I’m so proud of my daughter these past few months. Right before my eyes she has gone from a child who cried every single time I dropped her off at preschool to a kid that bounds in the door of her classroom, excited about what they will be learning that day.
It all stemmed from when the administrator at her school suggested keeping her another year in preschool because she’s young for her grade level and she was having separation anxiety. The thought of not going on to elementary school with her peers clearly rattled her and we started that day doing what we call “Kindergarten boot camp”.
Our days are scheduled now, even on non-school days, and we have specific times of the day that we study certain things, have outdoor time, and quiet time. Basically, I’m doing supplementary home schooling with her, which is something I swore I never would do because it terrified me.
But, that was before we were introduced to the VINCI Tab III M 5” Learning Tablet that works in conjunction with the VINCI curriculum I was raving about just a few months ago {see our first review here}. Using their kid-friendly tablet that came pre-loaded with the VINCI curriculum, along with the Kindergarten readiness checklist supplied by the school district, we are making sure that she is on the right track to start elementary school in the fall.
The VINCI system is separated into three categories: The Curious, The Confident, and The Capable, and is designed to grow with your child as their abilities progress. Since it can expand all the way up to age 9, it's the perfect supplemental learning all throughout the early learning years and why we turned to it to help with our "Kindergarten boot camp".
I bet you’re thinking this doesn’t sound like a very fun way to spend your summer, and you’d be wrong. My daughter looks forward to her VINCI time so much that she does crazy things like turn down dessert or offer to clean my floors for more VINCI time each day. Crazy, I tell you.
But, I guess it’s not surprising considering every time she’s playing it I find her giggling at something new she discovered, something funny she created or some silly song. She gets so into the games and activities she does that her VINCI time ends up going really fast each day, but I think it’s perfect because she looks forward to it more that way and when I pull it out in meetings or at the doctor’s she’s really excited to play it.
Whereas we started using the tablet together for the first few weeks so I could give her an overview of how to work it, now I prefer to let her explore on her own and find new things by herself. This works great because she loves that she can show me what she’s learning and she can articulate what she’s doing in the game/activity so we can talk about it together.
Now that she’s more comfortable with working a tablet and the touchscreen, she’s lightyears better at the activities than she was when she first started. This has meant that she has been able to go to the next stage of the curriculum so she’s been challenged a bit more, and I’ve loved watching her move ahead and really retain what she’s learning. There are so many times that she references the VINCI games she’s been playing when we’re out and about or someone mentions a certain topic, and I love seeing her connect the dots between the games and the conversation.
But, while she’s progressed to the next stage of the curriculum {the Confident}, I love that she still enjoys playing the first games {the Curious} with her brother as well, which I think speaks to how well they resonated with her. Even though the games may be a bit too easy for her now in the first level of the curriculum, playing them is a way that she relaxes, kind of the way solitaire or Tetris is for some.
With so many road trips, train and plane trips and long vacations planned this summer, I’m very grateful that she can entertain herself with the VINCI Tab. I don’t want her parked in front of the TV this summer, so I’m very glad we’ve got the VINCI Tab as an alternative that is interactive, fun, and keeps her learning while having fun.
To buy: VINCI learning tablets retail between $169-$199 and you can purchase them directly on the VINCIgenius.com
site. In addition to offering two different sized tablets, they also
have one that can expand to your smartphone for even greater
possibilities for learning.
A
big thank you to VINCI for sending the Tab III M learning tablet to
facilitate this review. As always, all opinions are 100% ours.
This looks so cool, and I love that it has educational games as well!