Incorporating Smile Zemi Educational Tablet Into Electronics Time
As a homeschool mom, I am not a huge fan of electronic time for kids. I feel like most of the apps are a waste of time. While they could be offline using their imaginations, kids seem to get “addicted” to electronics and gravitate toward them instead. There are a lot of applications that claim to be educational but provide very little tangible educational value. My kids have not enjoyed the applications that have “some educational value”. Like most kids, they prefer to get into an app that they consider to be fun as soon as possible.
We recently had the opportunity to review Smile Zemi educational tablet, designed for 1st-5th graders and meets common core standards. I was very skeptical and seriously considered not checking into it. As I mentioned, our prior experiences have fallen clearly into buckets. Either it’s “Educational but not fun” and “Entertainment-focused”, AKA fun. I thought if this is actually educational, my kids aren’t going to enjoy it. Or is too often the case, it would not be very educational at all. Before committing to this project for the website, I did what homeschool moms do… I researched. Multiple reviews shared how students experienced an increase in math and English scores after using it. That was enough for me to decide it would be worth a try.
Guess what. My initial reaction was wrong. Smile Zemi is a great learning tool. It is educational and my kids both enjoy using it. The neat thing about Smile Zemi is that it is an educational tablet with the program on it. It’s designed specifically WITHOUT a web browser, gaming app, and video platforms. So it immediately eliminates the possibility of a child accidentally getting onto something they shouldn’t. It also eliminates the possibility that you have on other devices that a child can switch too soon to a “fun app!”
Lessons on the Smile Zemi weren’t a chore for the kids with both enjoying the experience and feeling accomplished after. This is likely because they looked forward to the rewards of building a character and earning neat cards upon completion of lessons. They were so proud to also show what lessons they had completed after to us. I noticed even the child who wasn’t currently on the Smile Zemi would sit and watch their sibling complete a lesson. They were both excited to see the rewards the other earned. (One room schoolhouse anyone?) The service provides ways for parents to monitor their child’s progress too!
As with any piece of electronics, it comes at a cost. Since Smile Zemi is a stand alone system, there’s an upfront cost of purchasing the tablet. It requires a subscription service after that. (I am not a fan of subscriptions.) While the monthly price is less expensive than a tutor or learning center, it still might be out of some family budgets. They do have a special offer that you can try Smile Zemi educational tablet for free for a few weeks. I think if a parent is seeing improvement during the trial for a struggling child, this would be a great option. There are many wonderful educational resources available for children. It is nice to be able to check out and see for FREE if it works for your child first.
Our children’s education is a place we are happy to invest in, but we have never paid for a subscription at that price point before. Right now, I am seeing happy children excited to learn with Smile Zemi. I am grateful for the free trial Smile Zemi provides so we can evaluate if Smile Zemi is something that could work for our children on a long term basis.
How do you feel about try-before-you-buy offers?
Shady unethical business practices- lure you in with trial period and then refuse to cancel claiming you are locked in for a full year worth of payments
Actually, in this case the website/company was very transparent / upfront about the costs and what you are paying for. We got the free trail with no cost for the tablet, and it was very clear from the start that the “free” tablet was a condition of keeping the subscription for a year after the trial (21 days from day it shipped) was over. Usually the tablet alone costs around $300+ and then the subscription fees are monthly, 6mo, or yearly. They included Smile Tablet Care (for accidents/damages) for free for the first year. I was not happy that the trial started as soon as the tablet was shipped (before I actually received) it but again they tell you this upfront so I had the INFORMED CHOICE of paying for 2 day shipping so I could make the most of the trial time. If we chose not to keep it during the three week trial then I can return it and have my money returned. It made the decision process a lot easier knowing what I was getting into from the start. They also offered the PayPal option which I know from experience meant that if I chose to return it and they didn’t give me my money back I could easily dispute it thru PayPal once I had proof of return and receipt, but my bankk account would not be touched. (PayPal has been great about this in the past with prev purchase). Bottom line is that YES some companies are shady and lock you into a subscription you didn’t intend to have, and then won’t cancel or refund you. However THIS TIME I can say I don’t feel like that happened. I knew what we were getting from the start. The 1 year cost for this self-paced, closed-system, tutoring tablet that we can use any time of day as long as desired, is WAY less than I would have to pay for just a summer tutoring program or a half year worth of tutoring at a physical location with limited times/sessions at set times and days. (Just Google the costs for Mathnasium’s sessions or summer program as an example).
Thanks for covering Smile Zemi’s terms. I’ve so many apps that didn’t retain my children’s attention because of other more fun apps they’d navigate to when I wasn’t looking. If it’s effective, then it will be so much less than the $360 mo for ONE child/one subject. We paid for Mathnasium and Kumon. I’m not sure but it appears that I can use it for multiple children at different levels, I have a kindergartener and a 5th grader.
After using the tablet from April til now (the Summer program was no additional charge) I can say it IS an effective tutoring method and has been helpful in keeping my son sharp in his skills but it was not what he considered “FUN”. If he had a choice to do it he would not. Honestly, that was okay. Schooling isn’t always FUN, and sitting still to do self-paced learning during summer vacation isn’t exactly a kids idea of fun but even I was able to get something out of the SmileZemi style of learning. For example – I learned how to do some basic common core math. I happen to think that CC math is the dumbest thing to happen in the history of primary education, because it makes a math problem that traditionally takes 3-4 steps and turns it into 6 steps just to get the same answer. It is HARD for parents to unlearn math as we know it and re-learn it so we can help our kids. So the tablet did help me learn some of the basics even though I still think it is just DUMB to change basic math. It also makes it frustrating for kids who are able to count by 2,3,5,10 etc. to have to break down 2-digit numbers into smaller parts and take more steps to get an answer when they can quickly get the same correct answer by counting in multiples. This tablet does a decent job at explaining how to break down the 10’s into smaller numbers and the steps CC math requires to get an answer. My 7 yr old learned math the straightforward way when he was 5 so he also thinks CC math is dumb and has had difficulty re-learning math. BUT, the tablet does reinforce most of the things he learned in first grade. It has helped keep his ELA and reading comprehension skills sharp. He has practiced nouns (Proper and common) , verbs (action, past /present tense), and punctuation, as well as word problems and telling time.
I wish the lessons were more engaging and consistent. One session of four different system-selected lessons coveres multiple topics rather than focusing on a chosen topic. There would be a didactic lesson and then the next lesson is on something totally different rather than practice on what was just reviewed in the didactic portion. Listening to the lessons while he does them sounds a lot like a teacher would sound in a classroom and I can clearly see how easy it is to get distracted. There is nothing really engaging from a 7 yr old POV. This isn’t something he is excited to do because there is nothing stimulating about it. I hate to call it boring, but… So, I always have to tell him to just sit still and get focused/busy. Once he get’s going though, he can do four lessons each session and stick with it. The reward system in SmileZemi does nothing to motivate him to learn so I came up with our own reward/encouragement system.
We used this over the summer to keep him sharp on the things he learned in 1st grade and now that school starts soon, I am using the Parent Portal to try to select different lessons so he can begin practicing some basics for 2nd grade. The PP is mostly intuitive but I don’t see the system consistently presenting lessons based on my selections. One day I want to focus on ELA and the next day on Math, etc. but it still mixes up the lessons. That makes it kinda hard to focus a day’s worth of practice on subjects he may need to work on more.