See-N-Spell Review

See-N-Spell

Spelling and Vocabulary Quick Reference Tool

Web Site:  http://www.see-n-read.com/seenspell.html

Age: 4th Grade to Adult

Cost: $9.99

As an English teacher, I was excited to be selected to review See-N-Spell Spelling and Vocabulary Quick Reference Guide.  Spelling is an essential part of writing even though we often take it for granted with the strong improvements in spelling correction for word processing.

The forty-page booklet contains a page for each letter of the alphabet.  On each page is a list of words starting with that letter organized by the following: Noun, Pronoun, Article, Conjunction, Verb, Irregular Verb, Adjective, Adverb, Preposition and Homophones.  In addition, there is a list of commonly misspelled words and pages for Notes and Special Interest Words.

According to the web site, “Writers typically possess a larger everyday spoken (social) language vocabulary than written academic language vocabulary. They might know the sound of the first letter, the first few letters in a word and/or can recognize the word in print but still not be confident about how to spell the word correctly. These writers often misspell or, to avoid misspelling, choose simpler words that do not clearly express their thoughts or develop their language skills (e.g., choosing the word "hard" rather than "difficult").”

The concept is that if a writer knows the first few letters to spell a word, he can look it up using this tool.  I like the idea; however, for older students like mine, the internet affords tools that can easily be used and provide not only spelling but definition and a thesaurus for word variation. 

I do think this is a good option for younger students.  The age range specified is from 4th grade to adult.  Younger students and those less familiar with the internet would benefit from a quick, inexpensive, hands-on resource like this for their writing.  Additionally, younger students would learn to use reference material by using this book.

We were also sent the See-n-Read tool.  This tool, according to the web site, does the following: "See-N-Read® (U.S. Patent No. 7,954,444) is a practical assistive reading technology that is designed to help readers see, focus and remember what they read. These interventions for struggling readers reduce word- and line-skipping and pattern glare, enhancing reading fluency and improving reading comprehension."

We didn’t have a need to use this tool, but, for struggling readers, it would be a great advantage.  My older son struggled some with reading when he was younger and would have benefitted from a tool like this.

To see other reviews by the TOS Homeschool Crew - click here.

***  I was sent these tools free of charge as a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew in exchange for my honest review.