My Unbiased Night Zookeeper Review
This post contains affiliate links. I may receive a small commission if you decide to make a purchase.
“Today, your assignment is to write 1 paragraph with a topic and concluding sentence,” I said to my 4th grader. No sooner than I had said those words, he burst into tears. He laid his head down on his desk and cried tears of frustration. My 10 year old son was struggling with writing. We were just starting the basics of composition with our Abeka language arts curriculum. My son, Jake, is a smart kid. He’s really advanced in most of his subjects (he’s skipped a couple grades), but this was really tripping him up. As a mom, it was breaking my heart.
I started searching high and low for an answer. “Maybe I just need to spend more time with him on writing” I thought. Was the curriculum too advanced? He was doing great everywhere else, it was just the writing. There seemed to be a problem between his head and his paper; he had the ideas, but organizing the thoughts into words on paper was not working well for him.
One afternoon, during this struggle, I received an email from The Night Zookeeper. I remembered seeing their ads on Facebook, but I didn’t know what it was. I read the email that outlined the program from the representative, Caitlyn. She told me that it was a program that helped children, ages 8 to 12, learn how to write. Immediately, she had my attention. Moms, have you ever been desperate for a solution? I was there, at that point. So when Caitlyn asked me if my son would try their program and review it, I immediately said yes.
A live session with Night Zookeeper recently!
Check out the Night Zookeeper coupon code below.
Animal Lovers Rejoice
Here’s the thing; we limit screen time at our home. I am not a huge fan of online programs because that usually means a lot of screen time. But in my desperation, I said yes. I was willing to try anything, just so I wouldn’t have to see my son cry anymore during language arts time.
We signed up, and he started to “play”. When you sign up with The Night Zookeeper, you get to create an avatar. So Jake made his personal avatar, and was then taken to the home area, which is a zoo! Being an animal lover, this was right up his alley. Then, we started playing some of the Night Zookeeper games. There are games that incorporate spelling, grammar, and basic language skills. I let my son play for about 15 minutes a day after school.
How Do I Use Night Zookeeper?
I probably get asked this question the most. We did not replace our language arts curriculum with Night Zookeeper. Instead, we used NZK as a supplement. It ended up becoming a reward to my son, something he looked forward to every day. We found that NZK is an amazing supplemental program, and a great reward at the end of the day.
While I wouldn't recommend using it as a full curriculum, this is a very nice complementary program for struggling writers, ages 8-12. It opens up their imagination, and helps the student formulate thoughts to words.
3 Month Results Into the NZK Program
About 3 months into the program, my husband and I noticed a huge shift in our son. One afternoon, I was sitting on the couch with my husband and Jake walked in with a bunch of notebook paper stapled together. He had a huge smile on his face as he handed it to us. “This is my ocean animal book!”, he said. He wrote a book. My son, who was crying at the thought of writing a mere paragraph just 3 months earlier, wrote a book. A book, complete with chapters, headings, introduction and conclusion paragraphs, just like Abeka laid out. Only this time, he knew what to do. He was able to take the information in his head and communicate it onto paper. This time, it was me who was crying.
For months after this, he added to this “book”. He would write new chapters daily. Many of you are probably wondering if this program, being online, translates well to pen and paper writing. I can tell you from experience that it absolutely does.
The Night Zookeeper novels are among my son’s favorite novels. He loves the book series. We recently purchased the next one in the set for Christmas 2021. He devoured the book in just one day!
He’s read them a few times over. This would be a great read-aloud series for your homeschool or family time. Elementary aged students will love this series!
Final Thoughts; My Unbiased Night Zookeeper Review
I am so thankful to Night Zoo Keeper and their staff. They changed my little boy’s academic life.
He loves writing now. He enjoys writing as a hobby! For Christmas, I made him his own “writers kit”, complete with lined journals, gel pens, pencils with cool smells, and lots of ocean animal stickers. I also bought him the Night Zookeeper book series, which he binge-read the week after Christmas. They are his very favorite chapter books now, and he is eagerly awaiting the next book release.
For language arts, we are switching him to IEW; Institute for Excellence in Writing. It’s a writing-based language arts program to help shape his writing skills even more. He expressed wanting to go further into writing, and I was happy to do this for him.
I decided to become an affiliate for NZK because I loved the program so much. I saw the good it did for my son, and I knew it would be so helpful for other students out there. Writing can be a challenge for many students, and this program offers a great, affordable solution. My followers know that I never share or become an affiliate of anything that I don’t personally use in my own homeschool. I can say, as my official Night Zookeeper Review, that this program was life-changing. There are no more tears of frustration.
Want 50% off a subscription (7 day FREE trial) CLICK HERE: https://www.nightzookeeper.com/en-us/parents/special_offers/1?ref=mandymaltz&tap_a=107218-4e231f
Night Zookeeper Coupon Code!
As a special offer for my readers and subscribers, Night Zookeeper is offering 50% off and a free trial for you. You just have to use my special link (no coupon code required!).
➡️ CLICK HERE: https://www.nightzookeeper.com/en-us/parents/special_offers/1?ref=mandymaltz&tap_a=107218-4e231f
Try out NZK (for free!) with your kids and see if it's a good fit for your family.
You can see more on my Night Zookeeper Review in my video.
