Our latest review item has been a supplement that came at just the right time for my 7 year old. We’ve been trying the online reading and math lessons from K5 Learning to fill in our school days as he has completed his regular curriculum and programs.
K5 Learning is an online supplement great for students from Kindergarten through Grade 5. It is completely online, so nothing must be downloaded, but a good internet connection is required to use the site.
It includes Reading, Math, and Spelling. In addition to the activities associated with those subjects, you’ll see recommended worksheets which can be downloaded an printed to provide further supplementation.
To begin using the program, your student will take an assessment test. There is a Reading Assessment and a Math Assessment. I loved being able to do this, because I always have a nagging question in the back of my mind as to how my child is doing in school. To my relief, it looks as though Heath is doing just great! He was finishing up his 1st grade year when he took the assessments, and he scored at or above grade level on each part of the Reading and Math assessments.
K5 Learning does offer a 14 day free trial, which is a perfect way to take advantage of this assessment test to see how your kids are doing based on their responses to grade level math and reading questions. If you like the service after the trial period, you can continue on either by paying monthly or annually. There is a discount for additional students/siblings as well.
The assessments themselves were colorful, animated, and had plenty of breaks worked into them in the form of computer games. You could stop and start the assessments at any time, so there was no pressure to make my son finish it all in one go. I had him do one test one day and the other the next so he didn’t feel stressed about the process.
Once your child has taken the assessment, the K5 Learning program places them accordingly and they’re ready to complete lessons and activities on their learning level.
My son likes it when his lessons are puzzles like the crossword shown here:
Math is the same way. What we love about the lessons is that they are colorful and interactive. The voices speak clearly to give your child explicit instructions, and the student always knows what is expected of them during the activity.
If your child chooses to work on spelling, there is either vocabulary or spelling practice. You can choose how many words to have them practice during the spelling tutor portion. This program works well for many students because they can listen to what is being asked, and they are also given examples of the word in context. They are also able to skip words if needed.
Finally, I have to touch on the fact that there are many reporting tools available to parents. In the parent’s dashboard, as you can see below, you have access to your students and their reports. You can set up assessments, request level changes, create assignments, and see your student’s progress in each of the areas that they were tested on during the assessment. This is a good way to see if they’re moving along and making the kind of progress you would like.
K5 Learning covers so many topics in a game-like format for elementary students. It would be perfect for using over the summer as a sort of tutor that meets students at their level. You really can’t go wrong with giving it a go for FREE for 14 days.
Overall, I feel like this is a good program. It is a supplement, so it certainly would not replace a full math or language arts program. It can be hard to tell when a lesson is supposed to end, so I let my son go until he hit 2 or 3 stopping points, which had him working for about 10 or 15 minutes each session.
This would also be a good option for someone on the fence about tutoring, or just wanting an educational program for their child to work on over the summer or after school during the school year. Since you can watch your child’s progress over time, it’s easy to see how well they’re doing after working through several sessions on K5 Learning.
To see how other Crew families used this online reading and math program resource, click the banner below: