Great Online Spelling Resources

It's both a struggle and joy to teach phonics to a child. You wait patiently while they figure it slowly out in their minds and begin to read- haltingly at first and then faster and smoother until they reach a level of fluency that allows both of you to enjoy the shared gift of literacy.

Reading is not the end of the journey though... after it comes grammar, the rules of writing, and spelling.  

This year we are focusing on spelling. As a child, I thought spelling was just about as boring as school got... (which is probably why I'm hopeless at it). I've been looking for things to help spice it up a bit and here are a few things that I have found on the internet. If anyone has any other good ideas, leave me a comment!

This is a fabulous resource. It allows you to type in your spelling words for the week and it makes up online or printable games that you can play. It also will read the words one at a time to the child, read it a second time in a sentence, and then wait for them to type in the word and then correct their spelling. Cool! I tested it out and they even did 'nutmeg'

SpellingTime.com

This looks like a good program too, although it costs money to subscribe, and the animated people who guide you through the lesson are pretty annoying.

The Amazing Handwriting worksheet maker

This is a  good resource for making up your own spelling practice pages.  You type in the spelling words, and then it spits out a handwriting worksheet using those words. You can change the font and the size.

StartWrite

This is a vastly popular tool amongst homeschoolers. It's a very versitile handwriting program that allows you to create handwriting worksheets in many different fonts and sizes, including cursive, handwriting without tears, among others.

Zaner-Bloser Fonts online

Lastly, there is this terrific free resource that makes very quick copywork and spelling lists in the correct size for the grade the child is working at. I like their cursive font and use this often.