Night Zookeeper After 10 Months {Language Arts Review}
Now that we’ve been using Night Zookeeper for a full school year, I can attest that it was the sleeper success of our school year! I signed up not expecting too much, but after ten months, it has stood the test of time. My kids login *by choice* each morning before any of their other work and complete their activities.
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Here are a few things I’ve noticed during our time with Night Zookeeper:
- Very often during our formal grammar and spelling curriculum lessons, my kids will say, “Oh, I was just learning about that on Night Zookeeper” or “I already know that from Night Zookeeper” (!!)
- My kids have become writers! They see themselves as writers and will randomly be reminded of something and say for example, “I wrote a poem about that recently on Night Zookeeper.”
- They’ve learned different writing genres in a fun, risk-free environment and now are familiar with persuasive writing, how to outline a basic expository essay, character development, building tension in fiction stories, and more.
- My older son (11y) wrote a Night Zookeeper inspired trilogy (!) that he worked on for months. This is the kid that hated to write and would NEVER pick up a pencil to write voluntarily.
- My younger son (9y) voraciously read the related book series that we ordered through the website. These were the first books that he took to bed and begged to stay up late reading. He was invested in the Night Zookeeper world; the characters and themes were familiar to him and had already hooked him, then scaffolded him into becoming an voracious, independent reader!
- This all happened 100% effortlessly without any nagging from me!
Use my referral link for a free 7 day trial, and 50% off a yearly subscription!
My initial hesitations to purchasing were a.) how gamified it is, b.) would they keep up using it long-term, c.) would they learn anything? What I’ve found is that yes, it is gamified– but it works, thereby resolving the second and third of my concerns! My kids talk often about the various battles that they complete in order to defeat the Voids (the bad guys that are enemies of the Night Zoo). Those battles are skills based in areas of reading, grammar, and spelling!
I rarely login to the parent portal, because honestly it’s low on my radar. I know they’re working at their levels because you can set your child’s level (privately-they don’t know what their level is) and you can change that at any time. When I do login, I’m able to see what areas they’re mastering and what needs improvement based on scores of their challenges completed. I have the option to assign specific activities to them with this data in mind (but I don’t and just let the program take care of it for me).
It’s a no-brainer that we’ll be renewing our subscription for the next school year, and the kids have already insisted that they continue working on Night Zookeeper this summer, too. 🙂
If you’re looking for a simple way to infuse language arts into your home, give Night Zookeeper a try!
Use my referral link for a free 7 day trial, and 50% off a yearly subscription!
Have any questions? Reach out in the comments below or through my socials!
PS. The Night Zookeeper platform would be a GREAT idea for summer! Monthly and quarterly subscriptions are available.
