I recently received the All About Homophones e-book (by Marie Rippel of All About Spelling) to review. At first, I wasn't sure how to fit this into my curriculum. It seemed like just "one more thing" to try to squeeze in. I feared that it would be another thing I'd intend to use, but not follow through with. I was wrong.
After reading through the e-book, I decided to print out several pages from each grade level of students that I have. The kids wondered what I was printing, so I showed them. They were intrigued, and quickly took their worksheets to their school boxes.
For review purposes, I intended to have each child do one worksheet per day, or every other day. I printed out 6 grade-level worksheets per student, and all of the crossword puzzles for their grade. The girls (13, 11, and 9 years old) enjoyed the worksheets so much, they gladly did one each day. After the third day, they asked me to print more of them ... because they were FUN!
After seeing how much my children enjoyed the worksheets, I realized that this e-book is a great addition to our homeschool.
- Want to reward the kids with a puzzle or fun activity on Friday? Pull out a worksheet.
- Need the children to have something to keep them quiet when you're sick or busy? Pull out a worksheet.
- Need something easy to take to a Dr. appointment waiting room? Grab some worksheets and a small dictionary.
It isn't one more subject to schedule in. It isn't a burden to accomplish. It's a fun and easy way to add variety to your homeschool, while teaching an important spelling topic: homophones.
All About Homophones offers several different ways to teach homophones to your elementary and jr. high students, including:
- graphic organizers to create a homophone notebook,
- worksheets to practice using homophones,
- crossword puzzles,
- and games.
I love that the practice worksheets include puns and riddles, and encourage children to create their own puns, riddles, and tongue twisters with homophones. No matter what spelling program you use, All About Homophones can be a fun addition.
Since it includes lessons for grades 1-8, and is reusable, it is a great value for the homeschooling family. Making photocopies has been a stumbling block for my school planning in the past, so I recommend buying the e-book and printing the pages instead. If you buy the softcover book, I recommend making all your photocopies early in the year, so they are available to use at any time.
All About Homophones is available in a 250 page softcover book for $29.95, or as an e-book for $27.95. But right now they have a $10 coupon to celebrate the book! Just enter the coupon code "FUN" in the customer code box during checkout. This coupon is good for one week, now through Monday, February 2, 2009. Marie Rippel even offers a 30 day, no questions asked, money-back guarantee if you're not satisfied with All About Homophones. You can view sample pages from All About Homophones right HERE.
While you're at the All About Homophones website, be sure to check out their homophone games, including the NEW online Homophone Machine Game. It's a lot of fun! The Homophone Machine converted my sentence:
"I want a new cup of hot coffee to drink right now."
to this
"Eye wont a knew cup of hot coffee two drink write now."
to this
"Eye wont a knew cup of hot coffee two drink write now."
I definitely recommend All About Homophones for a fun, easy way to enhance your spelling program and teach homophones to your children.
Click the banner at the top to read more reviews on this product by other Homeschool Crew members.
Trusting in Him,
April
