Jump Start World Software- Review and Giveaway

I recently received the opportunity to review jump*start World 1st Grade. It is designed to help build math, reading and critical thinking skills in children. The software comes with the first two missions and over 80 learning games. You can subscribe to get a new adventure every month.

Guess who the biggest fan of this game is. Cody, my 12 year old. Hope-Anne comes in at a close second at age 11.

The child chooses a character to be and the can explore the area. Their goal is to be the best JumpScout leader, accomplished through winning the learning games. The games build their consist of math and reading skills as well as having an art and music studios for creativity skills. My children especially enjoyed their character getting a pet. They teach it tricks and feed and care for it. It is designed to develop children's nurturing side.

Parents can monitor their child's learning with the progress reports feature. Making it even easier is having the reports sent to your email.
You need to have Windows XP or Vista and a broadband Internet connection for this game.
I love how my kids jump into this game with so much enthusiasm, even though they are older. Trinity is just turning 4, and she has been able to play the games, too, with some help. Even though my older kids know all the educational parts, it is still an enjoyable game for them. That says a lot for the quality of the games.

I would be in trouble if I gave our copy away, but I am going to give one lucky reader one.

I have a brand new, unopened copy to give away.
You can enter through December 8th. I will announce a winner on December 9th in the afternoon/evening.

All you need to do is leave a comment!
However, if you would like a second entry you can blog about it the giveaway and link to this post. Let me know in your comment, or in a second comment.

Shipping is on me, so I have to limit it to the US, Canada (because I love you bloggy friends!) and the US military with an APO or FPO, because I love you guys ever so much!

Microsoft Student Review

I was given the opportunity to review Microsoft Student with Encarta Premium 2008. Are there any products I review that I don't like? Yes, but it is NOT this one.

I played around with the features a bit, then I brought a couple of children into the mix. We had some competitions going to see who could get the tests (disguised as games) correct with the least amount of tries. The games, which are all educational, are limitless. I really have no idea how many there are.

We played a game about matching animal sounds with their animal. Easy, right? Do you really know what a Panda sounds like? How about a whale? Or a mountain goat? It gets more difficult as you play. There are all sorts of gross and icky bugs to learn about. We enjoyed all the different games teaching about states, such as jigsaw puzzles, match states with flags or capitals.

So there are lots of fun things. But what about the real stuff, like trigonometry? OK, I have absolutely no idea what trigonometry is, other than some sort of math, so I put my brilliant 18 year old son on the task of testing the software. He was none to keen on giving it a try if I liked it.

Pretty soon I heard some things coming from his reluctant body. "Hmm!" "Whoa." "No way!" "Sweet! It just told me two ways to solve this problem!" "Ha! I finally found a problem it couldn't solve!"

After an hour he walked away and gave me his verdict. Decent. That means it is beyond fun and helpful and is full-fledged awesome, for those of you who do not speak teen.

There are math tools, science help, search areas, help with several foreign languages, graph learning, and even several very wonderful tools for learning to write essays and many others works. I plan to use it to learn to write better blog posts. But I can't promise anything.

My final verdict is that this is amazing and worth far more than the $49.95 retail value. This would be great for your struggling student or your dedicated student. Or for your average blogger!

You can purchase Microsoft Student, which comes with a 75 minute tutor.com trial, for download instantly or the order the discs.

Free Solitaire & Mahjongg CD

I love Solitaire and Mahjongg! CDEarth is offering their CD 1001 Greatest Solitaire and Mahjongg Games for free for trying their Software Library Club.

The Solitaire CD is a collection of all the best computer versions of solitaire and Mahjongg. The solitaire classic games like Aces Up, Canfield, FreeCell, Baker's Game, Golf, Klondike, Pyramid, Scorpion, Spider, Forty Thieves, and Yukon are included plus special solitaire games like Streets and Alleys, Castles in Spain, Tarok, Hanafuda, Three Pirates, Tower of Hanoy, and Zodiak.

The Mahjong games on this CD include games like Arrow, Tiger, Twin Temples, Bridge, Cross, Diamond, Castle, Columns, Dragon, Floating City, Hidden Woods, Labyrinth, Lattice, Maya, Owl, Pantheon, Pyramid, River Bridge, Scorpion, Flying Dragon, Snake, Fortress Towers, Seven Pyramids, Stairs, Stonehenge, Taipei, Temple, The Great Wall, and Kyodai.

For trying out their family friendly Software Library club with a free 25 day trial, you will get this CD and another one of your choice for free!