area. The lessons are very thorough
and clear. They use voice instruction
and animated instructions to teach the
lessons. Once the student has worked
on a lesson, they can practice what they
learned in the Skill Check section of
the program. Each skill check can be
repeated until the student’s personal
goals of accuracy and speed are attained. The skill checks also offer different options for length of passage to
check. After the student passes a skill
check, the next lesson is unlocked.
UltraKey also features a typing forum
and games for the student to gain extra
practice and work on their typing. This
program tracks your student’s performance for you. The company recommends using this program for at least
20 minutes each day.
Since we could use this subscrip-
tion for multiple family members, I
set up an account for each of my kids
and myself. The accounts were easy
to set up and once I showed my kids
what they needed to do to access their
account they were able to log them-
selves in each day. My third grader was
thrilled to work on this program as she
has been wanting to learn to type. She
watched the introduction video and
went through the section on proper
posture and couldn’t wait to start her
first lesson. She found the lessons to
be very easy to understand and worked
through them quickly. The skill checks
were harder for her and she had to re-
peat them several times because she
had to hit her goal of both accuracy
and speed to pass. At first this frustra-
ted her because she was able to hit one
or the other, but after more practice she
finally passed on both goals. She also
liked to practice her typing in the fo-
rum. She consistently asked to get on
the computer and do more of this pro-
gram on her own and I was happy to
let her keep working on it. My eighth
grader was not as excited to learn to
type. He didn’t see anything wrong
with his “hunt and peck” method which
was driving me nuts. He very obedi-
ently worked on this program for the
required 20 minutes a day and asked to
work more a time or two. He did very
well at the lessons, but tended to strug-
gle with the skill checks and meeting
both speed and accuracy goals. He did
end up passing some of the skill checks
which made him happy. (. . .)
Bytes of Learning offers many dif-
ferent options when it comes to pur-
chasing UltraKey 6: The Ultimate
Keyboarding Tutor for Macintosh and
Windows. The subscription we re-
ceived is just $39.95 and allows up to
three installations. While the version
we received is not licensed for large
schools to use, they do have products
available for larger groups and schools
at very reasonable prices.
—Product review by Cassandra
Holdeman
Noah Text Series (The Mystical
Years of Franklin Noah
Peterson, Books 1-3)
Book Series Include:
Syllables and Long Vowels, Just
Syllables, and Plain
Sarah K. Blodgett
Noah Text
www.NoahText.com
As homeschoolers, there are so many
skills we teach our children, but none
is more important than how to read.
The ability to read and do it well often
determines how your child will prog-
ress through his education. Reading for
most children is not a challenge. Then
at times, there are children who experi-
ence reading difficulty due to struggles
with conditions like dyslexia or are just
new readers who are learning how to
put the patterns of language together
as rapidly as the average reader. Those
students may excel in other academic
subjects, but their inability to read well
slows them down and eventually leaves
them far behind their peers. Parents of
those children are often left at a loss
as to how to help their child make the
connection. Unless the student hones
the skill, they will not continue to ad-
vance as an at-grade-level reader.
Author Sarah K. Blodgett was one
of those parents who watched her own
child struggle with reading. If you have
ever been in that position, you under-
stand the helplessness that may ensue.
Rather than giving up, Blodgett relied
on her background in research. The re-
sult is Noah Text, which is one of those,
“Now, why didn’t I think of that?” ideas.
The concept behind Noah Text is
quite simple. Noting the complexity
of the English language, Blodgett focuses on the “code” or patterns used
in teaching reading. The recognition
of syllables and vowel sounds in words
is further defined by highlighting and
bolding those areas in the sentences
students read. Learning the language
patterns of words is easier with visual
reminders as students move through
the words in each sentence. Students
navigate through text that notes the
patterns in the words, which helps
them improve their reading fluency
and comprehension.
Blodgett has created three reading
levels for Noah Text.
1. Example of Noah Text highlighting syllables and long vowels - For
maximum benefit.
Abigail is too busy taking instruc-
tions from her uncle to pay any a
t-tention to Frank.
2. Example of Noah Text highlighting syllables - For slightly more skilled
readers.
Abigail is too busy taking instruc-
tions from her uncle to pay any a
t-tention to Frank.
3. Example of Noah Text with plain
text - For proficient readers.
Abigail is too busy taking instructions from her uncle to pay any attention to Frank.
Using all three levels of text presen-
tation, Blodgett has written a chap-
ter book series, The Mystical Years of
Franklin Noah Peterson, which includes
three volumes. Blodgett uses the same
specific text in all three volumes of each
www.TheOldSchoolhouse.com
