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JumpStart Advanced Preschool 2003

JumpStart Advanced Preschool 2003

List Price: $29.99
Your Price: $29.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Look Out if you are a Mac user!!
Review: Very unhappy with this software product. It will not install onto a Mac G4 Power book using OSX. When contacting "Knowledge Adventure" tech support they stated that they were aware of the problem about installation with some Macs but said there was no way to fix the problem and I should return it for a refund. However, as I learned with this bad purchase software is usually not returnable once opened.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Not great
Review: I bought this because I was getting tired of playing online games over and over again with my toddler. Well, both me and my toddler think most of these games are boring. She likes Reader Rabbit Toddler MUCH better. Maybe an older toddle would like this better but I doubt it. Don't waste your money, find a better game.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Software glitches with the sound
Review: I had to go to the web site for the makers of this and find out why the sound often didn't work. It turned out you had to turn the volume indicator higher and also the background music off in the exact way the web site said or it wouldn't work...this means, we had no Spanish sound for every activity and every time my son who just learned to read English would put the cursor/mouse of a picture only a written Spanish word would show up and not the word said out loud through our computer speakers. I resent how so many children's software are not tested enough before being sold to us. We pay our hard earned money for these and are trying to teach our kids with them, but instead I got to have a frustrated son who didn't want to learn Spanish at all. Now that I got the settings corrected (and i hope that is all that is wrong!) I still may not be able to convince my son to bother with this game, after all the pain and frustration we went through just to get it working decently.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great
Review: My Five-year old loves this software, especially the animal kingdom, he loves playing the games and getting an idea for nature and intro to science. The fundamentals are fun and teaches him at the same time.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Overly complicated, poorly thought out
Review: This review is for Jumpstart Advanced Kindergarten.

I really have to question the impartiality of some of the reviews of the JumpStart products on this web site, based on my experience with two of the Jumpstart products, which I think are some of the worst kid's software I have encountered.

The activities are confusing in their structure, overly gimmicky and the activities are poorly graded for difficulty, some being pathetically easy for my 3 year old and some being way too hard. The voiceovers are grating and overly patronising, even for a 3 year old.

It seems like the design of this software was driven by games programmers with little knowledge or understanding of early learning concepts.

In contrast I have found the Disney CDs such as Pooh preschool, Pooh Kindergarten, Mickey Preschool and Mickey Kindergarten, to be beautifully animated, well graded and intelligently structured. Another standout is the Blues Clues CD, my daughter loves this one. The Dr. Seuss Preschool CD is also excellent.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Spelling Bee study aid is disappointing.
Review: This product is good in that it allows users to enter their own spelling words. It is disappointing because the study games do not require a user to spell the words only to recognize them among incorrectly spelled words or to add a missing letter. If the program does not already contain the words you intend to add you will need the hardware to add the correct pronunciation. Personally, I'd like a more stripped down spelling study aid that would drill words from custom lists.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Jumpstart Advanced toddler
Review: We bought this as a Christmas present for our son that just turned 2. We were looking for an educational computer game for him and we already had Reader Rabbit Toddler (which he loves). When I first started Jumpstart Adv. Toddler I thought it was way too simple, then I discovered that most activities have 2 levels. Level 1 is pretty basic and doesn't require the kids to do a whole lot...my son was very bored with this. Level 2 is much better...in fact it is more advanced than Reader Rabbit. Most of the activities do not require toddlers to click on the mouse, but if you can click it goes faster. I was surprised by how fast my son figured out the activities. He can do most everything by himself, but he still needs me to help him navigate some. This package comes with 3 cd's - school time, song time and art time. THe song time cd has several fun songs that he just loves. Overall I really like this game and have found it to be very educational. As soon as my son has mastered clicking the mouse we will be getting the preschool version.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good introduction to Spanish language
Review: My 6 year old daughter loves this program. She had no previous experience with the Spanish language before so I thought we'd give always reliable Jump Start a try. I have to make her get off the computer! She goes back again and again and clicks items two or three times to practice the words. Well worth the money, and mom is learning too!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Easy to memorize the game, but...
Review: My 3 year old daughter likes this program. She has learned all the Spanish words and phrases and can use her knowledge as long as she's playing the game, but when I ask her a Spanish word outside the context of the game, she's not good at applying what she's learned to real life.

I am having better luck teaching her Spanish by learning more Spanish myself and then when a situation arises in which I can use it, I teach her the word or phrase. She also remembers songs in Spanish and is able to sing them back herself when I sing them to her, but she wasn't able to do that very well after hearing them on the computer. When I don't know a Spanish word, we look at the dictionary together, and then she remembers the word better than I do and can use it.

Some software teaches my daughter as well or better than I can, but in the case of learning a language, I recommend software for the parent, not the child.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great software!
Review: My daughter enjoys this software so much...and she is only in preschool. I would recommend this software to anyone with young kids!


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