| | |  | Children's Software | Home » » » JumpStart World 1st Grade | | | | | | | Description: | | JumpStart World™ 1st Grade a revolutionary 3D world of learning that progresses in response to your child s own pace. It s the smart fun way to achieve 1st Grade success!System Requirements:PIII series 1 GHz or better Windows XP 32 MB DirectX9.0c compatible video Card 1.4 GB Free hard disk space Broadband Connection 256 RAM Format: WIN 98ME2000XPVISTA Genre: EDUCATION UPC: 876930001697 Manufacturer No: 20223 | | | Features: | |
• The smart, fun way to achieve success in school
• Personalized learning that responds to your child's pace so that kids stay challenged and motivated
• Interactive learning design provides new play experiences every time your child signs on
• Parents get activity tips, helpful ideas, and progress reports
• Unique 3D design and immersive play
| | | Product Details: | | | Product Length:
| 7.8 inches | | Product Width:
| 5.6 inches | | Product Height:
| 1.4 inches | | Product Weight:
| 0.2 pounds | | Package Length:
| 7.8 inches | | Package Width:
| 5.6 inches | | Package Height:
| 1.4 inches | | Package Weight:
| 0.2 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 21 reviews |
| | | System Requirements: | | | Platform:
| Windows Vista / Windows XP | | Media:
| CD-ROM | | Item Quantity:
| 1 |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 21 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
23 of 25 found the following review helpful:
 A must buy, really great software for kids on summer vacation!Aug 01, 2007
By Kiddos mom
I went ahead and bought this software after reading a review of this software in the Houston Chronicle (you can probably find it online) which gave it the highest praise. After watching my son "play" his way through the first unit for the past couple days, I am recommending it without reservation. He's about halfway through with the first unit and although it's another $60+, I intend to go ahead and purchase the extra 10 "units" for this. I will update this review when I have information on the quality of the extra-cost units.
The software runs smoothly and looks good. There are fun sounds and activities wherever you turn. And, it actually looks like my child is getting a great review of things he learned in kindergarten and if his interest stays as keen as it has been for the last three days, the software should have him ready to start the school year with a little headstart.
By the way, I volunteered every other week for the past year at my son's kindergarten's media lab and helped the class with software such as KidPix and M.I.N.D. Institute software. At the time, I wished there was a way to bring these software packages onto my home computer (but they cost thousands of dollars so that just wasn't an option). This looks like the software I was wishing for at the time. It is aligned with the types of things in school curriculums, and is set up for running at home.
And, it runs great on a 4-5 year old Windows XP computer. Absolutely no issues with installation, although there were more steps than usually required so that I, as a parent, could configure the setup. I think the configuration was time well spent as I can now open my parental version of the game and have a dashboard that shows me how my child is progressing.
My six year old son (finished kindergarten two months ago) has been engrossed since we started it up. In prior years, he has played all the usual kids games since starting on the computer at age 3-4 so he's not new to the computer. He's a smart kid (I think) but pretty much right at grade level in all areas as far as his achievement in school. These games are challenging enough to keep him entertained but he has not yet gotten frustrated. It's great that he now has a game that reinforces reading and arithmetic skills in a fun and motivating way. Also, the software designers have done a great deal of work in tailoring rewards and trophies that keep things interesting and motivate kids.
So far, over two days, he's spent about 2 hours each day working on the game, and this morning he was up at 630 am and sitting at his computer in his pajamas to keep trying to win his first "key".
Updating Nov 20, after 3 1/2 months. Still loving this software. The important fact in this update is that after completing 7/12 of the game, I am still completely satisfied with the quality of the modules that are coming through download. This justified, for me, the additional cost for adding in the optional modules (I bought all of them instead of a monthly subscription). I far prefer this game to any other gameboy/cartoonnetwork/gamecube/pc game my son has. It's also the most expensive but after 3.5 months he's only about 7/12 of the way through the modules for first grade. The reason I like this software is because it drills and teaches MATH and READING skills. This has been a much better learning tool than the homework assignments he finishes in 2 minutes every day. Disadvantages: The computer crashed and we lost the hard disk storage of his progress. When we reinstalled we had to start over from the first step of the game. That was tedious and I had to sweeten the reward incentives (built in to the game with parental controls). The offer of a Laser Tag outing after a certain level of progress was necessary to get him moving on it again.
In summary, once 1st grade is completed, I think I'll be buying 2nd grade.
8 of 8 found the following review helpful:
Expensive but worth it....Mar 11, 2008
By Kiki's Delivery Service
First off, let me say that commonsensemedia.org gives a nice overview of the JumpStart World software. Second, after reading all the reviews I did not first purchase this disk, I bought the full download on the Knowledge Adventure website for a whopping $74.99, but we got all 12 units at once (although you must finish a unit to proceed to the next). I was getting tired of the non educational aspects of Webkinz and similar virtual worlds (littlest pet shop and myepets) so we gave this a try. Although my child is in Kindergarten, the year is almost over so I took a chance on the First Grade version and I'm glad I did. The game starts out pretty easy with pattern recognition, simple math, and letter sounds in Unit One. This unit took my child about 10 hours to complete. The second unit has her reading charts/graphs (something she has not had to do in Kindergarten so it's a little tough), solve word problems (that are read aloud), recognize math fact families, and tell time. Once in a while she does need help or for me to read something to her. So the games are appropriately challenging for my nearly 6 yr old and the "world" is fun...you can choose your character, dress it, and buy and care for a pet, create artwork anytime you want and have a parade. You can flip between exploring the "world" and playing the games as much as you like. Most activities are mouse-driven but some do use the arrow keys like a tricky tetris-style game. Kids are motivated to go back and play the games repeatedly b/c doing so gets them more jewels to buy stuff for their pet and virtual home. It's all very well done: the graphics are good, so far the music isn't too annoying, and it runs perfectly on VISTA (although we had one bug installing it that my husband had to google a fix for). All in all I asked my daughter, who has played a zillion computer and leapster games why she likes Jump Start World and she says "it's just awesome!".
16 of 19 found the following review helpful:
Great for kids, not for parentsAug 17, 2007
By therealCSI
My 6 year old son has not put down this game since I bought it for his birthday. He can play for two hours at a time. As far as the game goes, it is excellent.
But there are down sides to this game. No where on the packaging does it say that the game CANNOT be played without an internet connection. The manufacturer will not give me a straight answer as to why the game has to be connected to the internet to play. So I cannot take this game with us on outings or in the car because it will not run outside of our home.
Also, I spent $20 for the game. Now if I want the "entire" game, I have to dish out an additional $8 per month to get the rest of the game. That seems quite unreasonable for a game for a 6 year old!! I thought I was buying the "entire" game when I bought the CD.
The description also says that the parent will get emailed progress reports on how their child is doing, which is true, for the first few months. Then comes the $8/month email to keep it going. I just think that this is a bit much to ask.
So my son will play this game until it runs out, or whatever happens after two adventures.
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
 problem not resolved for weeks. Customer support needs improvement!!Jun 02, 2008
By Southern City
The games are good. My daugter who is 6 loves them. But after she finishes Unit 1, she keeps getting "here at jump start camp, we have a few more things to do before we start the next adventure, why don't you quit the game and start over?". We could not get rid of this no matter what we tried. Unit 2 never enables for us. Called their customer support, emailed them.......so far we were asked to send some files off our hard disk to them and no response after that........
We have been trying to get them to resolve this issue for weeks now.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
 Program seems OK. Installation awful.Dec 31, 2009
By G. North
I had a problem with the installation.
I started the installer and successfully registered online, but the installer later had a disk read problem. I canceled the install and tried again, but now the installer insisted on my registering again.
I successfully logged into the web site with my newly created account from the first install, but the installer wouldn't recognize that I had previously registered. It continued to insist I register before proceeding, which I couldn't do since my email account was already tied to the first registration.
Turns out the integration between the web registration and the program install is sloppy and cheap. It's not transactional and it's handled by a VB Script (cheesy!). Luckily, I happen to be a programmer, and I wound up copying the CD to a hard drive, tweaking the .vbs to skip the registration check, installing the application, then modifying an.ini file to fool it into thinking I installed from the CD drive. If this makes sense to you, and you're willing to do the same if your initial install fails, then have fun.
Apparently, you also need an internet connection to start up the game as well, which may make this game unusable when traveling, unless you have wi-fi access or a cellular modem.
That being said, my son seems to enjoy the game.
See all 21 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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