Friday, September 18, 2009

Practice Spelling Words with SpellQuizzer - A Review

Every child must learn to spell at some point in their lives. Even parents who choose unschooling as their form of homeschooling need to teach their child to spell. Common practices include writing down the spelling words, writing the words within sentences, and orally quizzing the words.

I recently had the opportunity to use the SpellQuizzer software program. SpellQuizzer is a spelling program that helps kids learn their spelling and vocabulary words. The spelling program downloads right onto your computer, meaning once it's downloaded you don't need to sign on to the Internet to use the program.

The SpellQuizzer web site has pre-made downloadable spelling lists that you can download and use with SpellQuizzer. These are arranged by grade, commonly misspelled words, holiday words, and many other varieties. The spelling software allows you to download a list, save it to your hard drive and import it to the SpellQuizzer program. For preschoolers, the site offers letter lists and Dolch sight words.

My children's favorite aspect of SpellQuizzer is the opportunity to create your own spelling words. My son used his spelling list from school. The program is designed to work with a microphone. If you don't have one, you can find them at Wal-mart for around $8. After you type in a spelling word, you record the word and any sentence you choose. For example, I would say "snow" and then the sentence "do not eat the yellow snow." You do this for each word. Once the list is complete, your child can go on the program and click the "Quiz Me on a List" button. They choose the saved list and then listen as your voice, or theirs, dictates the word. They then type in the word. If the word is spelled wrong, the program shows the correct spelling and allows them a retry at the end of the quiz.

My daughter enjoyed recording her own letters and then finding them on the keyboard. After the holidays, we will start working on the Dolch sight words list provided by the spelling software. While preschool homeschoolers may not utilize every aspect of the SpellQuizzer program right away, it is a valuable practice tool for anyone looking for a fun, different way to practice spelling words.

***Check the blog in a few days for a chance to win a free download for the SpellQuizzer spelling program***

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