A true spelling test

Admission #1 - The first time I typed the title, I spelled the word "speeling" by accident.  Yes, I know how to spell very well most of the time; my fingers (first attempt: gingers) just don't keep up with my brain very well.
Admission #2 - I was not as enthusiastic about trying out Spelling City's Premium membership as I could/should have been.

Don't get me wrong. I'm excited to be on The Old Schoolhouse's Homeschool Crew, trying out and reviewing new products.  Most of the things we've received for review so far, I've enthusiastically implemented, whether they were a hit or not.  It's just that SPELLING is the one thing in our entire homeschool curriculum that I actually have figured out right now.  I have a program for each child that works for each child, and the last thing a homeschool mom wants to do is rock the boat when you find a good curriculum fit.  


Add to that two somewhat obstructing factors: 1) The announcement for the Spelling City review came the day after I told all my children we were taking a solid 1-month break from ALL school work (live and learn - I now know that as long as I'm a Homeschool Crew member, promises like that cannot be made, period!); 2) We were supposed to be going on a several-weeks-long trip half-way across the country for a family wedding, with little or no internet access most of that time, and the last thing I intended to do was drag a computer along for the ride.  When you have four kids and all their gear to schlep into a hotel every night and out of a hotel every morning all by yourself, the last thing you want or need is one more thing to carry.


I scrambled to figure out how to do this review and not completely alienate my children.  The first thing I did was thoroughly investigate the Spelling City website myself.  Looking over the site and trying out many of the different activities on myself, I discovered that Spelling City has some fantastic teaching tools.  Not only does it have several different ways to teach and review spelling words, but it also has tools to helps children with understanding the words in context.  The teacher resource page offers access to spelling lists, articles including links to other spelling resources, and news about new features and changes to the website.  They also offer videos to guide you through all the features of the website.


Spelling City can be used for free; the premium membership upgrade, which costs $24.99 per year for a family (up to 5 students) includes: 

• Automatic test grading and a student grade book
• Complete activity tracking of student activities
• Premium Games (Speedy Speller and Letter Fall)
• Telephone support

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the spelling lists provided on the site included AVKO's Sequential Spelling program lists.  Since I'm using AVKO with 2 of my children, this was a great bonus to me.  Not only could I easily integrate Spelling City into our homeschool, but it was actually already set up to be used with my current, working for us spelling program.  The more I played around with the site, the more I found that I liked about it.  It's easy to use, easy to navigate, has the tools to help the child learn the words AND understand the words, and lots of feedback for the teacher.

However, the program is not completely fool-proof.  As I was playing around with the program, I made up my own spelling list with words like "grab" "cup" "machine" "letter" "apostrophe" and "dispenser."  I then used the TEACH ME option.  TEACH ME takes each word, says the word, then spells it, putting one letter up on the screen at a time.  Then the word is said again, followed by the word being used in a sentence.  For instance, "cup" in TEACH ME would sound like this: "Cup. C-U-P. Cup.  My mom drinks hot coffee from a foam cup.  Cup."  
This did not work so well with the word "apostrophe".  TEACH ME said: "Apostrophe.  A-P-O-S-T-R-O-P-H-E.  Apostrophe. An apostrophe turns backslash will not backslash into backslash won backslash tee backslash.  Apostrophe."  I had to go to the PLAY A GAME part of the site to even figure out what the sentence was supposed to say.  Both the games "MATCH IT" and "SENTENCE UNSCRAMBLE" showed the correct sentence to be "An apostrophe turns "will not" into "won't".  Clearly the program has a flaw when it comes to any sentence that uses quotations or apostrophes.  The same thing happened when I used the word "contraction" in a list.  The sentence: "Don't is a contraction of "do not."  The computer voice, in TEACH ME, says: "Backslash don backslash tee is a contraction of backslash dee oh not backslash."  I can imagine that there are only a handful of words that actually use a sentence with quotation marks, so this isn't a huge problem.  For a moment, I wondered if this was a problem with any word with an apostrophe, but it appears that the program does recognize the contractions (don't, I'd, he'll, should've, etc.) and speak them correctly.  And the site does have a user forum, where the user can submit feedback, so I've already notified them of the problem, and hopefully it'll be fixed soon.  UPDATE: Within less than 24 hours, I had a response to my post about the problem, and within another 2 hours, the problem was fixed.  A+++ to Spelling City for EXCELLENT customer service!!!


There were a couple of other drawbacks that I noted.  First, even with the premium membership, you have to deal with ads on the site.  Both sides of the page (on my computer about 2 inches on each side) are one huge ad for an NFL site.  Additionally there are google ads near the top of the page.  Second, the majority of the site works best for children who are fairly strong readers, especially the games.  Some of the games also require at least basic typing skills, though strong typing skills would be better.  This is specifically true of the premium membership game SPEEDY SPELLER.  The child's score on that game is based on how quickly they can correctly spell the word.  For a child who has to hunt and peck for each letter, they aren't going to have a very speedy score, which can be frustrating.  That was, at least, our experience.


Instead of using the program as a "curriculum" for "school", I presented it as a new game site for Aaron, my 10-year-old to use in his computer time.  I put in several word lists that were a couple of grade levels lower than his current spelling ability, and let him loose in the PLAY A GAME section of the website.  He spent hours playing the different games; his favorites were Letter Fall, Hang Mouse and Audio Word Match.  Though I went through the different options of the site, including TEACH ME, TEST ME and HANDWRITING WORKSHEETS, I didn't feel that it was fair to make him do too much that was technically school work after I'd promised the month off.  He did catch on after about a week, giving me the narrowed eyes and asking "Are you telling me I can do this because I'm supposed to be learning something?"  I assured him that I'd given him the easy words on purpose, so that he could just play with the program and not have to work at it.  Then I asked him, "If this was school work, would you want to do it?"  He thought about it for a moment before admitting that, yes, if this was school work, he'd still want to do it.  


Overall, I really liked the program and will continue to use it for spelling review for Aaron.  He tends to do better with things he learns on the computer, probably because computer programs combine auditory, visual and kinesthetic learning styles.  I'm interested to see how Kaitlyn, my 7-year-old, does with this, given that she is still learning to read, and has no typing skills at all.  I know that this is going to be a huge hit when I add it as part of our regular school work, though.  I guarantee that first thing every day, I'm going to hear a chorus of "CAN I PLEASE DO SPELLING NOW?" from my kids.  And a program that has kids begging to learn is always a good thing, in my book.  


Interested?  Read more reviews of Spelling City, and the sister programs Time4Learning and Time4Writing here.

Disclaimer: As a member of the 2010-2011 TOS Homeschool Review Crew, I received a complimentary premium membership to Spelling City in exchange for my fair, honest and unbiased review. No other compensation was received.

Let's Write Right...alright?

 Disclaimer: As a member of the 2010-2011 TOS Homeschool Review Crew, I received a complimentary copy of the product in this review in exchange for my fair, honest and unbiased review. No other compensation was received.

I keep wanting to say that I've found a NEW way to teach handwriting, but the truth is that Peterson Directed Handwriting has been around since 1908!  As I used the materials that were provided to us for the purpose of this review, I found myself wishing many times that I'd found this before I ever started homeschooling.  I'll tell you why in a minute, but first let me give you an overview of this amazing program.

Peterson Directed Handwriting works differently than any other handwriting program I've ever used...and with four kids with four different learning styles, I've used a LOT!  Peterson approaches handwriting as rhythm-based muscle-training.  Instead of students tracing letters over and over again, Peterson teaches students to learn their letters and numbers as simply a sequence of trained movements.

Each movement is learned in the following four steps:
1. Illustrate and describe (that's my job)
2. Air write and say (me with children)
3. Finger trace and say (on paper, a white board, newspaper on a wall, etc; the children do this step)
4. Write and say (with a pencil on paper; the children do this step)

I've been using the Peterson PDF By Hand E-Workbooks for Homeschool program with both Kaitlyn (6) and Megan (4) since we received it.  We received Print Step 1, Print Step 2 and Print Step 3 e-workbooks (we're still working on Print Step 1).  To me this program is very intuitive and makes complete sense.  Each letter is formed using specific verbal reminders.  For instance, a small "h" is formed by using the clues "tall down" and "roll around"; those tell me that my first stroke is a long straight vertical line, my second stroke moves in a curve to the right.  A letter with "hook around" instead of "roll around" would curve to the left.  I found that I like this program very well, even given that some of the letter formations look odd to me.  It seems like a very artistic/musical, and yet logical way to teach handwriting.

My children were not as enamored as I was.  I think the main problem is that ALL my kids have already learned to write all their letters.  Yes, even my four-year-old can write her letters (large and small) with about 98% accuracy.  To have to go back to the beginning and do something that they "already know" was frustrating to them, even though both girls could definitely stand to improve their handwriting skills.  Despite doing this with them day after day for several weeks, they started every new lesson with "why do we have to do this?" and more specifically "why do we have to talk when we write our letters?"  I tried explaining several times how the rhythms could help them remember how to make each letter correctly, neatly and accurately, but they just did/do not want to do it.  Even after I spent several minutes demonstrating the process to them, they insisted that "I sound stupid" to say the words.  I have a very strong feeling, though, that had I begun with this handwriting program nine years ago when my oldest son was learning how to write, he would have loved it, and subsequently each child would also have enjoyed it and gone through the program without whining at all.  Which is sad, because this program truly is amazing.

I do have at least one chance to redeem this though: neither girl has learned cursive writing yet!  I'm planning to keep up with the Peterson program with both girls, and hopefully by the time we get to cursive writing (starting next year), they'll be used to it enough that doing the cursive program will feel normal to them.

Overall, I really liked Peterson Directed Handwriting.  There are many more products offered on the Peterson Directed Handwriting website, besides the three e-workbooks that we received.  The Print Step 1, 2 and 3 E-Workbooks retail for $19.95 each.  There are also homeschool kits that can be purchased with all the materials already printed out for you.  One of the things I noticed was that printing out the e-books did require color printing to show the child the separate steps for each letter, which can drive up your printing costs quickly.  In addition, Rand Nelson (aka "Mr. Pencil") leads the user through web meetings to learn how to use the program.; this can be invaluable for parents who are having trouble getting started or who are unsure of how to do something.  There are training courses, help for left-handed writers, technical support, and more.

The only frustration I had with this program, aside from my uncooperative children, was that the Peterson Directed Handwriting website was difficult to navigate for me.  I found it confusing and at times, frustrating.  Unlike the handwriting program, the website is not laid out intuitively.  However, there's always that live help at the click of a button (conveniently located on the home page).  In addition, Rand Nelson offers an e-mail and phone number for additional help, so a hard-to-navigate website is just a minor problem.

Thanks to Peterson Directed Handwriting for providing these materials for us to review.  To read other reviews on this product, as well as other Peterson Directed Handwriting programs, visit The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew Blog.

Expedition Australia: Take One

My first reaction after we finished the week of Expedition Australia was, "Now that that's over, I'd like to try it again."

I am fairly new to the world of unit studies, brand new to the world of e-books as homeschool curriculum, and not only new to, but completely intimidated by, the world of lapbooking.  Expedition Australia combined all three, and in my first attempt I stumbled and stuttered my way through.  When I was done, I took a look around, surveyed the results, and realized that it went better than I expected.  And now that I know what I'm doing a little, I'd like to give it another shot.  Who knows what we'd learn about Australia the 2nd time around?

Expedition Australia is the 2nd e-book unit study provided to me by The Old Schoolhouse (TOS) for the purpose of "auditioning" for the Homeschool Crew.  My job was to use the e-book with my children, evaluate the resource and write a review.  Expedition Australia retails at TOS for $7.95 and is part of TOS's new "Download 'N Go" series produced in conjunction with Amanda Bennett.

TOS also offers the option of purchasing sets of the "Download 'N Go" series at a lower price per item.  The series is geared toward kindergarten through 4th grade students, and is specifically written to incorporate lapbooking into the unit study experience.

EXPEDITION AUSTRALIA

The review: The summer after my freshman year of college, I worked for a temporary employment agency.  The first job they sent me on was in a medical office, doing "light filing."  My first day on the job, one of the women who'd worked there for several years showed me the ropes and explained what I would be doing.  She pulled out a medical file, into which had been crammed some 20 or so loose pages, and her hands and mouth flew while she told me how those pages were supposed to be arranged into the file.  She opened the brads, lifted a stack, over to the hole punch, "this goes here," pulled out a staple, "stick these behind this section," flattened the brads, flipped to the other side, open those brads, "take this off," back to the hole punch, another staple out, "these go in reverse chronological order," "this goes behind the green sheet," set the stack back on, close the brads.  Then she handed the finished file to me, pointed to a stack of identical files and said, "Any questions?"

I felt the same way then as I did when I first glanced through Expedition Australia.  Overwhelmed.  I've only done a few unit studies, and the ones I have done were very "read this, do that" straightforward.  Which is not to say that Expedition Australia is not straightforward, but rather that the layout was very different from anything I've ever used.  The first time I clicked a link, it fast-forwarded me some 80 pages in the e-book, and I backed slowly away from the computer, hoping to avoid "breaking" it further.  It took me a minute to figure out that the page I'd navigated to had a link back to the page I'd come from.  I honestly had to take a few running starts at this one before I got up the guts to go for it.  It was just a lot of "new" for this homeschooling mom.  Just like that medical file - once I realized that I could study the finished product to figure out how to get the works in progress to completion - I was able to tackle the newness of unit studies, internet-linked PDF files and lapbooking, all rolled into one.

A quick rundown of our first attempt at this:
Day One:  Okay, I am doing this.  No, not checking my e-mail or reading an extra chapter of Swiss Family Robinson to delay the inevitable.  I am plunging in feet-first.
Day Two:  Um, do I remember how to do this?  Wait, was I supposed to print those pages yesterday?  Yup,  I was.  Okay, now where was I?  Oooh - I love this poem [get completely distracted for 20 minutes memorizing poem with kids]  Okay, now really, where was I?
Day Three:  I've got this.  Quick read-through to figure out what we're learning.  Print the pages, do the activities.  (side conversation with self: You know what would be really cool? If my computer was linked to some type of projector, so the kids could see these videos on the "big screen."  I wonder if DH would hook up some sort of computer-TV link for me?)  Oh...I think I get it.  The pages are for a notebook, the activities are for a lapbook.  Right?
Day Four:  Yes, kids, I'd like to go to Australia too.  No, we cannot get a platypus for a pet.  Yes, we'll go to the library and get more books about Australia this afternoon.  (side conversation with self: No one ever told me that these unit studies could lead to so much enthusiasm about a subject.  And someone should probably be alerted that the 7th-grader is having as much fun as the 1st and 4th graders are.)
Day Five:  Is it over already?  OH WAIT!  That means I have to actually DO the lapbook part, doesn't it?  Did I mention I'm not the crafty type?

Expedition Australia was a HUGE hit in our house.  The students in this particular homeschool are 4 (pre-k going on 2nd grade), 6 (1st grade), 10 (4th grade) and 13 (7th grade).  Even though the study is geared toward the K-4th grade crowd, everyone participated.  The study was like a little mini-safari each day; one that we all truly enjoyed.  The kids, ALL of them, have retained so much of what they learned.  Even now, several weeks after finishing, they're still talking about the things they learned.  Last night we were watching a nature show and all four immediately identified a koala, before the name was announced.  Not only that, but they went on to tell Dad where koalas live, what they eat, and how they raise their young.

The study did not stop when the last lapbook was complete.  For the past three weeks we've continued to explore on our own, using many of the books suggested in the study, as well as going back and reading more of the information provided through some of the links (and links of the links).  I contacted a friend of mine who lives in Australia, and she was kind enough to send the kids their very own Expedition Australia surprise: A genuine, aboriginal-hand-carved, hand-painted boomerang.  The kids have been researching how to best throw it, working on their form and a couple of them are actually able to throw it and get it to come close to returning.  This same friend is also fostering a baby kangaroo, so we're following her adventures with that as well.  (No kids, we won't be getting a kangaroo as a pet; that family is just taking care of that one until it's big enough to survive on its own.)

I was definitely a reluctant user of the Download 'N Go product, and I've been totally and completely won over by this product.  We will be using more of these unit studies.  I found the content to be very engaging and fun.  The activities were enjoyable for all of us.  Yes, even when I had to pull out craft supplies and help assemble lapbooks. {grin}  My 4th-grader was able to easily complete all the writing activities.  My 1st-grader needed some help, but there was not so much to do that it was overwhelming to her.  My pre-k daughter enjoyed learning right along with the others, and even though she's just starting to read, she's excited to have her own lapbook and shows it to anyone who will look.  While the difficulty level was far below what my 7th-grader would normally do, he too enjoyed doing the study with us.  With very little effort, I was able to extend this study to challenge him a little bit, assigning him some extra things to do that coincided with what we were all learning.

I had only two very minor issues with this study.  First, it would have been nice to have a little bit more guidance on how to use this.  Even a one-page introduction that explained the concept of the internet-linked PDFs and a little more explanation on what to print and how to use it would have gone a long way in alleviating my anxiety about using this for the first time.  Second, every single link in the entire e-book that connected to an internet site popped up a security warning on which I had to click "allow" to be able to access the website.  Once or twice wouldn't have bothered me, but with 20+ links per day, it got old REALLY fast.  This appears to be some type of security issue that may be fixable on the publisher end.

However, even with those two problems, I still have to give this curriculum a very hearty A+.  I don't come across a lot of curriculum that excites my children to the point of going out on their own to find out more, and this one did so, in spades.  Kudos to TOS and Amanda Bennett.  They've truly developed a winning curriculum.  We'll be using this one again, and downloading a few more to go with it.

Disclaimer: Expedition Australia was provided to me free of charge, courtesy of The Old Schoolhouse, for the purpose of this review.  I was not compensated in any other way for the review.

My very first curriculum review!

Who, me?  Opinionated?  Well, sure, when it's important, and I think this is most definitely important.  I'm "auditioning" for a chance to be a member of The Old Schoolhouse (TOS) Homeschool Crew - a group of homeschool families that get a chance to try out new curriculum and products and share our opinions with the rest of the world.  I'm excited about this chance, and a little nervous.  As a violinist, I've had plenty of auditions; as a writer, I've had plenty of chances to write; as a homeschooling mom for the past eight years, I've tried out a LOT of curriculum and a LOT of homeschool products.  But I've never had the chance to put all three things together, and I'm praying that this effort reflects the best of all those skills.

So, without further ado...

The Product:

WannaBe Series: When I Grow Up I Want To Be A Firefighter E-book

Available from The Old Schoolhouse; $8.95

This is an E-book, which will be delivered straight to your computer, no shipping charge.

80 pages



We live 1.5 miles south of the fire station that serves our local suburban area.  Three or four times a week, we'll hear a siren screaming down the street and the kids will run to the windows to watch the truck sail past.  Then come the questions: "Where do you think they're going?" "What do you think happened?"  "Is there a fire?"
After spending a week using this unit study, the questions are the same, but they are now asked with the distinctive air of a child who knows what those firefighters on that truck do.

A quick caveat: To be honest, I'm not 100% comfortable with e-books.  I prefer the look and feel of paper, and have a hard time reading a "book" on a computer screen.  I have been known to print out 200+-page PDF files (four pages to one sheet, double-sided and in draft mode, lest you think me wasteful) to read through once, just to avoid having to read it on a computer screen.  I did print this one out, minus the first color-heavy page and the last two pages (TOS ads at the end of the file), using the fastest, most ink-saving mode on our printer.  This made it easier for me to work with, but wasn't exactly financially (or ecologically) responsible.

The review:  This is billed as a multi-age unit study.  In some ways, it worked for all four of my kids, ages 13, 10, 6 and 4. Many of the information sections were perfect for reading out loud, and the kids did seem to enjoy hearing the information.  The older three could answer my verbal questions about the information very well; the 4 year old remembered the bare-bones basics.  Overall, I agree that as a read-aloud, the majority of this study works very well for a large range of ages.

I found a couple of the sections of this study to be somewhat off-topic.  A short paragraph about how robotics are being developed to help detect and fight fires leads to the entire science section...on robotics.  That didn't make much sense to me, even though the activities in the science section are both interesting and fun.  However, I could think of several other "science" ideas and activities that would tie in much better with the theme of this e-book.  How about the way the gauges on the truck work?  How valves function in the firefighters' breathing equipment?  The mechanics of air and water pressure in the hoses?  The robotics section did not tie in very well.

Additionally, there was a page of American Sign Language finger spelling that spelled out several fire-related phrases.  I could find no explanation for this which led me to assume that it constituted the "foreign language" component of the unit study.  Wouldn't it make more sense to learn the word fire in several languages?

The activities in the book seem to be geared toward the mid- to late-elementary years.  Most of the written activities could be done orally, but only my older two could come up with the answers to all the questions.  The math was too easy for the 10 year old, but too hard for the 6 year old, so somewhere in between the two is where most of the math was geared.  The "fill in the story" activity we did together, and it worked really well.  My older two then suggested we go back through and figure out the part of speech that each "blank" was supposed to contain...and then turn it into a mad lib. {smirk}

Many of the games were a hit in our house, and the party ideas, which I'd carefully hidden under several other things on my desk, were discovered by my children and I was subject to a chorus of "please can we?"  I sense a fire-truck cake-making in the very near future.

Overall, I'd give this e-book a B-minus.  It provides some good, basic information about firefighting and life in the firehouse.  It provides a variety of activities for a range of ages, in creative writing, spelling, vocabulary, science, math, history, handwriting and ?foreign language?.  The e-book includes links to more information, and more than a page of suggested books for further study.

However, the information doesn't always flow smoothly.  Even my 13-year-old noted several times that it seemed to jump to the next topic before concluding the previous one.  Several of the sections seemed out of place.  While this is an interesting overview of the job of firefighting, it falls short of my expectations for an elementary-grade unit study.

Disclaimer: This unit study e-book was provided to me free of charge, courtesy of The Old Schoolhouse, for the purpose of this review.  I was not compensated in any other way for the review.