Jan. 30, 2009 - Product Review -- All About Homophones
All About Homophones
by Marie Rippel
(author of All About Spelling)
What's Included? This new homophones book is 225 pages long and includes everything you need to teach homophones from 1st to 7th grade. It is written by the same author who wrote the fabulous All About Spelling series I reviewed earlier here.. Specific types of pages included in All About Homophones include grade appropriate worksheets for 1st through 7th grades, word lists for adding additional homophones to your spelling practice, crossword puzzles to review all of the homophones taught through the worksheets, game ideas, activity cards, puns, jokes and riddles, graphic organizers, and lots of lesson plan ideas to help you pull it all together. I reviewed the ebook edition, which costs $27.95; however for only $2 more I would spring for the print version if I was going to buy this book. A current $10 coupon is available. 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.
What I like: I do appreciate the fact that this book is organized into graded level learning. One book teaches everything needed for many years, and a ton of teaching material is included. My son really enjoys completing the worksheets and crossword puzzles. I feel like homophones and the spelling of homophones is one of those subjects that is easy to slip through the cracks in a homeschool setting. This book makes a great supplement if your spelling program does not cover homophones.
What I don't like: I am surprised at the organization of this book, as it seems to jump all around when compared to the layout of All About Spelling where every lesson is spelled out for me in one place. I would love to see this material integrated with All About Spelling, or somehow organized in a way that makes integration easier and daily lesson planning simple. I would never buy this book in ebook format. It is terribly difficult to navigate on screen, and printing it out is costly. Especially since the print version is only $2 more! It will cost significantly more then $2 just to print the ebook. Therefore, if you are interested in this book I highly recommend the print version. I think the regular price is cost prohibitive, and not consistent with the pricing for All About Spelling, which is a fantastic value. My oldest daughter does not prefer workbook style learning, so the worksheets are a waste on her. I think if I could navigate the ebook more easily, we would make much more use of the activity cards, games, etc. included with her. The material is available for any learning style, its just not easy to find.
My Bottom Line: All About Homophones could make a fantastic supplement for Moms worried about filling this gap. I am unaware of any other similar product, and we will continue to use it in our homeschool. If I had a chance to really look at this book at convention, it is probably not something I could justify buying -- especially at full price. I really love Marie's products overall and expect future revisions of this product to improve! More organized Moms probably would disagree with my assessment... you can read other reviews at the TOS Crew Blog.
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