Free Educational Websites I Actually Use

Spelling –

Spelling City   www.spellingcity.com

Missed words from their writing and spelling journals into Spelling City. I put them straight into here and send them to work on those words when we have a small block of time to fill.

Writing-

Kidblog   www.kidblog.org

Set up a private classroom blog. Editing is allowed. We put in Grandma and Grandpa from out of town and they LOVE it. It’s also great for keeping members of our family who sometimes “miss” things “in” on things.  If our children ever leave home (and I’m in no hurry), I hope they’ll still post their stories for us.

Math-

Xtra Math  www.xtramath.org

This is great for fact practice. They practice each day for a very short time. They log in by clicking their name.  It tells them when they’re done. I get an email report of progress once a week, and a notification email if they don’t log in and do their practice. The student tries to get the facts in 3 seconds for a smiley face, but it gives him 10 seconds before giving the answer. It’s just what I’ve always wanted and it’s free.

Reading –

Book Adventure   www.bookadventure.com

Five to Ten Question Quizzes on lots and lots of books. Brian found this for me when I asked for something similar to Accelerated Reader. We don’t use it a lot, but it gives me an extra record of a few of the books they’ve read and reminds them to read carefully. I have started writing on my own books if there is a book adventure quiz to go along with them.

I know there are LOTS of other really cool websites – but there is only so much I can use! LOL!  

*I use BJU Press as my "core" for all these subjects. These are great little extras in less than 10 minutes and fit well with BJU Press.
Spelling words from their own writing mistakes. I mostly use their journal entries from spelling, but if I've noticed another word from another subject I'll add it as well.
Xtra Math instead of (or in addtion to depending on the child) fact practice printoffs from the Teacher CD
Book Adventure - as a quick report of all that extra reading their reading teachers have encouraged
KidBlog - to tell about their projects, to publish their writing, to tell how much they love school (yes - they've done this), but mostly to tell their stories. :-)