it. I think this would be best for younger kids, maybe 2nd through 5th grades, but I'm definitely going to keep using it while we have the subscription because I like getting the golden eggs. A couple of times I know I've had the right answer even though it was marked wrong, which is frustrating. I love the trading cards!!!!"

And there you have it. I think it is safe to say that Reading Eggspress is a hit in our house. As a side note, if you're an Ebates user, there is currently 5% Ebates on the Reading Eggs site! Also, there is a 4-week free trial so you can see if Reading Eggs is right for you! You really have nothing to lose. If you have younger learners and are more interested in the Reading Eggs side of the website, as opposed to Reading Eggspress, please definitely click the banner below to read all of the reviews, since many of them will focus exclusively on Reading Eggs and the "learning to read" aspect of the site.