I remember spelling tests growing up. I remember LOVING them. I mean it – I loved them and I would get so upset if I got a word wrong {which almost never happened}. I know I was in the minority though and most people don’t enjoy them. Now that Maggie is in kindergarten, I want our homeschool to be fun for her. These are three ways we make spelling fun.

If you ever notice, when kids are learning to read, they naturally start to spell. Charlie isn’t reading yet and he still walks around spelling the letter sounds for words like PAT or CAT. It’s adorable. Maggie sounds out words all day long too as she is walking around so then I have her say the word, then spell it. They just think it’s fun.

Play an actual game. We received Simply Fun Spell Trek for review and had so much fun playing. When we started playing, Maggie had just been working on learning to read for a day or two, so I wasn’t sure if it would be too difficult for her. It was difficult for her and that was a great thing! Not only did it enhance the concepts we were already working on but she loved it {except for that time that I had to steal the horse card from her – she was absolutely heartbroken over that and I didn’t have a choice aside from cheating so I had to do it}.

It was so much fun – we had been learning about habitats so the first thing she noticed with the game board was that it went through the different habitats. We were just working on vowel sounds and hadn’t gotten to them all yet, so this was a fun challenge for her. You have three words in front of you and you draw a vowel tile. Then you have to find which one of your words it fits in. If adding the vowel completes your word, you move the number of spaces on the card {and some have bonus points}. If you don’t have a word it fits in, you can swap with another player if they have a word it fits in. It’s so simple for kids to understand and is a really fun way to get them practicing skills they need for reading and spelling. Plus, a lot of the words are animal words which only adds to the fun, at least for my little animal lover. Charlie is working so hard on learning letter sounds and I know he will enjoy playing this game with us soon. We use the time when the boys are napping to play games or spend other quality time one on one with each other. Not only that, but our Fridays are used for homeschool fun days. They still get some practice in what we are learning about, but do it via board games, TV shows and iPad time. Board games are my favorite part of our days.

We love board games and I love that I discovered Simply Fun games. I have my mind set on getting Kilter. As a homeschool mom, I love finding educational ways to teach the kids that are fun and take it way beyond the pencil and workbook. We use games as a way to connect with each other and it’s a great family fun activity. I know that we will be buying more Simply Fun games to keep our homeschool arsenal fresh and fun. Plus – Megan is such an awesome consultant and can help you pick out the perfect games for your family. You can also “like” her page on Facebook for fun video reviews of games you will want to buy.