Jump Start World

I have to say that my kids ADORED this game, sent to me by the Parent Bloggers. Jump Start World was launched by Knowledge Adventure, a company that I was familiar with from some of their other games. 

We previewed a copy designed for 2nd graders.  It was primarily for my eight year old, but my ten year old couldn't stay away from it, and my five and three year olds were glued to the screen whenever it was playing.  Literally, I could not pull them away from the computer whenever this game was on. The fact that it was educational , and that every time they started playing it had new material, is a pleasant and welcome bonus.  With your purchase, a new action pack is loaded, up to 12 packs in a year.  That's a great value in my book - it's like a new game every day.  The graphics are fresh and interesting, and th characters are easy to understand.

My son, like almost every kid his age, is motivated by rewards, and he thoroughly enjoyed the "gems".  I like the fact that he can trade the gems online for rewards, and if I remember, I can check up on what he's doing in the parental controls section.  There I can see what he's mastered and what skills he still needs to work on.   The holiday specific items pictured made it more personal and true to life. 

My one beef was the fact that we had a terrible time loading the game.  The directions weren't clear and we had to reboot and begin again three times, and I finally decided to do my own thing and it worked. 

Jump Start World's website has a free trial for download. I'd highly recommend purchasing the system for only $19.95 (for Kindergarten, First Grade, or Second.  My kids fight over this game on a daily basis, and I plan to purchase the other versions ASAP.