Visiting the Phonics Museum (Veritas Press review)

When my oldest son was small, I made a mistake in teaching him to read. I used a book which said to tell the child that “reading is hard, but it’s very important.” As soon as he heard that it was going to be difficult to learn to read, he essentially gave up in that moment. (Now, at age 13, he’s a competent reader, but he doesn’t enjoy it and definitely doesn’t do it unless he has to.) Seeing that happen made me vow to never use those words with another child again. And I haven’t. My second child (now almost 11) practically taught himself to read and was reading novels by age 6. My third child, Small Fry (5 years old), is at that magical age now where he’s excited to learn to read. We’ve been working on it here and there for several months now, and with the help of a new iPad app from Veritas Press, he’s having fun in the process.

Phonics Museum review

The Phonics Museum App is a fun, homeschool phonics app for kids in preschool or kindergarten. It teaches letter names and sounds, how to write them, listening for the sounds, and more… all in the super fun setting of an art museum. The teacher in the Phonics Museum is Miss Biddle, and she’s a delight. The actress playing her is full of energy, and you can’t help but enjoy watching her.

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phonics museumEach letter is represented by a famous work of art (the “museum” part of the Phonics Museum), and children move through the museum just like they would a real museum: on the elevator and through hallways. The elevator takes children to different “floors,” and each floor focuses on a single set of letters. Floor 1 teaches the letters A, M, and B. When your character gets off the elevator, you find yourself in a hallway with paintings of apples on the wall. By tapping on the first painting (they’re all the same for a particular letter, but the lessons that you don’t qualify for are grayed out until you complete all the previous ones). Tapping on the painting pulls your character into the painting where a set of easels sit. Each easel represents a short piece of the lesson. There are between 9 and 13 easels per lesson (that I’ve noticed – those numbers might be a little off). The easels alternate between videos of Miss Biddle and activities for the child to do, making this a multi-sensory learning experience.

phonics museum collageIn the early lessons, there are three types of easels in the Phonics Museum: videos, songs, and games. Later on, a fourth is added: books. (Small Fry is on the fourth floor of the museum so far, and just added his first book. I’m not sure if more types of easels are added past this point or not). The videos are Miss Biddle explaining about the letter, interacting with other characters, etc. The songs are variations of the alphabet song (so far, we’ve come across three different versions). The games are the most fun. They include drawing the letter, listening for the sound at the beginning of words and tapping the painting if you hear it, locating the letter in a group of other letters, matching up a picture with the correct word, and more.

After we got through the initial “how does this work?” period, Small Fry was able to do a lot of these lessons on his own. I would sit with him here and there to make sure he wasn’t skipping over stuff that was “hard.” Imagine my surprise when I worked with him during one of these times and he was able to quickly and easily match up the picture of a father and child with the word “dad,” a flying mammal with the word “bat,” and a diagram of roads with the word “map.” I was so excited for and proud of him!

veritas pressWhen the opportunity to review this app first came up, I had a hope for it: that it would become something he requested more than his other favorite iPad activities of nonsense games and movies. This was borne out beyond my expectations. He absolutely loves it, and asks to “play Phonics Museum” several times a day. He will happily do several lessons at once – I have to make sure he doesn’t move too fast and miss out on full comprehension. But so far, that’s not been an issue. I’m so glad we got the opportunity to review this app, and highly recommend it for students who are ready and excited to learn to read.

Just for fun, here’s a video of Small Fry singing along with the ABC song on Phonics Museum.

 

The Phonics Museum is available in the iTunes store for $9.99 per month or $99 annually.

Other members of the Homeschool Review Crew are reviewing Phonics Museum this week too; click the banner below for more information.

Blessings,

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Phonics Museum App {Veritas Press Reviews}
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