The Curriculum Choice

While browsing the Christian Home Educators of Kentucky Convention last year, I came across a booth with several games that looked exciting. The company, HL Games Limited, allowed me the opportunity to review three of those games.

All of them are appropriate for middle elementary children and older.

Amuse Amaze happens to be our favorite of the three, although all of them are fun. Your job is to meander your way through the game board collecting three of four target cards and reach the finish line before your opponents. In order to make a move, you have to go from space to space spelling words.

Even my slightly spelling challenged child enjoyed the game because being able to spell long words doesn’t necessarily get you any farther than steadily spelling smaller words.

The game is different every time you play since the board comes in squares that are put together in different orders each time you set up. Couple that with the removable white tiles (in the picture) changing each new game and you’ll never experience the same words twice. We love this game!

My 13 year old daughter and I have really enjoyed Beadecked. My son, although entirely capable of playing, feels like it’s too “girly” since beads are the topic. I disagree and don’t find it to be “girly” at all, but I can’t convince him otherwise.

There are six different ways to use the deck of cards, all of which enhance logical/mathematical thinking. Essentially, each of the game options require you to make bead matches of some type from card to card. That sounds easy, but the beads each have varying characteristics of shape, color and pattern – and you usually have to match two or more of the characteristics in order to complete the play.

For those of you who have played SET, this game is similar in that you have to really think through corresponding characteristics. Critical thinking can be very fun!

And finally, Go Mental SacraMental is a trivia game for learning and reviewing Bible knowledge.

Players take turns reading game cards to one another. On each game card there are four phrases having to do with something from the Bible. One of the phrases doesn’t belong. The player whose turn it is gets to move one space on the board if they can tell which phrase doesn’t belong. They get to move three more spaces if they can tell how the other three phrases are connected.

There is a Bible reference on the answer card if you wish to give your child an opportunity to answer the question with help from the Bible. Players can also give and take questions to move their playing piece ahead or send opponents backward on the board.

With 1,ooo questions, we won’t be repeating cards for quite some time!

What games are you playing?

-Written by Cindy, eclectically Charlotte Mason mom of 3. You can find her blogging at Our Journey Westward and learn about her nature study curriculum at Shining Dawn Books.

Ever since my daughter was in Kindergarten she has struggled with spelling. We had a few good years due to a great curriculum and active hands on word studies. However as she hit the junior high level she was no longer interested in spelling games yet still lacked spelling skills. She is a very intelligent girl but spelling is not her forte. I thought that she would simply have to live out the rest of her life as a poor speller. After all, I know plenty of people who have resigned themselves to be poor spellers.

My daughter, now in 7th grade, was not satisfied being a poor speller. So I was on the hunt again for a spelling program that would speak to my child. Once we pinpointed her trouble stemmed from phonics, I wanted to find a program that addressed this issue in particular. Well, short of Hooked on Phonics for a child half her age I was out of luck. That is until I found the Phonetic Zoo.

The Phonetic Zoo is unlike any program I had used before. Instead of textbook that had you memorize spelling in a one dimensional manner, The Phonetic Zoo is multi sensory. The child will have the opportunity to hear the word while seeing the word and vice versa. The Phonetic Zoo breaks learning style barriers by effectively teaching spelling properly to all students. The program is based on how the brain stores and retrieves information. The program is not designed so your child will get 100% on a spelling test only to forget the words the next week. This program is designed to teach your child how to spell which will in turn make him a better speller all around and not just a better speller for one test.

So far my daughter is seeing great success with this method. She enjoys the multi-sensory and unique approach. I enjoy seeing her succeed in an area she was struggling in for so long.

So my challenge to you is to visit the site, read the teacher’s notes and have your child take the placement test. The program is guaranteed to improve your child’s spelling or you will be refunded. You have nothing to lose!

Phonetic Zoo Package includes:

5 audio CDs (Level C has 6 CDs)

Spelling and the Brain and Introduction to The Phonetic Zoo DVD with the following:

- Spelling and the Brain video seminar

- Introduction to The Phonetic Zoo video

- The Phonetic Zoo teacher’s notes PDF file

-Lesson Cards with all three levels of spelling words and jingles

-Personal Spelling Cards to keep track of your student’s typical misspellings.

-Zoo Cards, which serve as a way to practice jingles or as rewards.

Cost: $99.00

Disclosure: Program provided by the Institute for Excellence in Writing for the purpose of review. The thoughts and opinions presented are my own. EIW may or may not agree with this content.

Apples: Daily Spelling Drills for Secondary Students has been a wonderful addition to our middle school curricula. My daughter has been through years of spelling since she’s in 8th grade. I wasn’t quite ready to completely stop spelling instruction, but I didn’t want it to take up too much time and be drudgery this year either.

Apples has been the perfect fit for us! Each week my daughter reviews one spelling rule and practices the rule over the course of the week through various fun and fast drill worksheets. It’s turned out to be a great review and reinforcement of spelling rules she’s learned from the very beginning until now. Of course, the easier rules don’t necessarily mean super-simple words. The rule is applied with words that are appropriate for the middle school student.

And speaking of the words, there aren’t spelling lists to study or spelling tests at the end of the week. Quite simply, my daughter just does the daily puzzle or fill-in-the-blank style worksheet. Each day during the week, she will complete different styles of activities using different words, all centering around understanding and applying the weekly rule. (As we all know, many words don’t follow the spelling rules, and these exceptions are covered, too – especially if you choose to use Apples 2.)

On the publisher’s website, you will find the curriculum touted as being good for struggling spellers. While I can see how this is true since basic spelling rules are taught, I wouldn’t single it out as a remedial program only. In fact, my daughter is very good at spelling and is still gaining a lot from the daily rule reminders and spelling drills. Best of all, she finds the ten minutes (or less) spent doing the “fun sheets” a nice break from the rest of her lessons!

-Cindy is an eclectically Charlotte Mason mom of three. You can find her blogging at Our Journey Westward and find her nature study curriculum at Shining Dawn Books.

Spelling is one subject I’ve never enjoyed teaching. (And my son has never enjoyed learning.) This is probably because I’ve never found a program that’s the right fit for my son – multisensory, phonetical and builds upon precepts. As a result, he still struggles a bit with spelling in the 5th grade.

During my summer planning, I came across the All About Spelling website and quickly became intrigued. Their program is:

multisensory – involving sight, sound and touch
logical – following a sequential order
thorough – not leaving out anything
phonics-based – introducing sounds from the simple to complex
full of review – so your child can’t forget
clear for the child and scripted for the parent
very reasonably priced

They even claim to take older students (like my 5th grader) back to the beginning, fill in the gaps and quickly bring them up to grade level. I challenged the company and asked if I could review their program from the perspective of a mom who wanted to start from scratch and see how quickly she could build spelling skills with her 5th grader using their program.

It’s working!

We started at the very beginning with Level One. Much of this was very simple and I often found him rolling his eyes at the lessons. But, there were small gaps even at this first level that we were able to fill in! I tried to ease his “boredom” by telling him that we were going to whiz through the book and try to finish it as quickly as possible. We were able to complete Level One in about three weeks. (For a younger child, this first book would probably take more like a full semester to a year.)

We’re working through Level Two now and I’m finding this book to hold some of the spelling keys that are really making a difference. He’s learning rules about when the y says /i/, when to use oi/oy and other similar exchanges, what vowel teams make the long e sound and so much more. In fact, not only are his spelling skills growing, so are decoding skills during reading and grammar!

What I love about the program:

It’s hands-on! Manipulative tiles that make up every phonetic sound are included in the material packet you receive. Your child is asked to say, hear, touch and move these phonographs with each lesson. You can even turn them into magnet tiles with small magnets that are included in the materials packet.
Each lesson builds on previous lessons – and reviews past skills.
Phonics rules are taught directly with flashcards.
The lessons are built so that you can move as quickly or as slowly as you need to. There’s no set number of activities that must be completed per day.

I only experienced a tad bit of frustration. Since this is a manipulative-based program, there are manipulatives to prepare. In the material packet, you receive everything you need for all the magnetic tiles and flashcards. However, they are found on (colorful and sometimes laminated or perforated) card stock. You have to cut out all the tiles and stick the little magnets on, and tear apart all the flashcards to file in your own note card filing box. So, the preparation is a bit time-consuming. I would estimate it took me about an hour and a half to get everything ready.

On the positive side – the directions for preparation are top-notch. I never had a question about what to do next!

You can check out each of the levels and what skills they include by clicking here and choosing the level of interest.

If you’re just starting out, you will need to purchase the entire set that comes with a teacher’s guide and the material packet.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that the program is reusable! There are no consumables, so you can use the entire set again for another student. (Unless, like me, you have a three-year-old who might lose some of the manipulatives before his turn comes around to use the program!)

What’s your favorite spelling program?

-Cindy is an eclectically Charlotte Mason mom of 3. You can find her blogging at Our Journey Westward and find her nature studies at Shining Dawn Books.