Weekly Reader Mastering Elementary School 2008

I purchased this to help my kids with their homework and schoolwork. I thought that it would have lessons setup according to grade level and would follow each child's progress. These features are in Mavis Beacon Typing and Miracle Piano Teaching System. Unfortunately this program has neither feature. It lists all the topics with no associated grade level. It does not ask the child to select or enter a name, therefore there is no way to track progress. A child would not know what topic to pick when using this unattended. The math section has bugs. We could not go through all the multiplication lessons. About the only good thing is the narrated science topics. My kids find that interesting. But again, we have no way to know if they are at the right level. I do not recommend this.

Unlike other software for kids, this software does not teach by using games. In the math section it is a lesson with a teacher and a student talking to eachother. Surprisingly, my son (age 9) really likes it. I think it is a good review and the parent can reinforce the ideas. There are no "tests" (at least not that I have found yet). There are cute videos and "jokes" that go along with the lessons. I agree that it is difficult to know what material is appropriate for the age of the child but I just use what my son is learning in school to guide him with the math lessons. He also very much enjoys the science lessons. They are similar to educational videos. We haven't yet explored the other topics, but he is very interested in doing so. Weekly Reader is used at my son's school and this association is a motivator for using the software. It is easy to load and use.