vocabulary

VocabularySpellingCity: Premium Account {Crew Review}

October 30, 2013 by Dana

If you can remember my review from last year, then you’ll remember how much we LOVED VocabularySpellingCity! This website is amazing for teaching spelling and vocabulary, all in one place. Designed to be fun and easy, one could not ask for more!

VocabularySpellingCity helps you, as the teacher and parent, set up lessons that work for you and are manageable. Through interactive gaming, students learn what vocabulary or a word list that you have set for them. Best thing is that VocabularySpellingCity also helps you keep track of it all, all in the same place.

All you have to do is:

log into a parent account,
set up a classroom,
add your students,
set the lessons either by choosing premade lessons or creating your own
and your children can get started.

VocabularySpellingCity makes it all super easy to do.

With a premium membership you can choose:

special learning activities for each child’s grade level
assign different lists to individual children
record test results and create accountability for lessons
import lists
create flashcards to use online or print
teach definitions, antonyms, synonyms or parts of speech for the spelling or vocabulary lists chosen

There is so much available through VocabularySpellingCity to make learning easier and ensure children are thoroughly learning both spelling and vocabulary through their online lessons. VocabularySpellingCity can also be used off the computer by printing out worksheets, flashcards and other resources for expanding lessons offline.

Through VocabularySpellingCity, you can find list for Science words, Social Studies, words that rhyme, abbreviations, word families, words with more than one meaning, the Dolch-sight word lists and even more. You can also find Language Arts lessons on nouns, parts of speech, compound words, figurative language and more. Extra helps for handwriting and spelling are also available.

In the Premium account you can add up to 5 students and customize each account to the child’s grade level. I personally chose not to set grade levels for my children but I did set lessons for each by assigning them to each student as they fit to my student. I allow my children to work on word and vocabulary lists that fit what we are learning. I simply input what words we are learning for the week and VocabularySpellingCity does the rest for me. My child can then log-in and complete their work as assigned for each week. It doesn’t matter what time they go on to use the program. It will be there when they are able to get to it.

Now I’ve said this website is super easy to use throughout this review but if for some reason you find yourself lost or stuck, there are lots of videos to explain just what you need to know. There are even videos for the student lessons at VocabularySpellingCity. Everything you need is right there at your fingertips.

You can use VocabularySpellingCity for free but you won’t get the extra writing and vocubulary options that are available with the Premium membership. However, you still get plenty of activities and it’s a great way to try out the program, which can be used with all students in grades K-12.

Premium account game extras include:

Vocabulary Test Me
Flashcards, which I mentioned several times above
LetterFall
Sentence and Paragraph Writing Practice
Match It for Sentences and Definitions
Which Word? for Sentences and Definitions
Word-O-Rama
Crossword
and Parts Of Speech

Each of these extra games allows more detailed instruction and more fun for the lessons being taught.

You can purchase a premium family account with VocabularySpellingCity for $29.99 a year. This allows you access for up to 5 students for a full year. Access for more than 5 students can also be purchased.

To read more reviews of VocabularySpellingCity, please click the banner below!

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Vocabulary SpellingCity.com {Crew Review}

August 20, 2012 by Dana

Here lately I have been doing a lot of reviews for companies and websites we have been using in our homeschooling since we began. Things we absolutely love using in our schooling. Vocabulary SpellingCity.com is one of those websites.

We personally have used the free version of this site for years now and it’s been a blessing for myself and my children educationally. The website is extremely easy to use and full of lots of learning. For this particular review, I was given access to the premium membership portion of the website for a year for up to 5 children. As a parent this is a blessing, as a teacher this is an exceptional blessing for us.

Through Vocabulary SpellingCity.com, I am able to upload our weekly or monthly (or however I wish to create them) vocabulary and spelling lists to use with my children/students. I can also use pre-made lists created by others and by local public schools to help educate my children which are readily available on Vocabulary SpellingCity.com. Vocabulary SpellingCity.com then takes my lists and creates spelling and vocabulary games, programs, quizzes, etc for my children to practice with for the week or period we are working on the words.

I can create lists for any subject too! So lists of Math words, Science vocabulary, Social Studies, etc can be used right along with the other things we are learning about with Vocabulary SpellingCity.com. And of course, there are TONS of extras to use and work through when the weekly work is finished, just for fun!

This website is a bonus for any parent or teacher to have to help educate their children. There is a free version for you to use and try out the program, as well as additional memberships which provide even more! A premium family membership is available for $29.99 a year for up to five students. A classroom membership for up to 25 students is available for $49.99. School memberships are also available through the website.

For more reviews of Vocabulary SpellingCity.com, please visit the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog!!

*Disclaimer – A year subscription to Vocabulary SpellingCity.com was provided to me free in exchange for my honest opinion shared in a blog post review by Vocabulary SpellingCity.com and TOS’ Schoolhouse Review Crew team.

BigIQKids.com {Crew Review}

September 13, 2011 by Dana

BigIQKids.com is our first review of an online program for TOS Homeschool Crew this year. This company provides an extensive study program for children in grades K-8 to use in order to build daily skills in the core subjects of reading, math and more. For each task completed a coin is given for the child to later use in the Game section. The child is able to create a “buddy” avatar to use in the Game section for added fun. BigIQKids.com uses games throughout to provide a fun learning experience for all children. There is a free version to use but for the purposes of this review I was given access to their premium services to use.

BigIQKids Spelling provides 40 premade lessons for your child to work through or allows the parent to create their own list based upon their own personal list of words. Vocabulary is also provided for study in conjunction to the available spelling lists. Available games are Word Jumble, Spelling Bee, Hang Bot, Word Search and more. At the completion of each level the child will either recieve a smile or frown letting them know that they have completed that section of the list.

BigIQKids Math provides children with quizes covering the basics of math facts like addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Each list is generated based on the child’s grade level or parent’s selection in the lesson modification section. Lessons may be timed to provide a bigger challenge for the child. At the completion of each lesson the child once again recieves a coin for use in the Game section.

BigIQKids States program is a fun way to learn more about the states, as well as learn their relevant location on the United States map. There is an interactive map for your child to choose which state to begin their lessons with or they can choose any of these four available options: State Location, State Spelling, State Capital, State Abbreviation. This section re-enforces any study of the state’s available and provides extra practice in learning more about each state.

BigIQKids Vocabulary program is available in conjunction with their spelling to provide a comprehensive word study unlike any other currently available. Parents can choose to provide their own word list to work with or use any of a number of available lists provided on the site.

BigIQKids newest feature is their SAT Vocabulary Prep. This section provides students with a necessary vocabulary study in preparation for the SAT test given throughout the United States. Any student heading in the direction of college can benefit from this section to help strenghten their vocabulary and their test taking skills.

Each section of BigIQKids.com provides the user with a different, yet fun challenge. Used daily this website can benefit any child providing extra drill in spelling and math, while keeping the skills fresh and challenging. My children personally benefited from this website by reviewing words they use daily and math basics that they need a little extra help in. They truly enjoyed the games provided and the simplistic set-up of the site. I will admit that they did become a little bored with the rote memorization of skills but mostly because this style of learning is not one we normally use in our home. In the future, we will be using our membership to BigIQKids to increase our participation in this sort of educational style and we look forward to learning this way.

BigIQKids.com is a recipient of the TOS Homeschool Crew Blue Ribbon Award for 2011. It is a wonderful tool for educational use at home. To read more reviews of BigIQKids.com please visit the TOS Crew Blog.

*Disclaimer – I was provided a complimentary year’s subscription for two children by BigIQKids.com and TOS Magazine for purpose of this review. I was required to provide my honest, though not necessarily positive, opinion of this site in exchange for this subscription.