Phonics Museum Review

Veritas Press has recently released the Phonics Museum App available for purchase in iTunes. The target age for this interactive learn to read app says it is appropriate for ages 3-7. Honestly I have been helping my 2 year old niece work through these lessons. Obviously she is on the younger end of the age spectrum, but she really love the app and asks to play the "phonics game" whenever she is at my house. Sometimes she is able to sit through 2 entire lessons.

The lessons are super engaging. In a given lesson, the student will watch a short video clip and then play a game. The alternating between games and videos keeps the students engaged and learning. The video clips are fairly short and keep the attention of even a two year old. She absolutely loves Miss Biddle and listens and follows along well.

The games are all simple and provide all instruction verbally. Now, because I am using this with a two year old, I obviously provide lots of support for her. For example, when a game asks her to find all the bricks with the beginning sound of "b", I point to each brick and emphasize the beginning sound. like this: "b...b...b...baby, m...m...m...man, a...a...a...apple." This helps her at such a young age to be able to distinguish which picture she needs to choose.

There are lots of different games that really do help the child learn the phonics sounds and rules. It's fun, of course, but it's not a lot of fluff. Some games are designed to help students pick out the middle sounds, choose upper and lower case letters, and even learn how to form the letters.

As students complete each section of the lesson, that part of the lesson earns them a star. At the end of the lesson, they earn a star for the trophy room. Each lesson in the beginning focuses on teaching a new letter sound. Each letter sound is represented by a famous artwork, and the entire game takes place in an art museum. The students work their way up the museum levels. The letter "A", for example, has a famous painting of apples, and during this lesson, students learn that "A" says the short sound of "a". Students learn how to form the upper and lower case letters. I appreciate that the written AND the printed versions of each letter are shown to help alleviate confusion. In as little as four weeks, students will be able to read easy reader phonics controlled books.

Each new lesson, there is also a song that is played. So far we have learned two different songs, the alphabet song, which sings the ABC's, and the museum song, which sings the sounds of the letters. Both of these are catchy and most importantly, not annoying. We have had a great time learning these songs. It's so cute to hear her sing along to the tunes.

At one point, my 12 year old was helping my niece work through a lesson. He did not know the app was by Veritas Press. After working with her for a few minutes, he commented, "Is this app by Veritas Press?" I told him that yes it was. He said that he could tell because last year we were able to review the Bible self paced course by Veritas Press. He said they always do a great job with their graphics, and that's how he knew the app was made by them.
This app can be purchased in iTunes. You can choose to pay for one year of access or pay monthly. Three students are able to be registered in the Phonics Museum so that each one can work at their own pace. You are also allowed to install the app on more than one device. It is suggested that you use an iPad for this app, but we have been using an iPhone 6+ successfully without any trouble. You will want to check for system requirements before subscribing to the app.

I really enjoy this app, and so does my niece. I do however wish that instead of a subscription, we were able to purchase access to the app outright. I am very sure this little one will want to continue using the app for a while. Since she is so young, I would love to have access to this app in the future without needing to "rent" it monthly or yearly. Having a purchase option would be the best for us. 

Curious what other reviewers had to say about this product? Head on over to the Homeschool Review Crew blog to read all the reviews.

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