I'll start with the review of VocabularySpellingCity.com that I was asked to do a month ago. Here's the first post about it which gives the statements about the site along with a brief right up about it.
Please note that there are affiliate links in this post.
Here are the pros of this site that I found for my family:
I really liked that it was fairly easy to set up assignments. It did take me a moment to figure out just where things were located, but the 'help' video provided on the site was extremely helpful (short & to the point, which is a plus)!
Pretty girl, my eldest, was the first one to start on an assignment. I liked that the Spelling test 'talks' to her. I was wondering just how this might work and was pleasantly surprised.
I also like that I control the list of words. We have been using Spelling Power and this site works wonderfully with what I am already doing. With Spelling Power students take a spelling test daily and only study words they don't already know. With VocabularySpellingCity.com, we have a lot more variety in activities that help to reinforce the learning of new words (word searches, fill in the blanks, hang-man).
I really loved the added part of Vocabuarly development. Spelling is only one part of learning words. Knowing the meanings of words is also important to me as a homeschooling parent.
We added the app to our iPad & iPods so that each of the children could do a few activities with in their lists simotaneously, thus cutting our time for this subject/activity in 3rds. I liked that!
I liked that on the report it shows how long it took for the student to complete each activity. It also shows which words were missed--helping me know which words to reinforce.
There is also a pre- and post-test that can be assigned.
Here are some things I didn't like:
Once an assignment has been made it cannot be changed. The only thing that can be editated are the students who are to complete it/them.
The App doesn't do the same things as the main site. I sort of expected it but viewing the 'help' video about how to use it made it appear that it would. Many of the activities are unable to play/work using the App. This was a BIG disappointment for all of us. In addition, the assignments can be completed on the app, however it does not record that they have been completed as part of an assignment (of course, there may be a step I missed but after a month, I have not been able to figure that out).
I've noted that Flash is required to use most of the activities on the iPad/iPod and at this point Flash is unavailable for Mac devices. This is not VocabularySpellingCity.com's fault but it limited the amount of activities we could utilize and I was disappointed about that.
Despite the cons, I still really enjoyed the site and my children did as well. It took us a bit longer to get through activities since we had to spread our time using the main PC, but we were able to try out all of the activities that were appropriate for my children in that time frame.
I believe I tested out the premium options for this site so am not sure what the basic membership would cover. If you'd like more information about this site and the options you have follow this think to VocabularySpellingCity.com to learn more.
Overall, I give this site a 'good' rating. It's interactive and you control the spelling lists and activities your child must study/complete. I like it most because it compliments what I'm already using and gives additional 'fun' activities for learning words.
Hope this helps you if you've been interested in checking out VocabularySpellingCity.com
Happy Learning!
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