Jumpstart Phonics 2003

Rating:
Summary: There's more to the product than just installing it
Review: All of the reviews of this product gripe about the installation. Not one person talks about the product once it is installed. Maybe it never works for them. I bought JumpStart Kindergarten and my 4 year old totally loves it. I had no problems at all installing it, and we don't have a "state of the art" computer for her. It is Windows 98 though. Anyway, the games and fundamental skills it teaches are really helping to prepare my daughter for kindergarten. She's learning better how to maneuver the mouse and do double clicks and learn patterns and listening skills. There's so much to do. We haven't even gotten through 1/3 of it yet. I also bought Jumpstart Toddlers when she was just under 2, and she absolutely loved it. It was her favorite game. All in all, I love their products. Have never called tech support and can understand the frustration at having bad help. It wouldn't deter me from buying this product though. Some of the products even come with a free video which my children cannot get enough of. They are educational and fun. My kids love to sing & dance to the Kindergarten video "Why did the bus stop".

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Summary: JumpStart Advanced 1st Grade
Review: Amazon does a disservice to JumpStart products by putting all of the reviews for JumpStart products under this product. The Advanced 1st Grade product is fun. My son, age 7, enjoys playing it. My daughter, age 5, isn't ready for it yet because it is a bit more difficult than the other games she has been playing. I would recommend this program for anyone who has a child at or near the 1st grade level.

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Summary: Jump Start Advanced 4th Grade
Review: As with many of the older versions of Jump Start, this product doesn't seem to work on Macs running OSX in classic mode (despite their claim on the box) or virtual PC mode. I had contacted Vivendi Universal regarding a 2000 version of JS 3rd grade that I own only to hear, "we don't support that version any more," so I purchased a new copy of the 4th grade version (since that's the grade level I needed most for my kids) to find that I have the same problem with the "new" version. Ironically the version of JS in the 2003 package was created in 2000. Are they simply repackaging old products? My husband and I are extremely knowledgable computer users, so our problems aren't a user issue and so far this issue has only occured with our Jump Start products. If you're a Mac user runnning OSX, I would strongly recommend finding another product. I also want to add that the company isn't very supportive of their products on the customer and technical support side. However, it's only fair to mention that when we were to be able to use the games running on the old versions of the Mac operating system, my kids really enjoyed them and we were pleased with the educational content of the games.

Rating:
Summary: Only works with Win 98 and higher. Doesn't work with Win 95
Review: Based on product details listed above (says good for Platforms Win 95/ 98 / Me), I purchased this product. My daugther uses a Win 95 computer. I tried to install this product on the Win 95 computer and it said "Can't install, needs Win 98 or higher". I eventually ended up installing it on an Windows 2000 computer.
One of the primary reasons I went with this product was it is supposed to work with Win 95. But that is not the case !!!!.

Rating:
Summary: JumpStart Study Helpers Spelling Bee
Review: For the price ... Knowledge Adventue should have a real "winner" here - suited for children in grades 1st-5th this program has a lot going for it - children get to ride a seahore and zap letters to make words - catch the correctly spelled word before it becomes food for a hungry crocodile and pop bubles and shoot space ships to form words and score high - the games are fast, all controled with the arrow keys and space bar on your computer keyboard - complete on screen instructions all the way -great music and sound - with 1700 pre-programmed words children are not going to run out of words for a long time - but the part of this program that is really going to put it far above the rest is the editing section - here you, as a mom or dad - or a teacher can put in your child's "real" weekly spelling words - the program will then break them down to be used just like the pre-programmed words - children enjoy playing games - learning spelling this way is a "heck" of a lot more fun then sitting at a desk and writing a word over, and over, and over again for twenty-five to fifty times until you had it memorized like I had to do when I went to school - please, buy this title for your children who will be in grades 1st-5th you will not be sorry and your children will thank you for all the fun - I am the Grandmother of 4 - two of my grandchildren are in school, one is a first grader and the other is in second grade - Grandma is well pleased to be able to give them such a fine piece of software to begain school with this year - Knowledge Adventure's Jump Start Study Helpers Spelling Bee is a real winner - to let you in on a little secret this old Grandma plays these games before I give them to my grandchildren - why - so that I will know what they are like - and be able to help my grandchildren if they run into problems. Buy it! Enjoy it! - for the small price tag you will NOT be sorry you did.
Jacqueline Lee Wilson

Rating:
Summary: StrugglingMom
Review: Honestly, we've not put much time into actually using the program but won't be either. I have an "Advanced" 3rd Grader and she does not like this Game. The introduction to the game is very, very long and she looses interest. There appears to be no way around the introduction into areas that are "fun". There is also not an "Exit" or "Escape" route to shut off the constantally talking robot. We need quicker access to the "fun" so that we can actually learn something, and this game doesn't do that.

Rating:
Summary: Great software for preschoolers who are learning english!
Review: I am a special education teacher for bilingual preschoolers who often have language and cognitive delays. This software allows me to start them off exclusively in Spanish and introduce English at a pace they are comfortable with. The fact they understand what is going on makes a big difference for them. I have also used this for my own son, as a way to help him reinforce his second language. I would highly recommend it for any preschooler.

Rating:
Summary: almost worthless
Review: I am so disappointed by this product that I am considering returning it to the company for a refund. The three discs are little more than extended video games with a smattering of academic challenges-- in fact, the second disc is ALL video games except for a short game through which the child earns tickets by answering simple questions. The tickets are then "spent" on meaningless video games, like using arrow keys to maneuver a robot over waves. Lots of learning, right? I really expected more, and since I paid full price for this nonsense ([money]) I am even more bothered that I now own this. The best, or least bad game is the first disc, but even this vaccilates between drivel and strangely impossible games that have no intellectual merit whatsoever. Like clicking on an animated globe that supposedly shows the zodiac but is so small it might as well be a tennis ball covered with white dots. No child could possibly learn to identify the night sky through that-- anyway, I could go on and on, but be forewarned and don't buy this unless you can get it practically for free.

Rating:
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:
Summary: Not as good as i expected---dont waste your money
Review: I bought this for my 3yo daughter because i was impressed with the other jump start programs. I was very dispointed. She likes the older program--it has more activitys and teaches so much more. And it was only 9 bucks, compared to the $29 dollars i shelled out on this program. It comes with 3 cds-she only uses one. Disk 1 preschool fundamentals is great, but does not have many activities. As for the other ones- i cant install the language program on my CPU.(many other people have the same problem)and the art disk is a waste.