All About Homophones, A TOS Crew Review (PLUS $10 off through Feb 2nd)

All About Spelling's Marie Rippel offers another goodie for parents and teachers, a tool kit that teaches homophones, called (what else?), "All About Homophones". The "All About Homophones" web site is here, where you can look inside the product for a sample.

Our TOS Crew reviewed the e-book version ($27.95), and Rippel has available a soft-cover version ($29.95) as well.

I'm not sure that anyone has ever attempted the concept of homophones with my daughter who is on the autism spectrum. I certainly had not, and when I learned that I would be reviewing this product, I honestly did not know what to expect.

I love it! My priorities involve products and resources that my daughter and I can use together, guided participation style, and they need to be products that scaffold my part as guide, so that I can devote more time to the together part than the planning part. This product meets my criteria.

When I printed the first few sets of worksheets, I somehow managed to print two sets of each page. I wish I could say that printing two sets was on "on purpose". It was not. Since I had two sets, I decided to sit down and complete the same page that I gave my daughter to complete. When she saw that I had the same worksheet that she had, she joined me willingly, and she and I worked through the homophones together. I was able to get a glimpse into what she already knows and what she needs to grow. Note to self: Always print two copies of the worksheets.

The workbook is set up by grade level, covering grades 1-8, beginning with graphic organizers, followed by leveled worksheets that consist of ten fill-in-the-blank questions about sets of homophones, followed by puzzles, games and other teaching tools that include tongue twisters, riddles and puns.

We will continue to use "All About Homophones" for a long time -- I like that it covers 1st - 8th grades, and Rippel's games are a fun way to incorporate learning into "between you and me" time! I do like the 239 page e-book option because I can print just the parts I need and save the rest until later without taking up room on a bookcase.

I continue to be impressed with information made available on vendor web sites, and "All About Homophones" is no exception. Make sure you check out the homophone machine on the web site!!!

I really like this product -- it's given me some direction and competency in a new area of learning for my daughter!

A note from Marie Rippel:

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. Feel free to let your readers know about this coupon code. They can get their own copy of All About Homophones for $17.95 (e-book version) or $19.95 (print version) throughnext Monday.

Other reviews of "All About Homophones" by our crew are available here.