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Becky Parker
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| Posted: Jan 28 2011 at 6:15am | IP Logged
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Just some random thoughts I'm having this morning ... wondering if you care to voice your opinions ... 
My kids enjoy playing the games at sites like Spelling City and Starfall, and I enjoy that they are "educational". I'm wondering though, if they are really that beneficial. If Spelling City really worked to teach my ds his spelling, why don't I use that instead of the curriculum I am using? It seems "too easy" to just say "okay it's time to go play at Spelling City" and then cross that off as "done" for the day. Do kids really learn just by playing the games on line?
And what about Starfall? My younger boys really like to play at that site. But can they really learn to read? I guess if I used it like I use the current phonics program I am using they would. But are all the fun games there more distracting than educational?
Like I said, just some thoughts. Hoping for your input or experiences...
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Becky
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kristacecilia
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| Posted: Jan 28 2011 at 6:26am | IP Logged
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I don't know that I consider Starfall a complete curriculum, but I think it can be used in addition to a curriculum for a little fun. We have free-Fridays. On Fridays my kids get to choose their math and reading activities, and quite often my emergent reader chooses Starfall. I am okay with that, he worked hard for the rest of the week, he can have a little fun with his learning. ;)
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Becky Parker
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| Posted: Jan 28 2011 at 6:37am | IP Logged
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I like the Free Fridays idea Krista! 
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Becky
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KackyK
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| Posted: Jan 28 2011 at 8:39am | IP Logged
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Love the free Fridays idea, thanks for sharing!
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JaysFamily
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| Posted: Jan 28 2011 at 9:25am | IP Logged
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I'm just using Starfall as a supplemental material to help reinforce what he already knows, and to help teach computer skills. We also pull Starfall up on the Wii sometimes to help with hand/eye coordination.
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Maggie
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| Posted: Jan 28 2011 at 10:29am | IP Logged
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I let my kids play on Starfall once every week or two.
It is "educational", but honestly, I think my kids are more distracted by the graphics than anything...
ie: the gumball machine on starfall...I think that is with the letter "G". They play that one over...and over...and over...and over...and over... 
You get my point. :)
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SeaStar
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| Posted: Jan 28 2011 at 2:49pm | IP Logged
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Last spring Starfall really helped my dd get going with reading. She learned her letter names and sounds from the site when she was three, so she was familiar with it already. I ordered the SHort Vowel Pal reading kit that came with a Starfall pencil, journal and a stuffed Zack. She loved it!
She was happy to practice reading with the books (liked the books much better than reading on-line), and she loves her Zack. At the same time I got Peg the Hen for my ds, and they still play with Zack and Peg almost every day.
It really got us over the reading hump and helped build her confidence.
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ekbell
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My children also have also enjoyed the physical starfall materials.
We use both the starfall and spelling city websites.
I wouldn't say that the websites would be enough by themselves but it's a good incentive for completing book work in a timely fashion. Also having my children take their spelling tests using spelling city has saved me much aggravation.
[To tell the truth I think that if I supervised the choice of activities more closely _Spelling city_ might be sufficent for spelling, but that's not our style]
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Becky Parker
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| Posted: Jan 29 2011 at 5:46am | IP Logged
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My 3 yo was playing with some magnetic letters last evening and i was surprised at how many he could name. I'm mostly sure that's from playing at Starfall. I wonder if getting the physical Starfall materials, and maybe signing up for the "More Starfall" site would be a good thing to do for him. I have this guilty feeling, since it's on the computer, but ... if it's working ...
I feel the same way about Spelling City when it comes to my 4th grader. He loves doing Spelling at Spelling City. He asked just yesterday why he can't just use that for his spelling all the time, instead of our current curriculum. I didn't have any answer except something about it being "on the computer".
I can't decide if I need to just get over that, or if I need to stick to it. Does being on the computer make something sub-standard? I guess that's a rhetorical question. I'm just trying to figure all of this out.
Maybe I'll try spelling city for a while and see how his spelling carries over into his writing. So far, even though I'm using what I believe is a very good program, the carry over hasn't been so great. 
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Barbara C.
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I've never used spelling city alone. But we also don't use a "standard" spelling program with a weekly list. We use Sequential Spelling and those lists are a little harder to integrate into Spelling City, but I do use Spelling City for review tests.
Starfall is designed to be a full phonics program if desired, and I used it as such to review/fill gaps with my oldest who needed more time to develop her reading ability. Some of the songs, though, are also great pneumonic devices...I've found myself repeating them when a child has stumbled over a vowel sound.
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AmandaV
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Has anyone joined and used More starfall? I saw last year that they added their own kinder curriculum and web site but the price of the kinder stuff was a lot for a homeschooler! But I love how kids love their stories, and have printed or ordered the cheap paper books before! My son definitely learned! Now he is an independent reader but I have an almost 5 year old and both are interested in the games on more starfall. How challenging are they? We tried the sample math game which he really liked. Thanks!
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kristacecilia
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Free-Fridays is my way of being lazy. By Friday I am ready for the week to be over, too! 
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Krista
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herdingkittens
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We use Spelling City as the spelling test for the week. The littles use CHC spellers and when they finish the list, I let them "test" on SC. Then I let them play around on it if they want to.
I don't think I could turn it over to the website, personally. I like them to write things out lots. That being said, I am in the throws of working on neat penmanship.
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Becky Parker
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| Posted: Feb 05 2011 at 8:21am | IP Logged
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herdingkittens wrote:
I don't think I could turn it over to the website, personally. I like them to write things out lots. That being said, I am in the throws of working on neat penmanship.
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Good point, Herding Kittens. (Still love that name by the way! )
I think one of the things my ds (9yo) likes about spelling city is that he doesn't have to write. He's really improved over time, it used to be terrible. I'm trying to decide, and going to ask at this forum, how to choose what sort of writing this ds should be working on. It's hard to verbalize what I'm trying to ask so I'll try again with another question ! (Forgive me, I didn't get much sleep last night!)
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Becky
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4Real Forums : Language Arts Come Alive
Topic: Spelling City / Starfall
