The importance of education

When Subodh grew up in India, education was a core family value. His father’s love for math and science instilled the same love in Subodh, and the hard work he put in led to the opportunity to come to the US. Years later, now living in San Jose, Subodh and his wife, Bhavana, are determined to nurture the same love for learning in their son, Kartik. “Education is number one, right? Being immigrants, education is our number one priority always. That’s how we have been taught, and that is how we are raising our kids,” says Bhavana.

Kartik’s first exposure to reading came from his grandmother, who taught him basic words. But after she moved back to India, Kartik craved more.

Subodh emphasized how challenging it can be for working parents to also be teachers: “You need someone who’s patient and good with kids. After a long workday, it’s hard to muster the energy to teach.”

“This is the age he can learn the most, so the more we teach him now, the more he’ll benefit later,” Subodh explained. Determined to help Kartik continue to develop his reading ability, Subodh started searching for solutions and discovered Mentava. As someone who grew up experimenting with technology—“I’ve been working on terminals since the 90s”—Subodh was excited to try something new.

Finding Mentava: A game-changer

Bhavana recalled, “Subodh found Mentava early on, and he was really excited. Honestly, I was initially resistant, thinking, ‘Really? This much for a reading app?’ But after I saw the progress, I was like, ‘Yeah, it’s worth it, it’s good.’”

Subodh laughed, adding, “She would not say it’s worth it if it wasn’t truly worth it.”

Bhavana realized that Mentava’s approach was precisely what she had been searching for. “I was trying to teach Kartik by breaking things down too. The app is patient — I’m a human being, so I can lose my patience sometimes.” For Bhavana, as a non-native English speaker, the app’s structured phonics approach was invaluable. “We would’ve skipped straight to [sight] words, but Mentava showed us the right way with phonics. For immigrants, that’s a big help.”

Compared to other tools they tried, Bhavana noted, “The UI in Mentava is fantastic—it made a difference that Kartik could use it himself. Mentava is like a personal teacher, but even better because it can teach in ways humans can’t.”

Kartik’s experience

Kartik started Mentava at 5.5 years old. While we encourage most parents to sit with their children throughout playsessions, Bhavana observed, “Kartik was quite independent. I just had to be around to catch mistakes, but I didn’t need to monitor everything.”

Concrete progress became evident within a month. “Kartik could read complex words and books he hadn’t seen before,” Bhavana said proudly. Subodh added, “It was gratifying seeing him read the stories at the end of each level. I thought, ‘Wow, he can read all those stories without issues!’”

However, Subodh emphasized the importance of consistency: “The most important thing is to structure Mentava into your day. Second is to set achievable goals, like reaching the next star. It shouldn’t feel tedious, but those small goals are crucial.” He proudly shared, “every day Kartik would do it, obviously he’s just a child but he was very consistent. Mentava is one of the first things he really stuck with.”

Kartik’s daily practice sessions lasted about 20-30 minutes. According to Bhavana, “Kartik felt encouraged at the end of each level. Completing stories gave him the confidence that he could read those sentences himself.”

After graduating from Mentava Reading

Kartik has now completed Mentava’s curriculum and is excelling among his peers at school. Bhavana happily shared, “Kartik feels confident now. He used to say there’s a kid in his class who is smart and can do anything, but recently he told me, ‘Mom, I can read like him!’ It’s amazing to see his confidence grow. And he loves the app, he loves the cartoons and dances — he didn’t find it frustrating.”

Subodh agreed wholeheartedly, saying, “I have no objections. Mentava is one of the activities that really worked out for Kartik.” Bhavana laughed, “We usually don’t agree on many things, but Mentava is one of those things we both agree on—it’s really good.”