As part of the The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Review team I received a free trail subscription to Reading Naturally Read Live.

Read Naturally is proud to introduce Read Live, our newest assessment and intervention program.

This comprehensive, research-based program includes Benchmark Assessor Live for screening students for overall reading proficiency and our newest intervention program, Read Naturally Live, with curriculum that supports fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and phonics.  -from the Read Naturally website

I found the set up a little difficult, but after re-reading the directions a couple of times, I was able to get it done without having to calling tech support. They do have a video to help with set up, also.

The first step to using Read Naturally is assessment. The assessment involves reading 3 grade level passages. these are printed out for the student to read. While the student is reading, the teacher is usng the program to time the reading and also mark any words missed. I used Read Live with my 11 year old son.

Once you start the lesson, the child picks a story from one of the 12 available on that level.  Before starting to read, the kids see a list of key words that will be in the story. They can click on the words to get the pronounciation and definition. The student thens write a prediction of the story, what the child thinks the story will be about.

At the beginning and end of the lesson, the teacher is needed. In between, the student can work alone. At the top of the page it will say “Teacher Present” if the teacher is needed. While waiting for the teacher to come, the program gives the kids questions with the Wordtastic vocabulary game . My son actually enjoyed this part. A few times he was working on these when I told him it was time to start the lesson and he said he wanted to finish those questions first.

Here is the order of the lessons:

Key Words
Predictions
Cold Timing
Read Along
Practice
Quiz
Retell
Pass

In this video, you can follow along as a lesson is done.

Read Naturally has 27 videos to help you get the most out of the program for your child.

There is a status bar across the top, so the child can easily see where they are and how much more they have to do. The kids do need to type their responses for the predictions and retell sections of the lesson. My son can not yet type beyond hunt and peck. He got discouraged with the typing and didn’t want to do more than one sentence. So I had him dictate to me and I typed it in. That worked much better for him. I was able to get better responses to the questions.

When you get to the Pass section of the lesson, which the teacher has to sign into with their own ID and password, the child reads the story and the teacher counts any errors and rates the childs reading expression. The childs goals are then displayed along with their cold and hot timing scores. The teacher then grades the questions, with the program giving you sample answers and the teacher decides if the students answers are correct. The teacher also reads and grades the students retelling of the story. The teacher decides if the retelling is correct or not. Therefore, it is easy to customize the requirements for your child. After the teacher has graded these, a screen comes up with the students scores and tells the student if they passed.

My son really likes using Read Naturally. I thought he wouldn’t like having to read the story more than once, but he didn’t have a problem with it. I think he sees it as a competion, and tried hard to beat his score each time. He reminds me “Mom, I have to do that reading thing!”

Here’s what he had to say about Read Naturally:

“It’s good. I liked it. I liked reading the story about Walt Disney.  I don’t want to read the story about the snake. lol”

As you can probably tell, I didn’t tell him what to say. He doesn’t like snakes and the story about Walt Disney as a boy made an impression on him. I found the stories to be interesting and informative. And most importantly, my son did, too.

Reading Live is recommend for grades 1-8, however it can be used up through adults as an intervention program. A 12 month subscription is $149 for one student. If one of your children completes the program before your subscription is up, though, you can reassign the program to another of your students. Right now, you can sign up for a free 60 day trail of Read Live. I think it’s great that Reading Naturally offers this free trail. It’s hard to tell how your student will do in the program just by reading the description. With this free trail, you can try out the actual Read Live program with your child.

For more information, visit the Reading Naturally website. Reading Naturally also has a Facebook Page.

See what other The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew Members are saying about Reading Naturally Read Live.

*Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one free online trial
mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I
only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.
I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255:
“Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”