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Jan. 26, 2009 - ALL ABOUT HOMOPHONES
I recently received a new e-book called All About Homophones. It is a really enjoyable book that can be used as part of your language arts program for grades 1 through 8.
  
Do you remember what a homophone is? Well, "homo" means "the same", and "phonos" means "sound", so homophones are words that sound the same.
Here are some examples:
to, two, too
you, ewe
their, there, and possibly they're (depending upon pronunciation)
Did you know that some homophones vary geographically? For instance, I remember when I was in 2nd grade the teacher telling me that these were homophones:
aunt, ant
I was thinking, "No, those are not homophones! The first one is pronounced "aw", "aunt", and the ant is not pronounced that way." I am decended from Brittish, and have some specific pronunciations that differ from the general population such as either and neither (they are pronounced with an "i", not with an "e", in the first syllable). Aunt is another word that my pronunciation comes from my Dad and Gram.
I also remember her saying these were homophones:
are, hour, our
In my head I was thinking, "are" isn't pronounced the same as "our" and "hour" -- they have the "ow" sound, and are has the "ar" sound!
Other examples would be wear, ware and where. I pronounce and teach my children to pronounce "where" with the "hw" sound at the beginning, which differenciates its spelling from "wear".
That sentence reminded me of this one:
its and it's
It took me years to know when to use which. I still have to regularly remind myself that "it's" is an abbreviation for "it is", and "its" is the other one. It's confusing because you've got certain possessives that have apostrophies and certain ones that don't. Like the words brother's, sister's, John's, Janes, and then his, hers, its... Are all pronoun possessives without apostrophies? I don't know.. but I digress...
ALL ABOUT HOMOPHONES
This book begins with some pages that explain homophones, the content of the book, and how to use it. The book contains work pages for each grade level, with grade-appropriate homophones. Then there are card games provided to reinforce the learning, and there are crossword puzzles. The student creates their own pages of homophones. There's a resource list of great, enjoyable books that key in on homophones, such as books by Fred Gwynne (The King Who Reigned, for instance) and Amelia Bedelia books... Those books are so fun! There are pages of jokes, riddles and puns! Just what I need for my nine year old... (Question: What does a clock do when it is still hungry? Answer: Go back four seconds!) Then there is this amazing, almost exhaustive list of homophones.
This book is a wonderful resource and a lot of fun. I am really looking forward to getting my son hooked on these, and I can see this as a resource that we will come back to year after year. In my family this book gets two thumbs up!
Now originally I was thinking I would prefer to have the hard copy over the digital copy, which is what I actually have. But, after printing out a bunch of stuff, I decided I am glad I have the digital copy. After all, it is snowing and icing, and I would have had to go to my local copy shop to get my copies made if it hadn't been digital.
The maker of All About Homophones currently has a special offer available to those who might be interested in purchasing the digital copy. Here is their message to you:
1. We lowered the price of the printed book to $29.95. The e-book is at $27.95.
We think homeschoolers will appreciate this lower pricing!
2. And this is the big news: to celebrate the launch of All About Homophones, your
readers can get $10 off any order at www.all-about-homophones.com! To receive
the discount, visitors to the site need to enter "FUN" in the customer code box during
checkout. The coupon code is good for one week, through February 2, 2009.
So, remember the code "FUN", and go to their website to get your own copy of All About Homophones for $17.95 (e-book version) or $19.95 (print version) through next Monday, February 2nd.
And here's something else fun! Try out The Homophone Machine!
Do this: go to The Homophone Machine and type something in, then come back to my "Comments" spot and leave me a comment to let me see what it turns out as. I'll go first:
Their was snow and ice today, and eye halve cabin fever. I'm going crazy, and eye can't wok outside because its too slick!
Now it's your turn! Leave me a comment! |
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