JumpStart Study Helpers Spelling Bee

by Vivendi Universal

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00007LV6T
• Date first available at Amazon.com: December 11, 2002
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,307 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
  • #82 in Software > Children's Software > Reading & Language
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

From Children's Software Revue® -- "Subscribe Now!"

Three simple activities drill typical math problems found in grades 1-5. Galactic Pinball lets children select answers to problems by maneuvering a ball through a moving maze. Digihog Drop lets them create math equations, while Asteroid Smash lets kids shoot correct answers out of the sky. The games are fairly fun, but the asteroids equation is the best of the three for promoting speed as well as accuracy. The software keeps records of progress (children sign in) and can be played in English or Spanish. Parents can add custom problems to the games and can print out customized worksheets. Content covers six levels of addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, decimals and percentages. The bottom line? This program succeeds in delivering fast-paced, on target practice.. .and it's a lot more fun than flash cards.Copyright © 2001 Children's Software Revue

Product Description

Turn studying your spelling words into a game!Product InformationHow do you get your child to study for spelling tests? Make it into a game! With JumpStart Study Helpers your child simply enters his weekly spelling wordsinto the computer and starts playing.  With arcade-style activitiesplaying the games means your child is practicing the words and improving theirtest scores!Product Features Easy input allows your child to enter spelling lists for individual learning Five grades of content from 1st – 5th Grade 6 levels automatically adjust to your child’s growing abilities Incorrect words are recycled in the games for more practice 1700 Pre-Programmed Words included for additional practice Includes all critical spelling rules (e.g. "i" before "e" except after "c") Bilingual instructions in English and SpanishWindows System Requirements Windows 2000 XP Vista Windows 7 (32-bit) 266 MHz or faster processor 64 MB of RAM (128 MB for Vista or XP) 100 MB free hard disk space 640x480 monitor 16-bit color Windows-compatible sound card & speakers 12X CD-ROM drive

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars JumpStart Study Helpers Spelling Bee, July 6, 2003

By 

Jacqueline L Wilson (Almena, KS USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: JumpStart Study Helpers Spelling Bee (CD-ROM)

For the price ... Knowledge Adventue should have a real "winner" here - suited for children in grades 1st-5th this program has a lot going for it - children get to ride a seahore and zap letters to make words - catch the correctly spelled word before it becomes food for a hungry crocodile and pop bubles and shoot space ships to form words and score high - the games are fast, all controled with the arrow keys and space bar on your computer keyboard - complete on screen instructions all the way -great music and sound - with 1700 pre-programmed words children are not going to run out of words for a long time - but the part of this program that is really going to put it far above the rest is the editing section - here you, as a mom or dad - or a teacher can put in your child's "real" weekly spelling words - the program will then break them down to be used just like the pre-programmed words - children enjoy playing games - learning spelling this way is a "heck" of a lot more fun then sitting at a desk and writing a word over, and over, and over again for twenty-five to fifty times until you had it memorized like I had to do when I went to school - please, buy this title for your children who will be in grades 1st-5th you will not be sorry and your children will thank you for all the fun - I am the Grandmother of 4 - two of my grandchildren are in school, one is a first grader and the other is in second grade - Grandma is well pleased to be able to give them such a fine piece of software to begain school with this year - Knowledge Adventure's Jump Start Study Helpers Spelling Bee is a real winner - to let you in on a little secret this old Grandma plays these games before I give them to my grandchildren - why - so that I will know what they are like - and be able to help my grandchildren if they run into problems. Buy it! Enjoy it! - for the small price tag you will NOT be sorry you did.
Jacqueline Lee Wilson

25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars You never actually SPELL your words!, September 25, 2004

By 

Datasafety (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: JumpStart Study Helpers Spelling Bee (CD-ROM)

I bought this software hoping to work on our weekly spelling lists. First, in order to input your list of words you have to ALSO input 3 "incorrect" spellings for each of the words, a major pain.
Second, of the 3 games, none of them include ever SPELLING your words! All i want is for my kids to practice spelling their words, obviously too much to ask for a spelling program by jumpstart. I can't believe how disappointing this program is.

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not as good as it ought to be, January 27, 2006

By 

Pamela (Dubuque, IA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: JumpStart Study Helpers Spelling Bee (CD-ROM)

Here's another piece of kids' educational software that does not measure up to the marketing blurbs on the box. It contains three spelling-oriented games that give you plenty of practice with hand/eye/mouse coordination, but are questionable in terms of educational value.

In one game, you play a little dog with a basket, trying to catch fish falling from the air. You're only supposed to catch fish containing words that are spelled correctly. To me, it was the most fun game of the bunch. Whether it teaches spelling or not is another question entirely.

In another game, you shoot hermit crabs that are trying to run off with your coins. You can only shoot the crabs carrying the correct letter to fill in the blank of a given word. I dislike the fact that the crabs each have an angry, mean expression after you shoot them, when they are closest to the viewer. Certainly not a happy game! Also, with a fast computer, the crabs emerge so fast that you have to set the game on level one in order to make it feasible. Luckily, game play level is separate from spelling level.

For the third game, you ride a seahorse in a race, tapping the spacebar to have your seahorse reach up to lick a word. This is another iffy game with a fast computer, and the images get blurry rather quickly, which impairs enjoyment.

I was excited about the idea of inputting our own spelling words. However, there is a limit of about 25? custom words. And the voice that reads the custom word list is barely audible. You can input phonetic spelling to get closer to the audio pronunciation, but this is not perfect. Considering that game play depends upon hearing the correct pronunciation, this is a disappointment. So the custom word feature turned out to be not worthwhile for us.

I just started homeschooling a 4th grader, and we've been testing plenty of educational software. I'm sorry to say that I can't recommend this one.