Rambles and Reading Eggs

We managed to get out this morning for a woodland ramble... we were a bit later getting out than we had hoped, so we changed plans, saving the trip further afield for next weekend, and instread we went for an explore in the woods a bit closer to home.  One of the lovely things about living in Hertfordshire is that we are thoroughly spoilt for walks outdoors, so we only had to drive a few minutes up the road, and there we were in Mummy's beloved woodland, identifying birds, plants and insects, learning techniques for climbing up and down steep banks, working out where we were by identifying landmarks etc - and just generally enjoying the fresh air & exercise.

Once home again, it was lunchtime while we watched Deadly 60 - we do love our nature/ wildlife!  And then it was back to computer games while hubby and I got on with chores we needed to do (getting ready for tomorrow's street party, amongst other things).  DS3 has been getting on so well with Reading Eggs, but he has hit a bit of a wall... since he finished the first level he has been stuck, because he isn't allowed to progress to the next level until he passes the end of level test.  He failed the test initially, which I wasn't surprised at - he is only three, after all, and although I'm really impressed at what he has learned already, I know that quite a bit of his 'progress' on Reading Eggs has been because he just worked out how to use the technology, not necessarily because he has mastered the reading skills being presented.  They do recommend that children do the 'lessons' more than once, which I think is the major flaw in the programme: even allowing for the fact that DS3 wants to collect as many eggs as he can to spend on games, he is not in the slightest bit interested in repeating the earlier 'game levels' - so he is spending quite a lot of time either spending eggs on playing games (he amassed a lot of eggs) or repeating the test, vaguely hoping that this time it will magically let him on to the next level.  On the one hand, I'm glad it doesn't let him progress until he's mastered the current level skills, but I can understand his discouragement - I can see I will need to get a lot more involved to help him pass this hurdle.  That's not a problem in itself, but I had been enjoying the fact that when one or two of them are on the computer, it releases me to either have one-on-one with another child, or I get some housework done.  Hey ho, never mind - helping them learn is what I'm here for.  Hopefully next week we'll get back into the Reading Eggs groove.  Teaching a child to read is one of my favourite things, so I really can't complain - it's going to be great!