Reading Eggs Reviews by Teacher-Parents and Homeschoolers

We’re always thrilled to hear from teachers and learn how they’ve successfully used ABC Reading Eggs in their classrooms. Often we discover that they’re also parents and that they love our programs so much they use them at home to teach their own children how to read. We interviewed two such teacher-parents, who also have experience as homeschoolers, for their in-depth reviews of ABC Reading Eggs.

Jennifer Donald and Amanda Horkey are both educators and parents. Jennifer teaches Kindergarten and Year 1 and Amanda teaches various primary levels.

ABC Reading Eggs Review By a Kindergarten and Year 1 Teacher-Parent

Jennifer is a Kindergarten and Year 1 teacher and mum to two girls, Sarah (7) and Emily (5).

"I teach a part-time, combination Kindergarten and Year 1 workshop twice a week to students who are homeschooled and currently sitting between both levels," says Jennifer. "They often need a little extra help or sometimes they just need more encouragement."

In her ABC Reading Eggs teacher review, Jennifer shared that she gets all her students to enrol in ABC Reading Eggs and ABC Mathseeds, as the programs are offered through the charter school she works for.

Jennifer says she chose ABC Reading Eggs and ABC Mathseeds over other options because they are interactive and fun for the students and provide a solid curriculum base.

"They cover pretty much everything, so parents and myself don’t have to worry that the students aren’t getting taught something."

Jennifer added that she likes that the programs repeat learning concepts in a variety of ways over multiple lessons so her students don’t get bored. This also ensures that her students don’t forget what they’ve learned previously. She thinks the colours and songs, plus the different characters, help make it fun.

Another plus in Jennifer’s eyes is that ABC Reading Eggs is great for teaching students with different learning styles.

"It really appeals to the visual learners and to those who like the kinaesthetic approach to learning, plus manipulatives are easy to match with what is presented in the program," says Jennifer.

"I also like that there are workbooks and e-books that can be used to supplement the online lessons. These are especially useful when I need to work one-on-one with students."

The online lessons in Reading Eggs are supplemented by other online and offline resources: 4000 e-books in the Reading Eggs Library, downloadable worksheets and lesson overviews, as well as reading and maths workbooks you can purchase separately. Free trial

From the perspective of both a teacher and a parent, Jennifer values the ABC Reading Eggs placement test, family dashboard and lesson overviews as useful tools to help find the perfect levels and resources for her students and children.

At the start of a child’s learning journey with ABC Reading Eggs they will be asked to take the placement test. The test assesses the child’s reading age and places them at the correct starting lesson. The test can be retaken at any time. In addition, children are quizzed at the end of each lesson to ensure they have acquired the necessary skills before advancing through the program.

Jennifer appreciates being able to manually adjust those levels, if needed.

"I like being able to see the curriculum and what topic is covered at each level and map number. Also, the ability to reset or have students go back and redo levels. Doing so is a fantastic way to keep kids engaged with their learning, as students tend to feel bored when they’re not challenged or give up when something is too hard."

Find out more about how to reset the ABC Reading Eggs placement test or adjust a child’s level.

Teacher Review: Using ABC Reading Eggs for Their Own Children

What about teachers’ own kids and their learning? Here Jennifer shares her family’s experiences and how they like to use ABC Reading Eggs and ABC Mathseeds at home.

"Being a teacher, I really wanted purely educational games and learning apps for my children," shares Jennifer.

Jennifer’s 7-year-old daughter, Sarah, began with ABC Reading Eggs when she was five and in Kindergarten. Jennifer says her daughter is a kid who can't sit still, but the program worked well to keep her engaged.

Jennifer says that Sarah used several of the additional programs offered with ABC Reading Eggs, such as ABC Mathseeds and Fast Phonics. They helped Sarah so much that she’s now come leaps and bounds.

The child that initially struggled to focus wound up skipping second grade and jumped straight to third grade!

"ABC Reading Eggs taught her to read and helped so much with her phonics, that she is now reading at a fifth grade level," says the proud mum.

When Jennifer’s other daughter, Emily, was three years old, she got her started with ABC Reading Eggs Junior.

"The growth from nothing to sounding out and spelling words was immediate," she says.

Now five years old, Emily is working on the Year 1 curriculum and Jennifer says she has learned to read faster than her sister did.

"I attribute much of my daughters' successes in school to the ABC Reading Eggs and ABC Mathseeds programs."

Teacher-Homeschooler Review of Reading Eggs

Teacher-parent Amanda homeschools her two girls, Emily and Madison (pictured), with the ABC Reading Eggs program, which she says helped her teach them to read. Free trial

Amanda Horkey had been teaching primary school aged children for nine years, but she never expected to teach her own children at home. However, during the Covid-19 pandemic she decided to homeschool her 6-year-old twins, Madison and Emily, using ABC Reading Eggs as their kindergarten homeschool curriculum.

Amanda is thrilled that she has taught her twins to learn to read at home, with a little helping hand.

"I didn’t do it by myself, ABC Reading Eggs supported me doing that, for sure," she says.

"I think, even as a teacher I would have struggled with that. I taught other grades like Years 4, 5 and 6 where I’d do a lot of diagnosis about gaps and then say we need to go back and fill them."

Amanda says she’s often recommending ABC Reading Eggs to other homeschoolers looking for a curriculum as it’s been such a winner in her home.

"Not only is ABC Reading Eggs affordable, but as a teacher, your layout for jumping into the homeschool program helps so much," she says. "I just look and can see what I need to do for the week."

Learn more about homeschooling with ABC Reading Eggs and the ABC Reading Eggs homeschool reading program.

"If people on the homeschool social media groups say they have a young child and want to start homeschooling in kindergarten, I tell them they need to look into ABC Reading Eggs."

Amanda can also see the merit of an ABC Reading Eggs trial or subscription for younger (preschool) children, to give them a boost before they begin school.

Preschoolers as young as three can start ABC Reading Eggs and there are also hundreds of activities, videos and e-books in ABC Reading Eggs Junior for ages 2–4.

Easily Teach Multiple Children at Home With ABC Reading Eggs

ABC Reading Eggs makes it easy to teach multiple children at home with different learning styles and reading levels. Up to four children can be added to your ABC Reading Eggs account and each child will receive a personalised learning journey. The suite of programs provides a comprehensive reading curriculum for ages 2–⁠13.

There are four individual programs within the ABC Reading Eggs package:

1. ABC Reading Eggs Junior for ages 2–⁠4

2. ABC Reading Eggs for ages 3–⁠7

3. Fast Phonics for ages 5–⁠10

4. ABC Reading Eggspress for ages 7–⁠13.

For early readers, there are activities and lessons to learn about letters and sounds, as well as comprehension and fluency lessons for more advanced readers.

The complementary ABC Mathseeds program for ages 3–⁠9 teaches foundational maths and problem‑solving skills. You can choose whether or not to include ABC Mathseeds in your subscription.

Teacher-Parent Review: How ABC Reading Eggs Helped Her Struggling Learner

Amanda Horkey’s twins might be the same age, but she found they had different learning styles. She considered keeping one daughter back an extra year, rather than starting school at the same time with her sister.

She was pleased to discover that ABC Reading Eggs worked well for both of her girls, despite their different learning styles and levels. The program allows students to progress at their own learning pace, ensuring they don’t miss anything like they might if they were in a school classroom with 30 other kids.

"My fear was that maybe public school would not have done that for her, that she wouldn’t have felt that success," says Amanda.

In the first year of schooling, Amanda explained that ABC Reading Eggs helped both her children and her, as their teacher, feel more confident.

"Even my daughter who struggled is now a successful learner. Because of the pace of ABC Reading Eggs, her confidence has grown and mine has as well," she says.

Thank you Jennifer and Amanda for sharing your ABC Reading Eggs experiences with us.

More ABC Reading Eggs Reviews by Teacher-Parents

Watch the video below for another teacher-parent review from Hilary, a primary school teacher and mum to three children.

Testimonials

"I've just purchased a 12-month subscription to ABC Reading Eggs for my two children (3 and 7) We've been doing the free trial for a week and I am very impressed with the program. They both absolutely love it and I am particularly amazed at how much my 3-year-old has learned in a week. I'm a primary school teacher and think the program is exceptionally well designed."

– Sue

"I'm loving ABC Reading Eggs. I am a primary teacher and the mother of a 3-year-old. Two years ago, I discovered your program and mentioned it to some parents who were working with their own children at home. But it wasn't until I started my son on it, about a month ago, that I discovered what a comprehensive and truly effective program it really is. My son is already reading CVC and some CCVC/CVCC words easily, along with quite a number of sight words. Thank you."

– Gilliane

"I want to thank you for developing this app. My son is in pre-K and is currently having difficulty reading. He loves the app and already got through one Fast Phonics Peak today and he was making amazing progress with his reading. He also has autism (high functioning) so learning in this way really works for him. Visual, step by step, no need to communicate, etc. As a mother (and a teacher), thank you from the bottom of my heart."

– Kristina

"Not only does ABC Reading Eggs have interactive lessons and games, it also has accompanying worksheets with detailed scope and sequence overviews, which are useful tools for educators, both in a formal school and home school. As a former public school teacher and a current homeschooling mum, I cannot recommend it enough."

– Luka Y

"As a former elementary educator and current homeschooler, this program is outstanding. I'm using it for year 1, kindergarten and pre-K, with the latter on iPad. Good phonics, great organisation of lessons and positive screen time learning. My children can't wait to complete the lesson of the day and then ‘play' the learning games. We are also dabbling in ABC Mathseeds and that is a fabulous reinforcement for our curriculum. I rave about this to all. It has made actual book reading for my kids more enjoyable. THANK YOU for sharing this with us!!"

– Gabin Q