- Could you summarize what Beestar offers?
Beestar offers curriculum-based online programs for school kids.
They include Math, English Language Arts (ELA), Vocabulary, Science, Social Studies, and GT (Gifted & Talented) Math exercises.
After setting up accounts (membership sign-up), every semester you can log in to select/register a weekly math program for free,
for as long as you want,
without obligation. If you want a fee-based program (ELA, vocabulary, science, social studies, GT math),
for a $20-$30 fee, your child can be enrolled in the program for a whole semester (2 exercises per week).
- What are the Beestar Progressive Exercise (BPE) programs?
Beestar Progressive Exercise (BPE)
is a systematic knowledge application and skill practice program
designed to help students master what they learned in school. The weekly exercises can
strengthen their skills, bring deeper understanding to concepts, and provoke interests.
Beestar Progressive Exercise (BPE) covers the core subjects such as math, English
Language Arts (ELA), vocabulary, science, and social studies.
With these after school trainings, students will make excellent grades, have more confidence in
the classroom, and build a solid academic foundation for their future
career endeavor.
- What is the format of your exercise programs?
BPE programs are based on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) system,
with many additions from the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) system, Massachusetts MCAS system,
and the California STAR Program.
Most exercises follow the standard test format with multiple-choice problems.
Exercise topics are arranged in the public school curriculum sequence, in a slightly faster pace.
They are designed to provoke learning interests and master fundamental skills.
With the Beestar accounts you have, you log in to select and register exercise
programs semester by semester.
BPE programs start and end following the school semesters (terms) in the Sugar Land area.
Fall and spring have different exercise items.
Although the actual dates vary year from year, fall and spring semesters always have
19 weeks (18 weeks of exercises and 1 week of review & summary).
From 2005, Beestar also provides
9-week summer terms (8 weeks exercise and 1 week summary). Summer is the last
term of a school year. It is designed to prepare students for the next grade level
in fall.
In a program, a student needs to complete 2 exercises every week in a term.
Each exercise takes about 10 minutes. The parent can keep track of the kid's progress online.
He can read exercise reports at the end of each week. The student's achievements
as well as places to improve are reported.
- My child is just a first grader. Is he ready to use Beestar on the computer?
For a first grader, doing anything independently is a challenge. At the beginning, you
should sit together with your child from the start to the end and assist him through the process.
Then, you can gradually let him handle more until he is comfortable to do it all by
himself. Depending on the progress, most children grasp the skills within 2 weeks while
others may take longer. Many first-graders use our online programs every week with only minor help
from parents.
Beestar offers programs for first graders and up. We do not have kindergarten exercises.
Children in kindergarten probably should have playful activities for their age.
If your kindergartener likes online math or ELA, you may guide him/her to try some first grade
exercises.
- I have registered my child into your math program.
Does he need to prepare anything before it starts? How do we get the full benefit of the program?
BPE will guide you and your child throughout the process.
In general, there are 3 steps:
1. Understand the exercise goals: You need to preview the objectives (exercise topics)
before starting an
exercise. BPE will remind you of the exercise topics the week before, and optionally
recommend reference materials. If your child is not ready for the topics listed,
he should study them first, before taking the exercises.
2. Take the exercises: each program has 2 exercises every week. They are published on Sunday.
Each of them takes about 10 minutes. You can do them any time during the week.
All the exercises are timed. Speed is an important factor in skill mastery,
so make sure your child is not interrupted during the session, and encourage him to solve the
problems as quickly as he can.
3. Assess the results: results are given right after your child submits his
answers. Your child should study the results carefully, especially his errors.
At the end of the week, the exercises are closed and
a report is sent to the parent. It includes the student's exercise details and statistics.
- How are the exercise programs developed?
BPE teachers have many years of school teaching experience. We have studied state standards, major
workbooks, and published tests to compose our progressive exercise programs.
We actively participate and monitor the on-going education reform to include the latest
curriculum and standards into our programs.
Beestar programs were initially designed for the Sugar Land area students in Texas.
But over the years, we've seen as good or even better curricula in some other states.
To enrich our contents and aim at high standards, Beestar has been working with the education
departments of several states to include their high quality test items and curricula
whenever possible. As more students from other states
use Beestar, we hope to offer the best online programs for all of our users.
- My child is the top student in his class. Does he need BPE?
BPE program may benefit your child in such ways:
1. BPE is interesting and challenging to even the top students. It's good to
consolidate the fundamentals and broaden your child's knowledge by extensive exposures.
2. There are many talented students enrolled in Beestar. It's good to let
your child meet other competitive kids and realize there is always room to grow and to improve.
- My child is an average student and he does not like homework. How can your exercises be helpful?
Online computer-based exercises provide another way of drawing your child's interests. Kids are more attracted to
interactive content. Short time spans, instant results, and vivid graphic pictures are all geared to make study
easy and fun. Your child will probably like computer-based programs.
Beestar Progressive exercises start with simple basic content. Most students find them easy at the beginning.
After kids gain some confidence, the exercises gradually raise its level, often un-noticed, to practice
fundamental skills. A little every day makes a big difference as time progresses. Parents are often surprised at
the progress their children have made after a semester. In our experience, those average kids who lack interests in conventional
study methods benefit the most from Beestar programs.
- Although my child is a 2nd grader, his math skill is at the 3rd grade level.
Will he benefit from your math program?
Congratulations. Kids that get ahead early usually have more confidence and thus have more opportunities.
You certainly should choose the programs that suit your child's knowledge level.
BPE for grade 3 math means the exercise content is at the public school 3rd grade level.
Your child does not have to be a 3rd grader to participate.
If your child is enrolled at the 3rd grade level, you will be able to compare his records with other
participants (mostly top 3rd graders). The exercises will make your child more confident to
proceed. BPE site will help you check his performance, so you know what he needs in his fast learning process.
Please note that the samples are not enough for assessing grade levels. For most kids, we still recommend
selecting their school grade level.
- How is your exercise program compared to conventional workbooks?
Conventional workbooks are a good resource for kids to practice their knowledge and
skills. Nevertheless, good books alone often do not deliver without an organized program.
It's like giving your child the best textbooks but not sending him to school.
We have seen parents struggling in persuading their
children to work on nice thick workbooks. In most cases, the effort is on and off
depending on how much time the parent puts in. He also needs
to keep track of the right pace, amount, and contents. It is often difficult
for busy parents, and thus many of them eventually give up in frustration.
BPE program manages the pace, amount, and contents
systematically. It reminds parents and children to proceed. It enables
parents to review their children's progress anywhere anytime with detailed information
and statistics. BPE results provide a solid base for students and parents to make wise
study plans. With computer-based programs, children can see results instantly. They feel
more independent, not pushed. Parents spend less time and are comfortably in control.
Best of all, students learn more and enjoy studying.
- Why do you time all the exercises?
We expect students to finish an exercise within 10 minutes. Speed is an indicator of
skill levels. If two kids solved the same problem, there is a big difference if
one used 10 minutes and the other used 20. With timed drills, Beestar exercises train
students to be quick problem solvers.
- I want my child to practice as much as possible. Can you provide more exercises every week?
We intend to provide short exercises to elementary students. Doing a little every day is our philosophy.
We do not recommend young students spend long hours on school curricula.
There are many valuable activities they should participate in, such
as sports, art projects, field trips, chess, etc. The variety of activities
is significant for healthy kids' growth and is important in building their people skills.
We want kids to have a fulfilling and well-rounded grade school life
with many things to remember.
- What is the passing score for your exercises?
Beestar exercises are slightly more demanding than normal public school requirements. An 80% score
within the recommended time is at the excellent level. 60% is the passing line.
Unlike those college admission tests, scores are not the purpose of these exercises.
Building solid skills is the primary goal. Students that learn the most
in Beestar are those who make mistakes first and follow up to learn their lessons.
- Are these short exercises enough for good school grades?
They are not enough. Beestar is one of the educational programs worth your consideration.
You definitely should try other good programs as well.
In America, every kid has a panorama of offers competing for his attention. For the short
time he spends with Beestar, we could not give him as much knowledge as we wished.
Our exercises intend to fill his mind with interesting questions after leaving the computer.
Those questions make
him think, ask, go to the library, or even start an experiment. Kids looking for answers
will learn a lot without reminding. Beestar helps to make such proactive learners.
- What are the GT (Gifted and Talented) programs?
Beestar GT programs are designed for kids who want more challenge beyond the required
basic skills. Following the school teaching system, GT programs go slightly ahead of the
regular curricula. They intend to provide more mind-stretching problems to elevate students'
thinking and problem solving ability. Unlike the regular programs, many GT problems
require multiple steps to solve. Some of them demand generic critical thinking and
spatial imagination skills.
Note that Beestar GT programs are not a set of brainteasers. They are curriculum-based
academic exercises. They intend to raise student's academic record to the excellent level
(top 10%) and prepare them for selection tests.
If your child finds the regular programs easy and has the energy to take more challenging
exercises, you should let him/her try the GT programs.
- My child is gifted. Should I let him use the GT programs only?
We recommend that all GT students use the regular programs as well. Beestar regular
programs cover the fundamentals. Young students need solid fundamental skills and broad
exposure to sustain their higher pursuit.
- Where can I find the listed study references?
The primary reference SFAW (Scott Foresman - Addison Wesley, Math/ELA STUDENT EDITION) is
a series of textbooks. They are used in Sugar Land public schools.
Every student has a set. These books are not available in general bookstores or Amazon.
Only some school textbook distribution stores carry them.
However, they are not required for Beestar programs. Many outside students use their
own textbooks with corresponding chapters.
The full names (ISBNs) of some reference books are listed at Reference Books.
- How should I set up my Beestar account?
As a parent, you need to submit the setting up account form to set up a parent account
and a student account in Beestar. The passwords will be sent to your email.
From then on, every semester, you can log in to select and register Beestar exercise
programs for your child. Both you and your child can access the
weekly exercises. The parent account views more information.
- Why should parents set up accounts for their children? What is the difference between a Parent account and a Student account?
Most of Beestar users are young students. They need their parent's directions and assistance in
using Beestar or any other web services.
We do not accept kids enrolling to our web site without parent permission and guidance.
Thus, we require parents to set up accounts for their children.
Beestar will only use the parent's email to communicate a student's status.
Parents can see everything about
their children under the master account.
Students can log in to work on their exercises, but they cannot see statistic information.
- Why should I not use a temporary email in Beestar?
It is for your convenience. We understand that some people have bad experiences signing up
to a web site and ending up receiving unwanted advertisement messages. In Beestar, you do
not need to worry about it. Your email will never be disclosed to any other party.
We only occasionally send you a message for your child's exercise status
or for a web site event (such as semester start/end dates or emergent site downtime).
Users can choose to turn them off in Options.
If you use a temporary email, you will miss the information you need. Feel free to ask
any existing Beestar users about it.
- Why have I not received the account confirmation email yet?
There are several possibilities:
1. Your email service provider such as Yahoo and Hotmail may have filtered our email messages to
the "Bulk Email" or "Junk Email" folders. You need to check those places and set your account to
receive Beestar emails to your inbox folder.
2. The email delivery happened to be slow that day. You should give about 24 hours before concluding that the
message is lost. In normal cases, it takes 1 to 15 minutes.
If you conclude that the confirmation message is lost, you can use the Forgot Password function on the login
page to retrieve your password. You enter your email and submit. Our system will send the password to your
email again. You can then use them to login. If you still cannot get your password, you need to send your
email, name, and phone number to info@beestar.org for help. We will manually send your account information
to you.
- Why should I enter my child's real name and school?
When your child does well in exercises, we list his name (no contact info) in the
honor roll for internal members. It is our program design to let kids vividly see their
achievement and share their success with parents. Kids have more fun and interests to learn
when their progress is recognized. Since day one, Beestar users
have made the web site a warm, friendly kid's community. Everyone enjoys it better
when things are real. Our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy should relieve your
concern. If you ask any existing Beestar user, you will know that our
web site is a safe place for your child.
- A student account requires the student's email address. What if my child does not have email yet?
Beestar uses email as a user's unique identifier. Email is easy to remember for most users.
You can put an imaginary email address for your child as long as it's unique in our system.
Then update it when the real one is available.
For example, say your child's name is Michael Smith. You can put michael_smith@yahoo.com as his email.
Beestar does not send messages to it. We occasionally send notifications to the parent's email only.
Users can choose to turn them off in options.
- How do I register your exercise programs?
After you set up Beestar accounts, you have created a parent account (email/password) and
a student account under you.
Then every term (fall, spring, and summer), you can log in to select and register exercise programs
for your child. Note that you should set up accounts only once, but select/register programs term
by term.
At the beginning of a term, you should log in using parent email
to bring up the parent home page. Then, click the Register Programs menu link at the top;
you will see the registration method options.
Fall, spring, and summer have different exercises. They usually become more challenging in this order at the same grade level.
You can select/register any programs you want. For the free math programs, you use the Free option registering online.
For the fee-based programs such as ELA, science, social studies, and GT, click the
Check/Credit Card link to bring up the form for payment.
Most programs are $20-$30 per semester (2 exercises per week).
To pay with a credit card, the system will direct you
to the secure PayPal service. After your PayPal payment, your programs will be activated instantly.
To pay with a personal check, you need to print and fill the form on paper and mail it to Beestar.
Upon receiving your paper application, Beestar will register the programs for you with an email notification.
Regular math programs (grade 1-5) have two registration modes. By default, you register them using the Free option.
In this free mode, unfinished exercises expire in 2 weeks. If you want to access the expired free math items in the
past weeks, you need to email Beestar to de-register the free mode program, and then you can re-register it through the payment
registration page with a fee.
If you have purchased a program voucher from your local school, you click the voucher option and follow
the instructions to register online.
The registered programs will show up on the student's home page from the first day of the term.
- How do I find out what programs I have registered?
If the term already started, you can see your registered programs showing up on the student's
home page (listed in this week, last week, and next week tables).
If the term has not started yet, you can go to Register Programs and select
the Credit Card option. It will display all the programs with registered
ones checked. You may also go to the Future Weeks (from student
home page top menu link) and select your programs by subject and grade. You will
see their status (Registered or Not Registered).
- Can I register exercise programs in the middle of a term?
You can register exercise programs before and during the term.
When you register before the term starts, you will access each week's exercises on time. If you
do so in the middle of a term, you can access the past weeks via
the Past Items menu link on student home page. Only the scores earned on time are counted
into statistics.
Unfinished free math exercises expire after two weeks.
Fee-based programs such as ELA and GT Math exercises do not expire week by week. You can access all of them until
the start of the next term (The schedule is posted on the Schedules page). Their fee stays the same throughout the term (not prorated).
If you want to access the expired free math items in the past weeks, you need to email Beestar to de-register
the free mode program, and then you can re-register it through the payment registration page with a fee.
To get the full benefit of our programs, please register your programs early.
- What grade level should I choose for the summer term programs?
Summer is the last term in a school year. Its programs prepare students
for the next grade level in the upcoming fall semester. For example, if your child is in
the 2nd grade in spring, you should register grade 2 level programs in summer.
They prepare him for the 3rd grade level starting in fall. The grade 3 summer programs are for
transitions to grade 4.
- Why can't I start an exercise?
To help kids concentrate, we open a new browser window for the exercise worksheet page, which does not have
any web links. We have learned the following causes that prevent a proper exercise start in a new window:
1. Your browser has its Popup Blocker enabled that blocks the opening of a new browser window.
Latest Internet Explorers often have built-in Popup Blockers. Security software
such as Norton, McAfee, AlarmZone, etc also have the Popup Blockers. You need to turn on/off
their relevant settings to check whether they cause the problem. To safeguard against annoying ad-flying
web sites, please allow popup for www.beestar.org specifically.
Note that, sometimes, a commercial software installs a
Popup Blocker without your knowledge. Please read the next question on
Popup Blockers for more information.
2. Your browser's cookie is disabled. Cookie is required for most interactive web sites.
It's enabled by default. If you use Windows XP, go to Tools -> Internet Options -> Privacy
Tab, set the slider bar to Medium (the default setting). If you use Windows 2000, go to
Tools -> Internet Options -> Security Tab -> Custom Level button -> Scroll down to see
cookie settings. Enable the two cookie options (the default settings).
3. You did not close a previous worksheet window. When you started a second one, the second worksheet
was simply loaded to the first window without popping to the front of your screen. Thus, you did
not see anything "coming up" as usual. If you inspect your taskbar at the bottom, you should find
the window behind the scene. Clicking this window will bring it to the front.
4. Your computer is infected by some Spyware that causes browser malfunction. You need to run a virus
scanner (such as McAfee and Norton) to clean up your machine.
5. If your browser used to work and later had problems, you need to check the software you installed
recently. Some network software (including virus detectors, firewalls, standby services, etc.)
may interfere with your browser. Disable them temporarily to verify.
6. Some users solved their problem simply by closing all browser windows and rebooting the machine.
- How do I handle popup blocker related problems?
"Popup blockers" are applications designed to prevent a web site from opening a new browser window (usually an advertisement).
Some buggy popup blockers prevent normal operations of opening a link in a new window.
When this happens, you should disable the blocking.
There are several browser add-ons such as the Yahoo or Google search
bars that include popup blockers. Windows XP Service Pack 2 adds a "pop-up blocker" by default to Internet Explorer.
More details can be found at the Microsoft web site... http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/web/sp2_popupblocker.mspx
If a built-in popup blocker is turned on and you try to open a Beestar window that IE considers a popup, IE will display an icon in the bottom left of the
status bar. You can click this to allow popups on Beestar web site. You can also go to Tools/Popup to add Beestar URL to allow popups.
- My family will go on a 3-week vacation. Can you hold the exercises for us and extend their due date?
Beestar time periods are controlled by the computer system automatically. Everyone is treated the same.
We currently do not have a way to extend the exercise due date.
Many users find their way of accessing the Internet during their vacation. As the Internet becomes more widely
available, the constraint will be eased day by day.
- What are the divisions in Beestar?
Beestar user families are grouped into divisions.
A family's division is assigned randomly by the system at the initial account setting up time.
A student's statistics and rankings such as percentiles, honor roll, trophies, and medals are
evaluated within his/her division. Divisions allow more deserving students to get their recognitions.
In the course of a term, users can only see the honor roll of their own division.
For your convenience, please use one parent account for your children, so your children's
rankings are in the same division.
- How are the weekly honor roll ribbons awarded?
Students who answer 80% of questions right in a week will earn a ribbon for the honor roll.
These students are placed by the total amount of time they use in the exercises.
For instance, the student who used the least amount of time is awarded the 1st place blue ribbon.
This honor roll system is different from the conventional
ranking that showed in the percentile column. The blue ribbon winner is not necessarily
the highest scorer. He is the fastest with 80% or more correct. For example, between Jack (full score 40 used 25 minutes)
and Emily (scored 36 used 20 minutes), Emily will get the blue ribbon, because she finished faster.
To control the size of the honor roll, only the fastest 50 students (100 for math) are displayed.
Beestar developed this honor roll system to promote skill proficiency and elevate students' reading/thinking speed.
If your child often scores full points, but has never won a blue ribbon, you should encourage him/her
to move beyond the comfort zone and go faster.
- How are the program trophies and medals awarded?
At the end of each program, 4 trophies are awarded to students who earned the most honor roll ribbons.
When the ribbon counts are the same, blue and green ribbons out-weigh orange ones. If there is still
a tie, the overall less time spender has the edge.
Trophies are awarded to the leading students who finish assignments in superior speed and proficiency.
Medals are awarded to the top students who accumulate the highest scores in a program. If there is a
score tie, the overall less time spender has the edge. Scores accumulated
week by week are a direct reflection of accuracy. These students are most knowledgeable and thoughtful
in solving problems.
Note that the trophy and medal awards are not final until the end of the term.
Following the same rules, 4 more students are awarded honor mentions with flower baskets.
To win a trophy and a medal, students not only need to finish fast and score high, but also need to exercise
consistently. Parents and children who participate from the beginning to the end have the best opportunity
and benefit.
- What should happen if my child won a trophy or a medal?
Winning a Beestar trophy or a medal is a significant accomplishment. It requires one semester's consistent effort.
Beestar will display your child's name and the award on the web site to honor his/her outstanding achievement.
As Beestar is largely free or very low priced, we are not able to give monetary prizes as we have hoped. We
suggest parents pick up the responsibility to reward the child. Beestar will remind
each award winner family at the end of each term.
- What do the percentiles mean? How do you calculate them?
Your child's percentile tells the percentage of students who are below your child in the ranking of the program, e.g.
80% means your child's score is better than 80% of the students. Students are positioned by their scores, and
time is the tie breaker.
Let's use an example to illustrate how percentiles are calculated. Say there are only 6 students in a program and
their exercise results are in the table:
| place | student | score | time | percentile |
| 1 | Amy | 40 | 3:10 | 5/6 = 83.33% |
| 2 | Bob | 40 | 3:20 | 4/6 = 66.66% |
| 3 | Charles | 40 | 4:00 | 3/6 = 50.00% |
| 4 | Dana | 38 | 3:00 | 2/6 = 33.33% |
| 5 | Emma | 36 | 2:50 | 1/6 = 16.66% |
| 6 | Frank | 34 | 1:50 | 0/6 = 00.00% |
In this scenario, we have 5 out of 6 students below Amy, so Amy's percentile is 5/6 = 83.33%. Likewise,
Bob's percentile is 4/6 = 66.66% because 4 out of 6 students are below him.
- How long are my exercises available to me?
You can access your registered exercises throughout the semester. Free math exercises expire
after 2 weeks. Fee-based items do not expire week by week. You can access the past weeks
through the Past Items link. Your payment is for using the programs from Beestar web site within
the designated term. You do not own any of the exercise sheets.
To release database space for new programs, all exercises of one term
will be removed from the web site when the next term starts. Please check Beestar Schedules for the dates.
- What should I do if a question has an error or the answer key is wrong?
Beestar strives to provide the best exercises for children. Despite our efforts, the programs may
contain errors. If a child finds an issue, he should raise it to the parent. After the parent confirmed
the issue, the parent should report it to teacher@beestar.org. Beestar will reply and
address the problem. Your score may be adjusted if it is a current week exercise. Beestar has a nominal
appreciation for users who report valid issues multiple times.
Before you want to report an error, please check the following user mistakes first:
1. Some users mistakenly think the orange diamond labels the wrong answer. That is not true.
As stated in the legend at the top, the orange diamond marks the correct answer that your child missed.
In this case, your child must have chosen another option.
2. You believe you chose the right answer, but somehow the result shows that you chose another one.
In such a case, your child probably pressed an ARROW key accidentally during the exercise that shifted
his selection before he submitted his answers. Please read the next question for details.
- Why does the result show that I selected a different answer?
Beestar system displays what it received. There is a chance that the choice was changed
before it was submitted. For example, in Microsoft Windows, after a user clicked answer A,
answer A got the screen focus. If the user then accidentally pressed any of the arrow keys moving
to the next question, the choice he just made would shift to B or D. It is a Microsoft Windows
feature.
It happens often to our young users who are still learning to use the mouse and the keyboard.
A solution is to click away from the answer you just selected, so it no longer has the screen
focus. To be sure, you should quickly review the choices you made before a submission.
- Why is my child's exercise time adjusted by your web site?
Beestar system may adjust the start time of an exercise, when it finds the time spent was too short
for a meaningful practice and learning.
An extremely fast exercise submission is mostly caused by a technical problem such as a loss of
Internet connection or a computer glitch that your child had to fill up the answers to re-submit.
Beestar system will automatically reset the time to the average 10 minutes so that the parent
is not misled by the extreme speed. If your child occasionally restarts an exercise without a technical
reason, please kindly remind him/her to start and submit in one run, so that you can see his/her
actual skill level.
If your child has done it the right way and still gets such a "treatment", it means he/she
is not at the right program grade level. The program is way too easy for him/her. You should
select a higher grade level in the next term.
- Besides your free exercises, what is the price of other exercise programs?
Beestar Educations was founded to serve kids in our community. Our math exercise programs are offered
free. Once you set up accounts, your child can log in to use our math programs free for as long as you want, without
obligation.
We collect a $20-$30 fee for other programs such as ELA and GT math.
It will help us cover some of the operational
costs and keep this initiative alive. As we collect fees up-front, what you can access are either
free or already paid, so you do not need to worry about unexpected bills.
For example, Linda wants to register the grade 3 math and ELA programs in the fall
semester for her son Todd. The math program is free. She needs to pay $20 for the grade 3 ELA program (about 18 weeks).
Todd won't have access to the ELA program until the payment is received.
- How should I make payments to Beestar?
You need to log in using the parent email, select your student, and click the Register menu link at the top
right. This will bring up the registration form with payment.
We accept personal checks or credit cards through PayPal.
- What is your refund and change policy?
You may contact info@beestar.org to request a full refund or a change of program
within the first week of the semester (term).
Afterwards, no refund or change is available. Our samples are designed to
show you what the exercises look like inside. Please use them before your registration.
- We find our registered program too hard/easy. Can we change it to another grade level?
Like in school, you may request a change within the term's first week by contacting
info@beestar.org.
Afterwards, we cannot switch you to
another grade level. Although you may pay for another level, we suggest you stay through the semester, as
there probably will be topics in later weeks that your child needs to learn.
Please understand that some fluctuations are expected during the course of a program, as the topics
change and kids' strength areas are not even.
- What is an exercise program voucher? How do I get it and use it?
We issue vouchers to parents and affiliated schools who pre-paid our programs, so they
can enroll their students conveniently.
To use it, you need to
login Beestar as a parent member. Select the student link and click the Register menu link at
the top. Then choose the registration with voucher form.
Enter your voucher number to register your desired program (say an ELA exercise program).
When you submit your request with the voucher number, your selected program will be activated instantly.
A generic voucher number is good for any Beestar programs. It can only be used once.
You can purchase Beestar vouchers at affiliated local schools.
- How do I cancel my membership in Beestar?
For any reason, if you want to cancel your membership in Beestar, you can simply send an email message
with your account info (name, ID number) and a "Cancel Membership" subject to info@beestar.org.
We usually process the request within 1-3 days. Note that you must send the message from your email
used in Beestar parent account. In the future, if you want to use Beestar again, you can just set up
accounts as a fresh new user.
- How do you cover the costs and keep this site running?
Most of Beestar contributors work voluntarily using after hours. Many of them
have their kids in the exercise programs. We also have help
from school teachers. In the long run, we need to find sponsors
who can see the significance of this project. This will be possible when we have
more users.
- What will happen if your web site is down?
Beestar web site is NOT guaranteed to be available to you 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.
Although it has been pretty stable in the past years, it may go down temporarily due to a calamitous
weather or a technical problem. We encourage you to work on your exercises early
in the week, so you do not rely on the last day and the last hour to finish
your weekly assignment.
When you cannot access the web site, please also check if you can access other public web
sites, such as www.google.com and www.msn.com, to ensure that your computer has a good Internet
connection. Otherwise, you need to contact your Internet service provider for the problem.
Beestar always does its best to get the web site back online when an outage happens. But in general,
we do not go back to change past scores and rankings affected by a downtime. Beestar may have this
capability in the future when its software is expanded and improved.
For more information, please visit the Terms of Use about our policy.
- What is your referral program?
We want to see more and more community kids benefit from our educational web site.
More users will enable us to improve and expand our programs.
A growing user base also gives us a better chance to win sponsors and thus lower
the cost to every family.
Our referral program is available to every Beestar parent. You do not have to be
a paying customer to refer others. We recognize referrals as long as the referees use our
exercise programs (either priced or free ones). Whenever you make 2 successful referrals,
you can choose a priced exercise program free for your child.
You can refer through our referral web form (accessible after logging in your account). Our system
will automatically match new user's email to what you have referred and give you credit.
If you refer friends in other ways, tell them your email in Beestar. They will submit
your email address when prompted their referrer information. Referral credits will show
up the same way on your referral list for additional free programs.
For example, if Linda referred two families to our site, she can register
the grade 3 ELA program for her son Todd without paying the fee.
- I sent a referral email of a friend through your web form.
Why was the referral status not changed to successful?
According to our records, most people do not act immediately for a recommendation.
They usually wait for some time (2-5 weeks is not unusual) before having a chance to check it out.
So please expect some days for the other party to respond. If your referral record is in Recognized status,
it means that a new user has entered your email as his referrer. Beestar system has a validation process.
Once your referral is validated, the system will set it to Successful automatically.
If your friend has set up Beestar accounts, these are the top reasons that the referral was not successful:
A. Your friend signed up with a different email address. In such cases, our system could
not make a match. You should tell your friend your Beestar email, so she can submit it
for realizing your credit.
B. Before your referral, another user had referred your friend's email. We only
recognize the first one.
C. If your referral record is in Recognized or Validating status, it means that Beestar system is still
validating the referral.
- Two referrals are needed for waiving a fee. I have only one. Can I use it to pay half of the fee?
No. We only accept two referrals at a time.
If you make 1 successful referral, it is always valid until
you make another one to use the 2 together for a fee-based program.
- Can I reproduce the BPE exercises?
No. Users are only licensed to use the
exercises through Beestar web sites for the registered semester. Please read the Terms of Use
agreement for more details.
