Reading Eggs Review for Homeschool Parents
I recently had the opportunity to review Reading Eggs and I was given a complimentary one-year subscription with a workbook of my choosing for the purpose of reviewing this program. I requested 200 Essential Reading Skills for Third Grade. (My daughter just finished third grade, and I thought it would be better to choose the grade she just finished rather than the grade she is starting this year.)
I’m so grateful for the experience, so let’s dive in!
What Is Reading Eggs?
Reading Eggs is a secular curriculum that has many programs available for a variety of ages, all of which are accessible on their website or through an app on mobile devices. The app is free to download but the program requires a paid subscription. The company offers:
- Reading Eggs Junior for ages 2-4
- Reading Eggs for ages 3-7
- Fast Phonics for ages 5-10
- Reading Eggspress for ages 7-13
While they specialize in all things reading, they also offer Math Seeds for ages 3-9. Reading Eggs has free printable worksheets that correspond with the online lessons, and they sell full-color workbooks that can be used as a standalone curriculum or in conjunction with the online lessons.
About Reading Eggspress
Based on my daughter’s age and reading ability we started her in Reading Eggspress. The Essential Reading Skills workbook we received is based on Reading Eggspress, so the online aspect and workbook complement each other well. There is a placement test to assess the child’s reading level and indicate where they should start in the program.
Reading Eggspress consists of 220 lessons which they have split between six years. The placement test consists of 20 questions and automatically stops if a student misses three questions to prevent a younger child from getting too frustrated with questions beyond their comprehension. A perfect score on the placement test lands a student at the start of year six.
Reviewing the Reading Eggs Curriculum
This is an engaging program for elementary-aged children that would also be terrific for a struggling reader. Most activities have the option of having the text read aloud, and there is a strong focus on reading comprehension. The placement test helps ensure a child will start at the right level, but there is also an option to adjust the child’s level if needed.
Reading Eggs Games
There are a variety of activities to keep kids engaged. Each time an activity is completed, the child earns “eggs” that they can then use to play games in the arcade, upgrade their avatar, buy a pet, or various other rewards. A struggling reader who is motivated by rewards would likely enjoy completing activities to earn eggs and their reading will naturally improve as they work through the activities. There are many incentives to keep kids motivated!
Parents will appreciate how easy it is to see their child’s progress. The progress report shows a myriad of information including the highest Lexile completed, Lexile growth, how many lessons have been completed, and what progress by category. The breakdown of categories shows whether the questions were inferential, literal, vocabulary and usage, or text analysis and critical literacy. The progress report also shows how much time a child has spent using the program, how many lessons they have completed, and the average time spent on a session.
The Reading Skills Workbooks
The Essential Reading Skills workbooks could be used as a standalone supplement. However, they complement the online program so well that it makes the most sense to use them together. Each week of the workbook corresponds to a level on the online platform. For instance, grade 3 of Reading Eggspress online consists of lessons 61-100, and level 61 corresponds with week one of the workbook.
Each week of the workbook has five daily assignments. Days one and two are reading comprehension. Days three and four are spelling. Day five is grammar. The reading comprehension and spelling pages are available from the free archive of online worksheets.
When we initially tried the app, we thought the levels were a lesson meant to be completed in one sitting. There are many activities per level, though!
Seeing how one week in the workbook corresponds to a level online makes it more obvious that the levels are not intended to be completed in one sitting, but rather over multiple days.
Some activities are very short such as the “Cover Story” activities where it shows the cover of a book and the child uses the title and cover illustration as clues to know whether the story is fiction or nonfiction, and what they think the story will be about. Some activities are longer such as when the child reads a multipage story and takes a short quiz. I had my daughter complete 2-3 activities per sitting, depending on the length of the activities. Setting a timer may also be a beneficial strategy.
Reading Eggs for Homeschool Families
Reading Eggs is likely to appeal to homeschooling families. It would be especially beneficial for families who want to limit screen time to educational activities, and families looking for a learning activity that could be done mostly independently if the parent is teaching several students at a time and is sometimes unable to give their full attention to a child.
How Much Does Reading Eggs Cost?
The cost is relatively low, which will also appeal to many homeschoolers. You have the option to pay monthly or get the program at a lower cost if you pay annually. Each subscription allows access for up to 4 children. It is $9.99 per month if you pay monthly, or if you pay annually it is only $69.99.
They do offer a 30-day free trial. The Essential Reading Skills books are available at an additional cost of about $20.00, but they are optional.
Is Reading Eggs a Full Curriculum?
Reading Eggspress online coupled with the Essential Reading Skills workbook would be an almost complete language arts curriculum. There is no handwriting or composition instruction, so those aspects would need to be supplemented depending on the age and needs of the student.
It also weaves in information from other subjects occasionally, but not quite enough to replace the curriculum for other subjects. Students can earn collectible cards which have tidbits of information about them. My daughter loves animals and specifically enjoyed the animal cards because she loved learning facts about different animals.
Is Reading Eggs Worth It?
Overall, I can understand why the Reading Eggs curriculum is so popular. It was an enjoyable and educational experience for my daughter and me.
At the same time, some aspects of the program might take adjustment at first for a homeschooling family, especially if your kids are not accustomed to online learning options. As an example, for some of the activities, it is necessary to have the sound on because the instructions are only given audibly. It took us a little while to figure this out, so here’s a heads up on that: make sure your device has the volume up.
I would also recommend working alongside your child as they study via Reading Eggspress rather than having them work independently. If you are a homeschooling parent, you will naturally want to stay involved in what your child is learning. Also, you can use some of the reading content as conversation starters or build on it with unit studies and connect the learning to other subjects.
In summary, the Reading Eggspress app is a terrific approach to online learning for children who enjoy online education, or families for whom textbooks might be inconvenient for some reason or another. The Essential Skills Workbook augments the online learning program. It can also be used to supplement another language arts curriculum, as it never hurts to have extra practice with reading comprehension, spelling, and grammar.
