Powerful Intensive Phonics for Spelling

What We Liked:

I am a dedicated teacher of phonics as the primary method of instruction for both reading and spelling in our homeschool but I have had a hard time finding apps that do phonics well. Simplex Spelling Phonics 1 is certainly one of the best, most intensive spelling apps that I’ve found.

My daughter (8) loves that she can use this app independently to learn phonetic patterns of spelling that we haven’t yet covered together in our one-on-one learning times, but because it includes excellent direct instruction, this app can be used as a primary source of phonetic spelling instruction.

My favorite part of the app are the detailed explanations of phonetic concepts and rules, particularly the additional explanations that are available by clicking the white starburst in the phonics hints for each letter, and the arrow bars connecting silent e’s with the vowels they influence.

Most children learn well by recognizing patterns and the introduction of one phonics sound or pattern for each lesson helps children by grouping words together by sound and spelling pattern, making long-term retention more likely.

What We Didn’t Like:

I don’t think there is anything to really dislike here! My one caveat would be that the word lists span at least three grades, there isn’t a lot of depth given for any of the phonetic concepts, so if you have a kindergarten child, he’ll move through all the cvc offerings fairly quickly an the rest of the app will have to wait until grade one (unless your child is a precocious speller!) We are using it with my third-grader who isn’t a strong speller so that isn’t an issue for us, we’ve jumped in on phonograms she hasn’t used in her spelling yet because you can choose any of the 42 lists.

Parents might also want to note that there isn’t any direct teaching of syllabification/open syllables in this app, though many other phonics patterns are explicitly taught with the hints option.

Overall:

Simplex Spelling Phonics 1 is one of the most powerful spelling apps for phonics I’ve ever used. The arrangement of 450 high frequency words according to phonetic sounds and principles, the self-correcting, direct-instruction, statistics, multiple users – it meets ALL of my criteria.

I received a promo code.

Appsforhomeschooling.com about Simplex Spelling Phonics 1, v1.0.4