Testimonials for Ooka Island - Homeschool Buyers Co-op

The Ooka Island Adventure^®

The Co-op welcomes success stories that will help other homeschooling parents decide whether to add The Ooka Island Adventures to their home school curriculum. If you have used The Ooka Island Adventures and would like to contribute a testimonial, please click here.

Our daughter's loved Ooka Island! It is fun, colorful and engaging. There is great diversity in the games which keeps it interesting for young learners. I highly recommend doing the trial offer first and seeing if it would be a good fit for your child's interest. Greatly appreciate that they offer a free trial....”

ipage, Co-op Member

There are a lot of reading programs on the market, and it is hard to know what makes one particular program special. If you have a child who is struggling with hearing how sounds make words, then Ooka Island is ideal. My 4 year old daughter loves playing the games, reading the books and, particularly, earning the awards. It is a delight to watch her dance around the room yelling, "I'm a champion!" after completing a challenge. I highly recommend this program.”

Cynthia W., Co-op Member

We just LOVE Ooka Island! My daughter is a visual learner and learned all of her letters and sounds through watching Leap Frog Letter Factory, but was having a hard time with blending the sounds together. She is only just 4 so we are in no rush, but she has fun learning, so I wanted to keep it going somehow. I tried other things but everything just seemed boring to both of us.

But she just Loves Ooka Island. It rotates through games to keep from getting boring, but is progressively building bit by bit on skills. The games teach so much more than just "here are the letters and sounds, now stick them together" like so many others do. They give steps in the middle that helped my daughter move from letters and sounds and a few sight words to now, after about 6 months, reading at a beginning first grade level. She is so proud of herself! It has been great to see. I was afraid of how I was going to teach my daughter to read, but this software really helped bridge the gap. The best part is that to her she is just playing a fun game. She doesn't know that she is learning :)

Also, as a former software engineer, I have to say that this game was very well thought out and well done. I am appalled at some of the reading software packages out there for kids that are so quickly put together or poorly thought out that even I have a hard time navigating it. My daughter can easily play this game by herself and I can tell that a lot of time and energy was put into creating this game. It has been well worth the cost of an annual subscription. Thank you Ooka Island for putting out such a great piece of learning software that a homeschooling mom can afford!”

Natalie Eastham, Co-op Member

My son (4) enjoys Ooka Island very much and asks to play it every day. He loves to learn but he loves learning by himself. He does not like to be taught. But playing games and learning new things that way is right up his alley.

Here is what I as a parent like: there are no timed tests with clock ticking. Those are really bad for him as his confidence sinks and often he doesn't even want to try. I love the graphics and the voices are perfect. The songs are catchy but not too much. I also like that the praise is not over-done. Some online games throw out a "You are so terrific" every time and I don't like that so much. And I absolutely love the books. The stories are lovely and I really like that there are comprehension questions.

So we're very happy and I'll definitely recommend Ooka Island to my friends.”

Stefanie G., Co-op Member

My kids are having so much fun with this program! They like unlocking the pets and compete with each other on how many books they have read! My middle child (6) had no interest in starting to read before this program, but now she cannot wait. I actually will tell them that we need to move on and they need to stop after 45 minutes!

Thank you for offering this program.”

Gwen, Co-op Member

I purchased Ooka-Island for my 7-year old son. He is an emergent reader and I was hoping this would be a fun way for him to get some extra practice and solidify his skills during the times I'm busy with his older brothers. At first he LOVED it. After about 3 weeks the newness has worn off, which is to be expected, but I also felt that we might not be getting the most out of the program. So I finally checked out the parent online supplement (Ooka Island Lighthouse). I was surprised at how much relevant information was there. I could see what activities my son was doing most, how he was progressing, and what skills in particular needed more work.

I also called Ooka Isl. customer service and they were VERY helpful. As a matter of fact the representative I spoke with showed so much interest, I thought I might be speaking with the owner. Then she put me on hold to ask a question and I realized this was just exceptional customer service. I shared my concern about my son losing interest and she suggested several ways to keep him engaged. I think I need to sit down with him some to make sure he is getting the most out of it, but I think with that investment he will then be able to work independently again. And isn't that why we all get a program like this? : )”

Ashley in NC, Co-op Member

Ooka Island has worked out surprisingly well for us. I signed up for the free trial, so our 6 year old son could try it out first before we bought it. Even though he liked it, I wasn't convinced that he wouldn't get tired of it, since he was a reluctant reader (i.e., he already knew all the abc's and the sounds they make, but he did not enjoy reading). I bought it anyway, and boy have I been (pleasantly) surprised. My son loves playing on Ooka Island and gets excited when he earns free play; I love the report features, which allows me to see exactly what his strengths and weaknesses are. I am very glad I gambled on Ooka Island, and I highly recommend this program. Having the program as a reading tool has really put and end to my struggle to get my son to read, and I have seen real improvement in my son's phonic awareness.”

Rachel K., Co-op Member

We love Ooka Island as part of our homeschool curriculum! We are using it for our pre-k son who just turned 5. He would sit and "play" Ooka Island for hours if I let him. My older daughter, age 7, is jealous that he gets to play the game and she does not. My younger daughter, age 2, loves to watch him play and mimics the sounds (which is a super big side-bonus because she is significantly speech delayed due to cleft lip/palate). Although my son is still in a pre-reading category, he is definitely able to answer questions about sounds and letter recognition and I do believe that Ooka Island has helped with his proficiency. We will definitely continue to use Ooka Island for reading readiness and are thrilled with it!”

Nicole Renee, Co-op Member

My daughter is catching up quickly to grade level. I love that there's a placement test first. Their customer service is *excellent.* I also recommend the free workbook that goes with the software. It's a bit repetitive, but it's getting the job done.”

Roxanne P., Co-op Member

I purchased this for my 8 year old son that has a reading disability. He loves it! I use it as a supplement to other curriculum. It is great because it gives him independence that he doesn't get with a lot of other reading activities. I like that it starts and continues at the level where he is capable and really accomodates his needs.”

Danette, Co-op Member

My daughter has really enjoyed the Ooka Island program. She started with very little knowledge of letter sounds and now, a few weeks later, knows many sounds and is almost ready to start reading. One of my favorite components of the Ooka Island program is a game (Cave of Sounds) that encourages the chlidren to listen for a particular phonetic sound. I believe that this was the key for her. Ooka Island has many activities to keep a young child engaged in learning and, after completing a certain amount of "guided" play, children are given their choice of activities. I have tried many phonics/reading programs and this is the one we chose and we are thrilled that we were able to get such a great discount at Homeschool Buyers Co-op!”

Danielle B., Co-op Member

I purchased Ooka Island for my 7 year old son who is not reading yet and really has little interest in the process for reading (he simply wants to be able to read). I have two older sons who are fluent readers and are active on the computer. After reviewing this program, I felt it would fill two things - one, my son could be on the computer without the need for someone to read for him so he would feel like he gets computer time too, and second it would take him through the process of learning to read with more fun that just looking at letters with me.

After using it for 2-3 months, I would say that he doesn't love the program, but he will do it and he is learning. I like the fact that he must work in order to play. He also like the independence he feels while doing this program. I am able to view his progress as well and send him encouraging notes at the start up of each session.

I am happy with this purchase and would recommend it for reluctant beginning readers.”

Jan M., Co-op Member

I purchased Ooka Island after using the trial and because my daughter requested it. My daughter is an older struggling reader who was tired of other programs seeming what she called "babyish". When we first found Ooka Island my daughter was thrilled. She finds it fun to use but yet it is still very educational. I was very happy to see it here on the Homeschool Buyers Co-op. We are very pleased with this product and will continue to use it.”

Mary L., Co-op Member

We like Ooka-Island. I originally intended to use it with both by 5yo/K son and my 8yo/3rd son, but the 8yo finds it too slow. Its well-paced for the 5yo, and I like that they tell me that he has mastered certain sounds. We're not schooling 100% this summer, but more hit and miss. He does ask to do it, and it holds his attention when he uses it.”

dbkenn, Co-op Member

We tried Ooka during for the trial period - We are homeschooling 3 kids. My oldest (8) speeds through it, but finds it highly enjoyable. My second has learning difficulties (6) and I noticed an immediate difference with her comprehension and retention. PLUS, she was able to use the computer appropriately (without too much difficulty vs. some other systems that were just too hard.) My last child (3) watched during the trial play and walked around the house immediately making sounds and pointing out letters. We decided to purchase the years product, and we use it daily. It is a GREAT product. It is easier to use than Jumpstart, and the games are all teaching games, except for the free play time. Jumpstart is fun, but the games are not as geared towards teaching throughout. And, many of Jumpstarts games are too hard to play. Ooka has fun games, images are bright and age appropriate, music is awesome. In my opinion, it is JUST RIGHT. I love it. We have incorporated some of their printed material into extra art projects for show and tell. It has been a great tool.”

Robin K., Co-op Member

We have really enjoyed this product. We've had a couple glitches, but the Customer Service took care of them right away. Even over Easter Weekend! So I was impressed. My daughter really loves using this program, and I'm so glad we got it. I only ordered the "free trial" for my son, since I knew it would be too easy for him. And he still enjoyed playing it for a week or so! My daughter (8, dyslexic) uses it almost daily.”

B. Stokes, Co-op Member

I originally planned on purchasing this for my first grade son but he lost interest quickly. However, my 3.5 yr old daughter LOVES it! She is learning so much its amazing. I'm excited to see what she learns in the year we have it.”

MM, Co-op Member

We purchased Ooka-Island through a GroupBuy. My 5 yr old loves it! At first she was frustrated because she couldn't play in the playground when she wanted but once she got used to the rotation she was fine with that. I like the idea that they have to finish their lessons before being able to have free play but I wish the time she spends in the store would not count as free play. (Maybe it doesn't have to but we haven't figured it out yet.) I am very happy with Ooka-Island!”

Kris T., Co-op Member

We had run up against a brick wall after using Reading Eggs for a few months. Apparently, my son had managed to guess too many correct answers and was "in over his head." His reading progress was at a standstill. Enter Ooka Island! While it has fewer distinct activities than Reading Eggs, it seems to be designed a little better in terms of preventing kids from advancing via good guesses. In addition, the program "reads" a book with the child at each level, prompting the child in context-based expectant reading and requiring the student to correctly answer questions about the book's content before moving on. (Incorrect responses produce a re-reading of the relevant page.) The in-game prizes are quite motivating and the characters are engaging. I have been pleased with the progress my son is making in the three months we have been using Ooka Island.”

Susan in CT, Co-op Member

WE have loved this program. My 5 year old twins ask to play it all the time. It is probably the best program I have found for introducing so many different steps to learning to read. It covers letter sounds, letter identification, sight words, consonant blends and vowel blends, reading comprehension, and more. I was a little nervous about the price but it was well worth it and I would definitely do it again.”

Christina, Co-op Member