My Vocabulary Spelling City Review

Today, I want to talk about one of my favorite free resources, that I use with my kids.
                    
                                              
                                             It is called, Vocabulary Spelling City!

What is Vocabulary Spelling City (Spelling City or VSC for short)? Well, it is an award winning, online game-based, educational tool for Spelling, Vocabulary, and Language Arts. (They also have lists for words in Math, Social Studies, and Science too.)

So, how did I discover VSC? Well, it was several years ago and I was on one of those home-school forums. There was a fellow home-schooler, that was really bragging about them. So, I knew I had to go check it out. I mean if it is free, what can it hurt, right? As you can see, years of use later, that I obviously loved the program. Luckily, my kids do too! Which as we all know, isn't always the case, when it comes to school work. The games and activities are so fun, compared to tradition workbooks, that it doesn't even feel like they are studying spelling. Hang Mouse and Letter Fall are my oldest favorites.

Besides all of the teaching resources, and their awesome new app, my favorite thing about this program is that you can either create your own word lists or you can use the pre-generated lists of words that are grade appropriate. Holiday theme's are my favorite ones. In fact, just a few days ago, I found a fun St. Patty's Day word list that was already created.

Of course, I also have made tons of my own ( they are so easy to make ). For example, my daughter is an avid reader. So, I will take her book's and use them to create the lists. Which makes it much more fun & interesting for her when, it is time for her Spelling lessons.
VSC is also helping with my youngest. Even though he isn't reading yet, he still is benefiting from some of the activity's, like the Word Video's. I plan on using their phonics and sight words spelling curriculum beginning lists very soon.

Another great thing about this program, that you might like to know, is that it was originally intended for traditional classroom use. So, you can feel confident knowing that it is aligned to those standards.
In addition, they offer a 100% completely Free version of their program, but for just $30/year, you can upgrade to their Premium Version ( you get 5 students per upgraded account). Plus, they just added free instructional videos, to help teachers and homeschooling parents, understand the program and options on how to use it successfully.

Personally, we used their free version for awhile in the beginning. I did decide later to upgrade, not only because I felt the $30 was affordable, but also because I wanted the extras you get with the premium version. I really like how the kids now have their own sign in area, and all the new games, etc. that we now have access to.
I defiantly recommend this program to anyone who home-schools or is looking for some extra help after school or during the Summer months.



Until Next Time...