Leap Frog: Learning By Leaps and Bounds

You may have noticed the The Savvy Source widget in the sidebar of this blog, and I'm sure you're wondering, what on Earth is that thing? I'm happy to tell you it's a brilliant quiz that aims to help parents assess their children's language skills. From the website:

The Savvy Quiz is adapted from The Core Knowledge Foundation’s Preschool Sequence, a comprehensive outline of the way young children develop knowledge and skills. Since preschool-age children often spend most of their time at home rather than school, The Savvy Source has adapted the Preschool Sequence for the benefit of parents and other care-givers.

After taking the 5-minute survey, parents will discover the kinds of conversations, songs, books, and activities that are best for their children as well as receive a customized set of recommendations for each child.

When I began the quiz, I wasn't sure what to expect, but the questions were simple and very straight forward regarding my son's development. I was happy that the results of the quiz were presented honestly, without making me feel as a though my parenting skills were inadequate in regards to my child's early education.

The Parent Bloggers Network asked me to participate in taking the quiz, and Leap Frog sent their new Tag reader and two books for Dawson to review:

Dawson absolutely loves the Tag Reader from Leap Frog.

As an avid reader myself, I've always made it a habit to read to Dawson, and our weekly visit to the public library is one of our favorite past times. Dawson enjoys choosing new and interesting books for me to read, but I haven't yet attempted to teach him to read on his own. Frankly, I thought he might be just a tad too young.

Only recently did he finally learn the alphabet and he still sometimes mixes up the letters of the song, but he's making a great effort -- and since we've been enjoying the Tag reader, I've noticed that Dawson is learning word recognition. Dawson loved that the "pen" (stylus) would read the stories to him as he followed along and turned the pages.

Turns out, it's never too early to learn to read. I was shocked when Dawson recognized the word "the" at first glance after only a day or two of using the Tag reader. The books that were sent along, Kung Fu Panda: Po's Tasty Training and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, are age appropriate for the beginning reader (ages 4-6). It was delightful to see the smile on Dawson's face as we listened to each story. With preschool right around the corner, this is a fantastic way to spark his reading and language skills.

One of the great things about the Tag reader is that you can purchase additional books, and downloading the stories is quick and simple. We recently picked up Click, Clack, Moo, Cows That Type and easily connected the Tag to our computer to download the story from the website.

My favorite thing about the Tag Reading System is that it allows my son to learn at his own pace and he is capable of using this educational toy anytime and anywhere.

Thanks so much to The Savvy Source, Leap Frog and PBN for giving us this great opportunity. If you haven't yet visited the three links above, a highly recommend you do so! And get the Tag reader! You will not be disappointed.