Special Connection Homeschool

I have been using VocabularySpellingCity for my spelling for awhile now but I was just using the free aspects of it.  When I had the opportunity to review the Premium Membership again I was thrilled.  I was thinking about getting it myself but trying to determine if I should.  After reviewing it for this last month I can say without a doubt I am glad I did.  VocabularySpellingCity Premium Membership offers so much than the basic program. Invaluable tools such as record keeping, progress tracking, student log in, and extra games and activities make it well worth the additional $29.99 a year.  As a parent trying to give her special needs student some independence the tracking tools are essential. The thing I loved the most about VocabularySpellingCity is how easy it is to make and modify spelling lists.  We have a curriculum we are using for English that incorporates the spelling words with the grammar you are using so it is important to be able to m...

I have to tell you about a trick that I have used to help Gess learn important and relevant, or high value, spelling words.  These are words that are important to her every day life and use.  Since Gess loves using the computer I started making her personal password words that I wanted her to learn to spell. We had to make Gess her own user once she got so good at typing on the internet that she ended up buying something on Ebay !  At first when I made her user I didn't require her to have a password but later we started using a password to limit her use.  I then decided to make the password educational.  If she could spell Jump Start and Mario it was time she learned to spell her last and middle name!  (Remember that this was several years ago, she certainly knows how to spell them now.)  It really is a great way to teach hard to learn or important words because kids will do just about anything to get their time on the computer! I do want to poi...

Vocabulary Spelling City is an online tool for learning vocabulary and spelling, just as the name implies.  Many of their resources are free but I was given the entire premium membership for the purpose of my review.  The program offers several ways for your child to explore their vocabulary and spelling lessons.  You can enter your own customized list or use some of the lists already available through the website.  There is a Spelling Test, Vocabulary Test, Teach Me, Flash Cards and Play A Game button at the top and bottom of each list.  As you can see there are also links to print the list, handwriting worksheets and an option to have them teach you word by word. When I first logged in as the teacher and went to set up my lists, I found the site a little overwhelming and hard to navigate.  They do, however, have a very thorough Videos - FAQ's page that was very helpful.  After watching some of the "getting started" videos I was able to jum...

Recently I shared with you a great FREE program I was able to review called BigIQkids . Not yet having my own spelling program, I was excited to have found something to use. I am really loving it and found it to be an excellent resource. You can see some of the activities it offers in my TOS Review: BigIQkids post. Gess has really found it fun and helpful. Now I wanted to share with you some other activities we use to supplement what we do on BigIQkids . We basically do spelling twice a day. We typically do our BigIQkids spelling on the computer in the morning and in the afternoon we do other hands on activities with those same spelling words. Here is how a week would look for us. Day 1 In the morning we will do the introduction to spelling activity on BigIQkids . This gives her not only the word and how to spell it, but the definition, how it is used in a sentence, and also shares the synonyms and antonyms of those words. In the afternoon she copies the words in her spelling...

I was so excited when I got my homeschool materials this year. I was like a kid at Christmas opening a present! I just love going through all my new materials and was having a good time until I realized that I had nothing for spelling. Last year my curriculum included it, this year it didn't. I was bummed and was trying to figure out what I would use when I got some good news. I was chosen to review BigIQkids for the TOS Homeschool Crew . BigIQkids is a unique online educational program for grades K-8 that is designed to help students reach their full potential by offering exercises for them to do in math, spelling and geography. Now I was not only excited about the spelling, I was eager to see how friendly the math section would be to my special little student, who happens to have Down Syndrome. Once I managed the online registration process and really began looking at the program, I was quite pleased with what it had to offer. Each lesson is accompanied by it's own ...

I really love the way the Phonetic and Spelling book is laid out in the Reading 1 - Bible Blessing Readers curriculum. It is set up in a way that encourages success, especially for children with special needs. We start with phonetic spelling. Each lesson has at least two vowel sets. For example it might be a short e and long e vowel set like the one you will see below. Because there are two sets in a lesson we make sure we do each set on different days. I do not want to confuse Gess by doing two rules at the same time. (Remember that some of these are review from Beginning Steps to Reading that we completed last year) I start by showing her the rule on the chalkboard and then share examples of how they are used in words. When we are ready for her to spell on her own we go to her workbook and have her write the vowel set at the top of the page. (The book has a "basket" of apples at the top of each row to write them in). This of course sets up the work in a way that ...