Reading and writing are pretty much my life so naturally I assumed my kids would love both. That is not what happened.
From a young age, a large portion of my life has been spent either reading books or trying to write them. I have the shelves of books and drawers of journals and notebooks to prove it. When we got pregnant with our twins I just kind of assumed they’d be writers and readers. You can probably understand my confusion when I ended up with one child with dyslexia and another who absolutely hates writing.
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Now they are both readers. I don’t think you can really live in my house and not be. We read All. The. Time. There are books quite literally everywhere. Learning to read was a huge struggle for my daughter (I wrote more about that in this post), but she has come a long way and even when she fought syllable by syllable to read anything, she still loved to be read to by us.
Also Read: Children’s Books for Kids with Dyslexia
Learning to Write was a different story.
What neither of my kids loves is writing. Writing, as you can imagine, is incredibly hard for my daughter. She is persistent, but it is not a fun experience. And my son, just hates it. Like really hates it.
From helping my daughter learn to read, however, I realized that if I could make it fun and relate learning to her interests then the battle was at least easier. To make it more enjoyable, we
- played lots of UKLOO and other games where reading was naturally ingrained.
- cooked a lot and took turns reading the directions (some of our favorite cookbooks are listed here).
- hunted for good easy readers and later chapter books that she could relate to or made her laugh.
But when it came to writing I just didn’t understand what to do with the endless frustration over spelling, paralyzing feeling one apparently gets from a writing prompt, or a palpable hatred of editing and grammar.
That’s where Night Zookeeper comes in.
Note: Read all the way to the bottom for a special offer for readers!
Why Night Zookeeper
Night Zookeeper is an award winning book series, creative writing platform and complete Language Arts curriculum that helps improve the writing skills of 5-12+ year olds. When I was researching different ways to teach writing to my less than enthusiastic writers, I kept coming across reviews that described Night Zookeeper with words like fun, different, video game like. This sounded like a good fit.
Night Zookeeper Features
With Night Zookeeper your child:
- Will improve their Core Writing Skills
- Get Personalized Feedback from a dedicated team of tutors
- Do Weekly Lessons that incorporate interactive video elements and games to teach key skills.
- Have Publishing Opportunities and weekly competitions with real life prizes
- Get FREE Monthly Educational Printables
Our Night Zookeeper Experience
I’ll admit, I was skeptical. Would it really feel fun to my kids? And, if it did feel fun, would they actually be doing any writing or skill building? The answer to both was YES.
My kids absolutely love it. We use Night Zookeeper weekly in our homeschool. When it is time in our schedule to do Night Zookeeper I get zero arguments. They are both eager to “play” and I love how they interact with each other as they do. They compare where they are, what they’ve uncovered and what they’re working on.
Night Zookeeper approaches learning to write a lot like I approached learning to read with my daughter. Night Zookeeper
- puts writing concepts like parts of speech into games that are fun to play.
- breaks the writing up into smaller chunks which makes it less intimidating, a bit like reading a recipe
- is built around a love of animals and playful context of building a zoo which is great for kids who love animals and imagination.
Also Read: 10 Gifts for Kids to Encourage New Reading Skills
And it absolutely encourages writing skill development. I am especially happy with the supportive way it does this for my daughter with dyslexia. It feels very low pressure for her, but also offers the kind of structured supports that she needs to be successful.
If all of that sounds like a good fit for your kids, give Night Zookeeper a try with this link, you will get a FREE 7 day trial and then 50% off annual subscriptions. This costs $59.99 for the year for a single child subscription and $77.99 for 2-3 children.
Night Zookeeper Book Series
In addition to the online writing program, you can also encourage reading with the Night Zookeeper chapter book series. The fifth book just released, so there are now five adventures to read. If your kids love the Night Zookeeper program, which I can pretty much guarantee they will, then these books will bring alive ideas and characters they are already getting to know. All of them follow Will (who your kids will get to know in the Night Zookeeper program) on adventures.
Also Read: Raising Reading Resources
Book 1
When Will accidentally creates a mysterious portal during a trip to the zoo, he’s transported into the world of the Night Zoo, and thrust into an incredible adventure.
Book 2
Joined by his friends, Sam and Riya, Will journeys to Fire Desert, where rumours of a creature called ‘the Grip’ have struck fear into the hearts of the animals. Even Captain Claw, a fierce lioness, seems to be acting strangely on hearing the news.
Book 3
Will journeys through a new portal and arrives within the high walls of Igloo City. It is a strange place where the animals follow strict rules put in place by their leader, Circles the owl.
Book 4
Will, Sam and Riya travel to the Tusk Temple in search of Maji the time-travelling elephant. But the temple is in danger. The only way to save it is for Will to undergo the Night Zookeeper trial – facing leaps over bottomless caverns, impossible puzzles, and an ultimate test in bravery.
Book 5
Will, Sam and Riya travel to the Flying Mountain hoping to recruit a famous warrior to help defend the Night Zoo. On the way, Will must show extreme courage and climb a frozen waterfall and feed a word to a wolf made entirely of a howling wind.
If your kids love playing and learning to write with Night Zookeeper then I highly recommend the Night Zookeeper book series. You can learn more and get the whole 5 book series on their site.
Don’t miss this chance to try a truly innovative writing program for kids. Night Zookeeper is offering My Storytime Corner readers a special deal. Sign up for the FREE 7 day trial and when it’s over you can get 50% off an annual subscription!
If you’re looking to inspire writing, even in the least enthusiastic or discouraged writers, Night Zookeeper might be the perfect gift or homeschool addition for your family.
To learn more, you can check out the book series HERE and learn more about the Night Zookeeper subscriptions HERE.
Now, it’s your turn. Comment below and share your best ideas for inspiring reluctant writers in your home. I love hearing from you!
