Rock N’ Learn Phonics Volumes 1 & 2

The words school, homework, phonics- not words that usually thrill young children. If you have children who are a little resistant to sitting and studying, you probably have tried different wants of making it more palatable for them, with or without success. Luckily, there is a company that makes products to help parents out.

Rock ‘N Learn, Inc. is a company that decided to try out a new way of teaching kids- by offering lessons set to current music, with rhyming jingles and animation. Hoping to motivate children by making learning both easier and fun, Rock ‘N Learn was able to grow into a company that offers over 50 products that sell worldwide. Rock N’ Learn is headquartered in Conroe, Texas and run by two brothers, Richard, a school psychologist who saw the need for multi-sensory learning programs using the styles of music that kids love, and his younger brother Brad, an accomplished musician, who recorded their first program to help kids learn multiplication facts. Strong sales of this recording in the school specialty and book markets led to other programs and the start of a successful company. Rock ‘N Learn programs include math, phonics, reading, early childhood, social studies, Spanish, test-taking strategies, writing, and science.

I had the opportunity to review two new DVDs being released by Rock N’ Learn- Phonics Volumes 1 & 2. Despite the fun music and animation, both DVDs focus strongly on learning, not wasting a single line of song. The recommended age is 6+, but I really see no reason why a child of four or five would not be both entertained by these DVD’s as well a bit from them. Today kids are learning to read earlier, and having a fun way to learn is a good way to sneak in some lessons without them even realizing it. Many four year olds already know the alphabet and letters. Learning which of those letters are vowels is not a big leap, so I would recommend these DVD’s for even younger children than the recommended age (they can watch along with an older sibling as well). The rest of the DVDs are much more challenging, with sentence building instruction, read-along stories, practice in sounding out words, learning to pluralize, learning about the silent “e”, various word ending, rule breakers, and much more.

Some more great features of Rock N Learn Phonics:

1. Fun animation includes great human, animal, and extraterrestrial characters as well as colorful, psychedelic backgrounds. For a learning tool, the animation is actually pretty terrific.
2. Everything is spoken clearly and emphatically, to make it easier for children to understand. Some of the characters use funny voices to make it more amusing, but even they are speaking to the proper target audience with clarity and a proper pace.
3. The DVDs are self-paced. Your child can choose to work for a while on a current lesson before advancing to other concepts or lessons, and build confidence as they become more fluent. They first learn an idea or concept in a fun way, then have the opportunity to practice using it in the proper context, and the read-alongs are available at a slow pace for beginning readers and (some) also in a bonus section at a normal pace for when your child advances.

Buy it! Rock ‘N Learn Phonics I & II are available individually or as a package at .

Review and giveaway sponsored by Rock N’ Learn.