Review of Ooka Island

Ooka Island is meant for Pre-K to 2nd grade children to learn to read. I had my 5 year old follow this program, so you will get his opinion as well as mine.

I was given a 3 month subscription for my child to use. The company sent me a disk and once I loaded it onto my computer we were off and running! My first impression was, "Wow! This is neat!" Hurricane has had so much fun playing around with it. I have just turned it on for him and let him explore on his own. He has been able to navigate it quite easily without guidance from me. This is awesome! He would sit for hours if I let him! There have been days that he begs to play Ooka Island.

Though it has been really fun, I'm not sure it has done much to teach him to read. This could be caused by a few different factors and I don't think the program is the problem. He is still young, in my opinion, to be reading. I don't think he's ready yet. That being said, this program is still a welcome addition to this home as it is still educational and I know he is getting some information from it. He is still learning his letter sounds and the games included in this program help with that. They also helped him learn the order of the alphabet. He has been able to recite the "ABC's" for a long time now, but Ooka Island helped him understand how to put them in order on "paper" or screen as it is in this case.

Another cool feature in this program is the "lighthouse." The lighthouse is where parents can track their child's progress. Being that I just let Hurricane do his thing, I used this a lot. It let me know where he was at and how he was doing. It was fun to see what he could do!

The cost for a homeschool family with one child is $12.95 a month or $124.95 annually. If you have more children, you can purchase this program for $19.95 a month or $149.95 annually for up to 4 children.They also have a home edition and a school edition available to purchase.