Book Adventure

In honor of National Reading Month, let me introduce you to Book Adventure. Book Adventure is a free, Sylvan created, interactive, reading motivation program. Children can choose a book from more than 7,000 titles, take short comprehension quizzes and redeem accumulated points for small prizes. It also offers resources and tips to help children develop a lifelong love of reading.

Here is how it works: Students and parents can choose appropriate books from the Book Adventure database, then go to the library, check the books out, and read them. They return to the Book Adventure website to take quizzes on the books and are awarded points based on the number of questions they answer correctly.

To register your child for Highlands Homeschoolers "school", go to the website (http://www.bookadventure.com/), click on new users button (upper left), click on Kids Register, click on AT SCHOOL, Enter the information requested. For class, you have 3 choices: HH Beginners, HH Readers, HH Advanced. (Beginners is for grades K-2, Readers is for grades 3-5, Advanced is for grades 6-8.) Use "Trent" for teacher's last name. You also need to send me an email that will authorize me to approve or deny your child's requests to redeem points earned during play for prizes. Book Adventure partners provide these prizes to celebrate your child's reading success. Without permission, I can not allow your child to redeem points for prizes, but they can still sign on and earn points. The exciting thing about Book Adventure is that it provides clear feedback on your child's reading accomplishment. I will be able to send you printed reports that show the number and types of books your child is reading, along with notes on how well your child understands them.

If you want to simply register AT HOME, you will have to give more personal information, but you can directly review your child's activity.

My girls and I have been using the system for the past few months, and they have enjoyed taking the quizzes and earning points. You may want to suggest other "prize" options for a set number of points, like they get to choose where to eat or they get a new toy or they get a special permission.