| JumpStart Advanced Premium 1st Grade | 
 enlarge | From: Knowledge Adventure
Category: Software
List Price: $29.99
Buy New: $19.98
You Save: $10.01 (33%)
New (7) from $19.98
Avg. Customer Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 1538
Format: Cd-rom
Platforms: Windows Vista, Windows Xp
ESRB: Everyone
Media: CD-ROM
Batteries Included: No
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 0 x 0.1 x 0.1
MPN: 20587
Model: 20587
UPC: 876930005800
EAN: 0876930005800
ASIN: B0014A6F04
Release Date: May 4, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Strong on eye-hand coordination skills, low on academics August 9, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I got this for my daughter to enhance her reading and math skills over the summer before starting first grade. The actual math and reading content is on the thin side compared to the scope of the entire game, which requires your child to wander through a fantasy town completing various tasks, like netting red orbs, racing rabbits, and picking whistles off the ground. The majority of these tasks require a lot of eye-hand coordination skills--that is, your child needs to be able to successfully use the arrow keys to navigate quickly between, say, the race track and the water fountain in order to complete the tasks required to advance in the game. Even a lot of the explicitly academic tasks (found at the 'math and reading arcade') require quick and skillful navigation with the arrow keys. For example, one math arcade game requires the user to navigate a boat around a lake looking for objects with a certain number on them--e.g., the number '4'. The actual math skill level of being able to match one number with another is relatively low; however, the eye-hand coordination skills required are considerable. My daughter, who is strong on math and reading for her age but not on eye-hand coordination, has ended up frustrated to tears by this software, and I have actually ended up navigating parts of it for her (e.g., racing the rabbit or netting butterflies) just so she can advance in the game--and to be honest, I found it challenging on the eye-hand coordination myself. Unfortunately, these kinds of tasks are not optional, but are required in order to advance to a more difficult level; in other words, if your child completes a level in the math and reading arcade, in order to advance to the next level of math and reading difficulty, they must complete a variety of assignments 'around town,' such as racing 'town inhabitants,' swooping objects out of the air with a net, or teaching their pet the 'double jump' trick. All of these other tasks are based on the ability to navigate quickly and accurately with the arrow keys. At least half the game time is spent with these types of tasks.
If your child already spends a lot of time playing video games and has mastered the use of arrow keys to navigate in a virtual space, then this will probably be fun software. If eye-hand coordination arcade and video games are not your child's strong suit, then the academic gain of this software may not be worth the frustration of simply navigating through the game. That said, I can see this game being enoyable in a group setting, such as an aftercare program, assuming that at least one of the children playing has the eye-hand skills to navigate through the game while the other kids gather around and offer suggestions.
 Jump Start World Kindergarten and 1st Grade July 16, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Both the Jump Start World programs, Kindergarten and First grade are the best ever to come from Knowledge Adventure! The extra $65.00 you pay to unlock the aditional 10 units are worth every penny. We have used Jump Start programs from the begining and all our children in our child care business have greatly benefited. We highly recommend them. The staff at Jump Start are great to work with. Write us for more praise of this fine product.
Worth the Money! July 6, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
My 6 year old who is a video gamer, loved it! Great graphics and great rewards for level completion. He'll be ready for 1st grade after playing JumpStart this summer!
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