Headsprout

[lougle]

Yesterday, Moondog was saying how brilliant Headsprout is.

I did start Headsprout with DD2 a couple of years ago, but then it was $33 per month for 6 months ($198 total) and each extra child was $100.

Now, it's $99.95 for a 'class' license, which can register up to 36 pupils. So just £60 for all 3 of my children, which is really good value!

is headsprout available in the uk?
is it a reading programme?

Polter, I don't think they intend it to be used in that way and to be honest I think the offer is pretty generous. I wouldn't feel comfortable having myself listed as a 'teacher' for other people's children because the site is very clear that each family is counted as one 'class' and I'd be depriving them of up to £2000 revenue.

billiejeanbob, it's a reading programme which has built in assessment throughout, so as the child responds to the instructions, it decides whether they are mastering the concept, or need further reinforcement. So it really does 'teach' and they can't just passively sit there, or click randomly to advance the programme.

It's available in the UK. The website you access the course from is www.headsprout.com but the company who sells the access to the course is Learning A-Z

fab thanks lougle, im off to have a look

It's a brilliant programme, the only thing that actually worked with DS.
Good luck with it lougle, I hope your dc like it.
It was lovely meeting you yesterday btw.

Thank you it was a very special day for me. I'm so grateful and glad that there were enough of us to make it happen.

It was really special, great to meet you too, Tambaboy. I am still taking it in.

Posted this on other thread, so in case you didn't see it, here it is again...

Gosh, I wouldn't worry AT ALL about setting up a Mumsnet class.
You really do not need to worry about Headsprout's coffers.
It was sold as a going concern to Mimio who messed it up no end and then sold it on to Learning A-Z, who have no concept or appreciation of what they have, hence the bizarre low price. They also want to mess about with it and introduce stuff that is not based on the watertight behavioural principles the programme is, so get in there fast before they cock it up.

Think of Bodyshop being swallowed up by L'Oreal or Green & Black by Nestle.

I know all this because I was at a party earlier this month in Chicago with one of Headsprout's designers and she told me the whole sorry tale with great pain in her eyes.

Really great to know that Tambaboy, especially now I have met you.
Can't work out which one was you yesterday, Handy!

We are halfway through Headsprout Reading Comprehension and I can't thank Moondog and co enough for heading us in this direction. The outcomes for us have been phenomenal with DS managing to get a 4c in his year 4 comprehension assessment...his teacher was literally gobsmacked...thank you from us both!

Wow!!!! I think that's the next step for DD2 -she's fairly fluent in reading, but I want to make sure there are no gaps before I move her on to Headsprout #2.

Hey Handywoman, great meeting you too.
moondog Headsprout has been a life saver. The thing DS really struggled with was the timed stories. Being such painfully slow reader he was asked constantly to start again. He would just scream the place down so I had to turn the volume down and ignore the prompts.

But Tambaboy, did you reintroduce?
To be an effective reader, you have to work on fluency.
There is no way to avoid it.
Think of issues discussed in the PT presentation.
I may be proficient at times tables/making spaghetti bolognese/knitting/telling the time but if it takes me three times as long to do this as other people, I am not exercising the skill functionally.

That was interesting to me today. Dd3 got tired about 2/3 of the way through chapter 2 (she's only just 5). She started flopping about a bit, until I said "dd2, it thinks you don't know the answer when you take so long, so it will make you do it all over again and it will last forever!" She did it quick as a flash then.

Yes, that is an important thing for kids to learn.
Doing it properly essentially allows escape.
Wow! Just 5! :)

Yeah, she's a darling. Extremely high maintenance, but as she's got one sister with a squiffy brain and another who sees the world through a very narrow lens, I'll forgive her. [ grin]

I agree with you moondog, he needs the fluency. Every new episode with a story we would try with the prompts and eventually we would have to give up. We would repeat the same episode the following day with the sound down for the story and it takes him to finish the episode about 40 minutes, with the prompts it could take him up to 1 hour as he had to repeat things so many times!

We have been doing all the hard copy stories (including all the extra ones) and he is not as bad. I have to admit we haven't used the flashcards but I'll start using them tomorrow.

We've tried today the 1 minute timed exercises you were talking about yesterday and we had to reduce it to 20 seconds as it was all he could manage. I hope to be able to increase the times up to one minute later on.

We haven't finished the 80 episodes yet, do you think is it possible to re-start the programme from lesson 40?

I can but I am managing licenses with many kids on them. Look in the top right hand corner. Does it say 'Manage class roster' or similar?
If so, click on it and you come to a menu on which is 'Reset students to previous episodes'.

We start loads of kids on a 20 sec timing.

On the subject of SAFMEDS, if you start, say, with 'recognise numeral 1-10 in any order' and the child gets really fluent in 1 week, so you move to 'recognise numerals 1-20 in any order', do you start a new sheet, or do you draw some kind of vertical line to indicate that you've moved the goal post and continue on the same sheet as it's still the same learning area?

You will draw a line down to meet the data (called a phase line) and write in your label which will be something like 'introduced nos. 11-20. There are phase liners on some of the SCCs I showed you.

The 'in any order' is redundant because, as SAFMEDS shuffled before each presentation, they are ALWAYS 'in any order'.

This is a classic video in the world of PT.
Five year old Stephanie Bates shows you how to use a standard celebration chart in 1970.
Stephanie

Of course, silly of me.

I'll watch the video in the morning. My phone can't access the plug-in needed for that video.

So after umming and arghring about headsprout for 2 years I finally bit the bullet and bought the licence. Thanks to lougle for posting about the price drop.

I think it is going to be too advanced for ds age 8 as he functions about 2 to 3 years in literacy but it has got to be worth a go. And I can use it for my reception age dd who is average for her class but is getting frustrated with reading.

I wish I hadn't just bought an iPad as it doesn't support flash. Does anyone know if the headsprout early reading programme works on any touch screen tablet? The windows surface perhaps?

Ds is light years away from using a mouse so I will have to hand over hand on the laptop which will no doubt drive us both bonkers.