Spelling and Math Practice with EdShed {A Homeschool Review Crew Review}

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

We were given the opportunity for the children to practice spelling and math with both Spelling Shed and Math Shed. During this review period, the younger two children have been the primary users of these programs, though Tabitha and Amelia are using it as well. 

We were given a one-year subscription to both Spelling Shed and Math Shed. The children have been able to access their accounts on the desktop computer and on their tablets.   

Each child has their own account login information. It was easy to set them up as my students, and they didn't have any issues logging in. One of the first things they wanted to do was change their avatar. There are basic changes, such as the facial features, hair, plain shirts, and plain backgrounds, that they can do at any time. 

Other changes need honey pots, which are earned while working and playing on the site. With these honey pots they can get fancier shirts, patterned backgrounds, and accessories. 

My children always enjoy playing around with their avatars, so this was quite the incentive to earn those honey pots. 

So, what exactly do children have to do to earn these pots? In other words, what do they do on the site?

Let's take a look at each section. When they first log in they will have the choice between Spelling Shed and Math Shed.

Let's begin with the children's favorite, Spelling Shed. 

There are different "stages" the children can choose from: Stage 1 & 2, Stage 3, Stage 4 & 5, or More Lists. 

When we first began, I had the younger children start in Stage 1 & 2, because I wasn't sure where to find information on what words were included in each stage. 

Once they click on a stage, they are given the choice between playing, creating a hive, and bonus games. 

In the normal play section, the children get to practice spelling with four different difficulties: Easy, Medium, Hard, and Extreme. 

In Easy mode, the child gets to see and hear the word and a definition before having to spell it.

They are then given all the letters for the word and have to unscramble them by clicking on them in order before the time runs out (there is a yellow bar across the top of the screen that flows from left to right as time counts down. They get approximately half a minute to spell the word, and they are able to backspace if they realize they misspelled it. They can also hear the word again if they need to and pause if they need to go to do something. 

Once they are done spelling the word, they click the green check mark at the bottom of the screen. They are given immediate feedback on whether they spelled the word correctly, or incorrectly.

I love that it shows the correct spelling and reminds the student what the meaning of the word is plus the part of speech, whether they get it correct or not. If they are right, they earn points.

If they are incorrect, they don't.

Once they complete all 10 words, they see their results.

If they choose the Medium difficulty, they play the same way, except they don't get to see the words first. However, in Difficult mode, they are given more scrambled letters than are required for the word. 

In the Extreme level, children have to click the letters from a honeycomb keyboard, plus they have approximately 10 seconds less to figure the word out.

Harold also enjoyed being able to play the different games. 

Bee Keeper reminds me of the old game Hang Man. Blank spaces are given and the child is to guess letters to figure out the word. For each letter they get wrong, they lose a bee. However, if they figure out a word, they get three of those bees back, plus earn a honey pot.

Missing Word gives the children a sentence and they have to fill in the missing word. There are again the four levels of difficulty. Easy allows the children to choose the correct spelling from between two words.

In the Medium level they need to pick between four words. But in the Difficult level they have to spell it the way they do in the regular play, by clicking  on the letters. And in Extreme level they have to use the full honeycomb keyboard again. 

These are some really fun ways for children to work on spelling. 

For the older girls, I had them pick a list from their grade lists under curriculum which could be found if they clicked on "More Lists."

From here they have the choice of the Spelling Shed lists, Dolch lists, Fry lists, or grade level lists. They have lists for 3-4 grade, 5-6 grade, and 7-8 grade. 

The children spent the majority of their time using Spelling Shed as we haven't been very consistent with spelling this year. But, I did have them use Math Shed as well. 

They could choose to work on Number Bonds, Times Tables, Powers of 10, Add & Subtract or choose from "More," which gave them the choice of Year 4 Mulitplication Tables Check or Negative Numbers. 

As we have been working on multiplication, Harold and Harold spent most of their time in the Times Tables section. They can choose from lots of different facts.

As with Spelling Shed they have different levels of difficulty they can choose from. Though there are only three instead of four. 

They are shown a problem and are to choose the answer from the different asteroids.

Easy level has them pick between three possible answers, where Medium level has them pick between six. In the Difficult level they have to type their answer in on the calculator.

I also appreciate that a I can go into my account as a parent and check their progress.

We have been enjoying practicing math and spelling with this fun site. I love that there are different stages of words in Spelling Shed, plus different levels of difficulty for each stage. However, I wish the words weren't given so randomly and that if they chose Easy from Stage 1 & 2, they could then more on to the next difficulty level with the same words, giving them a chance to practice with the same words. 

Either way, I do think this is a great and fun way for children to work on math and spelling skills. And I highly recommend it.

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Don't forget to click on the banner below to see what my fellow Crew Mates had to say about Math Shed and Spelling Shed.