Math Shed & Spelling Shed

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

We focus on literature and hands-on learning for our schooling, but we do incorporate some fun online learning supplements at times. My kids were happy to review Math Shed and Spelling Shed to sharpen their skills.

The two programs are part of the EdShed (Educational Shed) company, which is comprised of several educational products and brands. The company is run by teachers for teachers and instill these values in their products: quality, educational impact, affordability, and hassle-free. Their resources focus on the core of education by helping students have a strong foundation with reading and math skills.

Math Shed is an online game that makes drilling facts fun. The student can choose addition and subtraction, number bonds (filling in the missing number from an addition or subtraction equation, i.e. 7 + __ = 10), multiplication and division, powers of 10, and more. Each category has various subtopics in it, such as adding up to 4 digits, numbers bonds up to 100, many combinations for multiplication and division, and powers of 10 up to 1,000. From there, each exercise has the option of easy, medium, or hard.

The full results are listed at the end of the round.

Spelling Shed covers both spelling and vocabulary in a fun, game format. You can create your own custom lists or choose to allow the program to pull from their hub of over 4,000 words.

The lists are broken into groups: Stage 1 & 2, Stage 3, Stage 4 & 5, and more lists. Within those levels are easy, medium, hard, and extreme which change the game play. For instance, level easy shows the student the word and then lists only the necessary letters to put in order. The extreme level says the word aloud and gives a screen full of letter options for the student to choose.

Spelling Shed includes a few bonus games, Bee Keeper (hangman) and Missing Words (fill-in-the-blank.) There is also an additional game, Buzz Words, which is similar to Boggle and allows the student to make any word from any list as long as the letters are available. Again, the games offer different difficulty levels.

A full PDF spelling curriculum for K-5 is also included in a membership.

Like many online learning sites, the learner has the option to create an avatar. My kids always love this part! It's amazing how something so simple brings so much joy. As they play the games, they earn "honey pots" which they can use to purchase items for their character such as additional shirts, backgrounds, and accessories.

As they complete levels, they also accumulate other awards: stars (total score from the past week), medals (highest score), and trophies (highest score). Each award, including the honey pot earning balance is easily visible at the top of the student's game landing page.

The honey pot earnings accrue for both programs together, but the other awards are specific to each one.

A one-year subscription to each program comes with the following perks:

• Math or Spelling skills practice
• Up to 5 child licenses
• Full access to the online web game
• Scheduling and tracking assignments
• Data reporting

If you want access to both programs, you will save 15% off the price.

My kids (ages 8, 10, 12) have been using the games as supplemental learning. These simple exercises are good for light summer education activities.

Here's what my kids think of the programs:

"I like them. My favorite thing is the Buzz Words game. I always play on the hard level!"

"They're pretty cool. There were some words that I didn't know how

to spell before, like merriment. Now I do."

"I like earning the honey pots so I can change my character. I also like that

I get to pick what I practice."

Math Shed and Spelling Shed are easy-to-use programs for students to sharpen basic skills in a simple, fun way.


You can connect with Math Shed and Spelling Shed on the following social media sites:

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

YouTube

You can read more reviews of these online learning programs on the Homeschool Review Crew blog.

K5 Learning Review

We have been taking advantage of our six month subscription to the online program from K5 Learning to in addition to our typical math and reading for school. These two subjects are vital for education, and even life in general, as so many things involve them. It's important for kids to have a strong foundation in these areas to help in the remainder of their schooling.

K5 Learning is a supplemental program for students in kindergarten through 5th grade that focuses on three areas of study: reading, math, and spelling. Sometimes kids need a little something more than just their regular studies to fully grasp the concepts they've been taught. The extra practice offered in the lessons can give them confidence while mastering the subjects through this award-winning, researched-based program.

K5 Reading is designed to teach kids to read well. It covers five key areas: phonemic awareness, phonics, sight words, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. Students can take a free online reading assessment to ensure that the lessons are based according to skill level, instead of grade level. The interactive lessons, point and click interfaces, and spoken instructions make it easy for even young kids to use the program without a parent's help. All of the lessons begin with a tutorial covering new material, followed by practice sessions, and end with a quiz. An animated character guides the lessons and offers immediate feedback. The program contains over 1,500 tutorials and activities that are 5-10 minutes, in order to be flexible.

 
K5 Math aims to help students gain confidence in their math skills and master basic math concepts. It covers five key areas: numbers and operations, measurement, geometry, algebra, and data analysis. The lessons are similar to the Reading portion, as placement is done through an assessment test, the format is the same, and the interactive lessons are similar. This program offers over 1,200 lessons and activities that are also 5-10 minutes each.

K5 Spelling helps students improve their language skills with both spelling and vocabulary words. The program automatically generates words from the 150,000-word data base. The system remembers which words the student needs help with. If he gets it correct the first time, he never sees it again in the list; if he misspells it, he will get that word multiple times until he can consistently spell it correctly. The program uses various means to help with the words: audibly pronunciations, pictures, definitions, and examples.  

My three middle kiddos (ages 9, 7, 5) have been the ones using K5 Learning. Since it is simply a supplemental program and not a full curriculum, I've allowed them to determine how many lessons they complete each day. The 9-year-old, who does not really prefer this learning style, does 1 lesson each day, while her 7-year-old brother does 2 lessons. My 5-year-old loves using the computer for learning games and often sits and does many lessons. They can click the red stop button when the lesson is completed or the green go button to move to another.

When they each login, they can choose which section they want to practice. There is also a new feature on the page that gives options for accompanying worksheets for the student that correspond to the lessons that are being reviewed. You simply click on the link and print the page. My kids' favorite part of the dashboard is the daily riddle. They always try to guess it before clicking on the answer button. It's a fun way to get the kids thinking before starting the lessons.

As a parent, I can login into my dashboard to see how the kids are doing and what they are working on. I can create assignments, add specific spelling words, set up assessments, change levels, and view reports for each individual child.

K5 Learning can help your child with math and reading enrichment. Though the program can be used mostly without any interaction from the parent, you still can oversee it and alter it to better suit you and your children individually.

You can connect with K5 Learning on the following social media sites: 

Facebook

Twitter

Pinterest

Google+


If you'd like to read more reviews of this online resource, please visit the Homeschool Review Crew blog.
 

Spelling You See Review

Have you ever s-p-e-l-l-e-d w-o-r-d-s because you had little ears listening and you didn't want them to understand what you were saying? My husband and I can get away with that less and less since our kids are getting older and especially now that we've been using  Spelling You See: Listen and Write (Level A). More and more, I find them spelling out words and sounding out the letters they see and hear. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad they're doing so well, but how can we talk about i-c-e c-r-e-a-m and still keep it a secret!

Spelling You See (part of the Math-U-See family) claims to be "a natural, easy way to teach and learn spelling" and I couldn't agree more. The program focuses on short daily activities that combine listening, speaking, reading, and copying. By repeatedly reading and writing, the student naturally imprints the proper spellings of words in their minds. The program currently offers 5 levels of learning, starting with the students just beginning to learn letter names and sounds. That's the level we've been using. 

I've had both Alyssa (6) and Zac (4) working through this book. Even though Alyssa has been reading for quite a while now, I felt that she could benefit from the early spelling lessons and the handwriting review. Zac had learned his letter sounds and could read simple CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words, but not consistently. Also, he had little formal experience with proper letter formations.

I printed off the lessons (we received a PDF version, though it is not available to purchase) and handed them each lesson 1. They excitedly flew through the page and asked for number 2. The directions recommend 10-minute lessons, but my kids never want to stop after just 10 minutes. 

The 36 lessons are divided into 5 parts, A through E. The top of each page is letter formation practice. The bottom portion is filled with letter boxes. These boxes help the brain learn sound-to-letter correspondence. The lessons start three-letter words to copy and gradually increase to 5-letter words to spell.

Alyssa and Zac start by writing the letters and making their sounds. They try to have a race to see who can get done first, but I remind them that writing properly is more important winning. That works. Sometimes, ha. Then I pick out which one of each letter is written the best and draw a smiley face above it. The so look forward to seeing which letter gets the smile! After that, we work on the letter boxes together. 

I am amazed at how well this program is working for us! The format seems so simple, there is nothing exciting, the pages are plain, yet I have seen vast improvements in my little ones and their abilities. Alyssa, for sure, is doing better with both handwriting and spelling, but Zac is the one who has benefited the most. In the beginning, he struggled, understandably, with some letter formations, but usually by the second or third day with the letter, he was writing it beautifully. Another thing is that before, he would write in capital letters sporadically, but is now writing in lower case. Also, I can say a word, and he spells it. But the biggest, most exciting part? He is reading now! And not just slowly sounding out words, but reading simple books. I am beyond thrilled, as is he. 

I do have one negative though. I do not like the font that is used. For instance, certain letters, like l and t are have a curved end instead of a straight line. The curve is harder to write. Alyssa, especially, would write the letters properly before with just a straight line for the l and so on. When they started this program though, I found their writing getting worse. As you can see in the picture above, her ls were getting sloppy. Instead of having them practice those letters to match the ones on the paper, I had them write like they had done before, with the straight lines. Not a big deal, but one to note.   

Other than the font issue, I have nothing but good to say about the Listen and Write program. The kids and I all enjoy it and are seeing improvements. We will definitely continue with this program. I am interested in researching the higher levels for Jake (8) as he has struggled with his spelling. If this is working so well for the other two, I expect it to work well for him, as well.

The instructor's handbook costs $14 and the student pack (workbook, sticker pack, and the Guide to Handwriting) costs $20.

You can find Spelling You See on Facebook and Twitter.

If you'd like to read more reviews of Level A or would like to see some of the other levels, please check the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog.

VocabularySpellingCity Review

Jake (7) struggles with spelling. He writes a page summary of his reading every day. And every day, I read over his work and have to decipher what it says. Generally, I can figure it out because most of his misspellings are simply the word spelled out phonetically (ie dun for done, wut for what.) I can ask him various questions, like what says Ī at the end of a short word (y) and when do you use ck (at the end of a short vowel word) to solve some of the issues, but there are so many sight words that just have to be learned by rote. English is a tough language to learn. That's why I was excited to try a premium membership for VocabularySpellingCity.

VocaularySpellingCity is an online teaching tool for K-12. The award-winning, game-based program focuses on vocabulary, spelling, writing, and language arts. It can be accessed through a mobile app for tablet or smart phone or online via computer and interactive whiteboard. 

Though there are many options available with a free account, the Premium Membership includes much more:

• Vocabulary, writing, spelling, and language arts activities
• Access to ALL games and interactive Flash Cards
• Student progress tracking
• Automated testing and grading
• Personalized learning with assignments for differentiated instruction
• Student logins with no commercial ads

To set up our account, I logged in as the Parent and chose spelling lists for each of my kids. There are so many options for lists! Dolch, geography, science, math, compound, etc. -- and multiple subcategories in each, both for topics and grade level. In fact, there are 50,000 words in the data base and 60,000 sentences. You can also create your own word lists if you already have a weekly list from another source or if there are specific words you want your child to learn. After I narrowed down the lists of words, I created accounts for my kids. From there, you can add assignments to each student. 

There are various ways for the child to review the lists. The Teach Me section reads the word, spells it, repeats it, gives a definition, and repeats it again. The Flash Cards part shows the word on the screen and reads it. The Play A Game portion is definitely the favorite. It is filled with many review-style games like word match, hangmouse, word search, letter fall, word-o-rama, word unscramble, word find, and much more. The Vocab Test shows a definition on the screen and four options. The student reads the definition and the choices and clicks on the answer. The Spelling Test has two parts: practice test and test. The actual test can be completed only once.   

My kids enjoyed learning how to spell using this program. Jake (7) liked to memorize all the words from his list, play a couple games, and take the test that same day. Each time, he scored 100%. I tried to explain to him that he was supposed to spend multiple days reviewing the same words to ensure that he truly learned them. He just thought it was cool that he was able to memorize them so quickly. I didn't want to hinder his excitement, so I allowed him to continue knocking lists off quickly. I did quiz him orally over the weeks in order to cement the spellings in his mind. I also made the lists more difficult to challenge him.

Alyssa (5) felt very grown-up learning her spelling words. Each day, she would get a piece of paper and pencil and write down her words. Then, she would work on the review and games. She learned about 1 list a week. She randomly spells words for me now with a big smile on her face.

We also took advantage of creating our own lists. Both children loved being able to tell me which words they wanted to learn. Jake chose things like blood, Bruce (Wayne), and hardware, while Alyssa opted for baby, girl, and love. I also added words to their lists that I knew they struggled with or needed to learn.     

My little ones have enjoyed using this the past few weeks, and their spelling has improved for sure. VocabularySpellingCity costs $29.99 per year for up to 5 students. If you'd like to try it out first, it's easy to sign up for a free account. They also offer an entire page full of videos to help you along with a teaching resources page.  

Also, you can read more reviews on the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog.

Samson's Classroom

We've been homeschooling for 2 years now, but everyone needs a little variety now and then, right? I decided a few weeks ago to send Jake to another classroom to practice his reading skills. The teacher's pretty cool. I mean, it's not every day a talking dog is the one helping you read!

Samson's Classroom is an online educational program for K-5th grade. It's designed to help students excel in language arts and uses games to reinforce sight words, spelling, and reading comprehension.

Jake (6 yr) was very excited to be practicing with Samson. I have said many times that he does not like reading. He does it when he needs to and is very good at it, but it is definitely not something he does for enjoyment. That's why I'm always looking for new ways to spark his interest. Samson has done just that! He actually asks me if he can play. I set up an account for Alyssa (4 yr) as well, but it is a bit too difficult for her. That doesn't stop her from watching her big brother though. They both love the silly little cartoons throughout the games. Watching Samson blow up the words, pop them with darts, or pull them off screen with a big cane always produces some laughs.

Sight Words with Samson is perfect for beginning readers. It helps them master the 224 most-commonly used words in the English language, giving them a good foundation to become successful readers. This area is broken into 5 sections for each list: learn words where they are visible on the screen and audibly spoken and spelled, build words where various letters are on the screen and the student has to choose the correct ones to spell the words as the letters are audibly spoken, identify words where the student has to pick which word is being spoken from the list of words on screen, spell words where the student has to choose on his own which letters the word comprises, and missing words where multiple words are on screen and the student chooses which one is being said.  

Once the student has completed each section for the list, he gets a star. After 4 stars, he earns a colored karate belt. Who ever would have guessed that a virtual karate belt would be the factor that got my boy to want to learn his sight words? Apparently the creators of Samson's Classroom because he has been working so hard. When he initially started the program, he started at level 1. I looked at the list and realized that it was too simple for him. I looked all around the website to see how I could do a placement test or choose which level I wanted to place him. When I couldn't find anything to help, I emailed the company. A got a response back very quickly, letting me know that they unlocked all the levels so I could start him where I saw fit. I was very impressed. As it turns out though, since Jake is very intent on earning that black belt, he has gone back to finish the earlier lessons, too. I think it's safe to say that the sight words section is doing its job - helping my son to learn his words. That he is starting to enjoy it is just a bonus.

Spelling with Samson is the most comprehensive spelling product on the market. You can choose one of the pre-made lists or input your own. With over 5,000 words in the data base, it's pretty thorough. There are 4 sections to mastering a spelling list: study zone is where the student learns all about the word - sound, spelling, in a sentence; missing letters is a fun game where the student chooses which letter(s) the word is missing and watches Samson karate chop or slice through them; spelling scramble is a game where you control Samson to run around collecting letters as you try to avoid getting tied up by the giant spider, then you unscramble the letters to make the words; and crunch time is a game where you have to help Samson cross the water by typing the words to make him jump across the icebergs, go too slow and the ice gets eat by a walrus, making Samson fall in the ice cold water.

Jake really liked playing these games. His favorite was definitely spelling scramble because of his obsession with spiders. When played in order, the games progress to help the student learn the words in a fun way.

Reading with Samson is geared more toward the older students. It helps students analyze reading material, learn how to draw conclusions based on it, and answer questions about it. The program uses a patented user feedback system. When a student answers incorrectly, that portion of the story is highlighted and the student has another chance to answer. I tried this section on my own. It is definitely too advanced for my little ones to play. I found it to be a good brain exercise for myself though. Hey, my dad has always taught me that if you challenge your brain through mind puzzles, you'll stay younger and healthier. Apparently Samson's Classroom is good for all ages!


You can also find many worksheets, lesson plans, flashcards, certificates, and other resources on the website. They offer many options for purchase: 1 user $30/year, 4 users $50/year, and other options for classrooms and schools. You can even try a demo and watch a 3 minute demo video.

Samson's Classroom has worked well in our home. I'm happy to see Jake excited about reading, even if it is just a few sight words. Who knows, maybe I can purchase real karate belts to get him wanting to read whole books. You never know. But one thing's for sure, I'm not letting giant spiders run around my house, excited about reading or not!  



You can read more reviews of Samson's Classroom on the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog.

* Disclaimer - I received this subscription in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.