My family has been a big fan of Reading Eggs for a long time, and for this review, we got to try something BRAND NEW! The company is now adding workbooks to their lineup of educational offerings, and we were able to get a complimentary copy of 200 Essential Math skills for First Grade for my son, Charlie. He has had a lot of fun using the workbook, because he is a very hands-on kind of guy!
The workbook is softcover and 260 full-color pages. It was JUST released a few weeks ago, so for the first part of the review, we used pages that I printed myself in black and white. I was THRILLED to receive the actual workbook, because the colors are vibrant and so much fun to work on.
My son loves getting to use scissors and glue, so one of his favorite lessons so far has been lesson 52. This is to teach him to sort 2D shapes, so he had to cut out the shapes and place them in the correct box that described how many sides and corners the shape had.
This robot to color in was also part of that lesson. He doesn’t do a lot of coloring on his own, but he likes any excuse to use our highlighters. I was happy to see him identifying shapes, even the smaller ones.
When the printed out copy of the workbook arrived, Charlie was excited! I have to admit, I love a good workbook, too. The first thing I checked out was the table of contents and the other information in the front of the book. It explains that the workbook has 50 sequenced lessons with 4 pages of activities each. There are also quizzes for students to demonstrate their retained knowledge of the concepts presented.
If you are familiar with the online program of Mathseeds, you will see that the lessons align exactly with the same numbered lessons on the website. You can use the workbook as a stand-alone resource or you can sync your child’s online progress with these workbook pages for even more in-depth practice.
The online lessons begin with a video of the math concept and then provide some guided practice in the form of songs, games, and activities. When used with the workbook, they get tons of extra practice.
This book covers so many topics for a first grader, including working on number lines, sorting 2D shapes, subtraction, clock skills, area, grouping, finding the difference, fractions, left and right, capacity, skip counting, money, addition, 3D objects, and more. For every 5 lessons, there is a quiz, an acheivement certificate, and a fun activity page for the student. After the first 25 lessons, there is a Review section, and there is another one after the other 25 lessons in the book.
My kids have loved using Reading Eggs to teach phonics and reading concepts. They also like to play on Mathseeds for math instruction. I find the online programs to be really engaging and fun for them. I decided that my 1st grader did need a little more this year, so the workbook is perfect for that. I feel like once he has finished the workbook while also working on the Mathseeds program online, he will have a thorough math education for his first grade year of homeschooling.
Another thing I like about the online program is that there are many ways for my son to have extra fun playing games beyond just the lessons. He doesn’t realize he is still learning and doesn’t think he is even doing school, still. He knows when the workbook comes out that he is actually doing school, and that when I assign him to do a lesson on the computer that he is doing school, but does the screen below look like work? No way, it’s all fun and games – right? 🙂
My son is enjoying working through the lessons. He asks to do more than the 4 pages a day, so I am having to really pace him. He likes to do it all, even the quizzes. He is gaining a lot of confidence and often tells me how easy the work is for him. I think it helps that there is not an overwhelming amount of work on each page.
The full-color aspect really helps, too, because we’ve had worksheets before with other programs that just had a full page printed black and white with dozens of addition or subtraction problems. That was too intimidating and he just mentally couldn’t get himself past that to sit and do the work. With these problems in the Mathseeds workbook, I’m not having to convince him to do the problems at all. He likes everything so far!
The workbook currently retails for $19.95 each. They have Mathseeds workbooks for grades K, 1st, and 2nd. Reading Eggs Reading Skills workbooks are available for grades K-4 at this time. I highly recommend them as a supplement to the online program, or on its own. They are high quality and contain the skills that each child in that grade needs to learn.
These would be great as an afterschool supplement for public or private schooled children, too, or to use during the summer to keep their minds working while school is out. They’re portable, so workbooks are perfect for road trips or as a waiting room activity for appointments. I like to sneak in a little learning any time I can!
To learn more about Reading Eggs and their new line of workbooks, be sure to click the banner below. My fellow Crew mates were able to review the different math and reading levels as well, so you can look inside of the various offerings.
