Homeschool Resource Review: Wordela {Vocabulary Builder}

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Wordela Homeschool Vocabulary Builder

With my son staring down the ACT in just a few months, I was extra excited to be offered the opportunity to review this vocabulary building resource from the same company who brought us Typsey Homeschool, Wordela.

According to the site, Wordela is “used by top school districts, customized for homeschool.”

And, it claims that “Homeschoolers build vital spelling and vocabulary skills with Wordela.”

As we all know, vocabulary is a big component of the ACT, and though my son certainly seems to have a somewhat respectable range in his use and understanding of vocabulary, I figured some extra practice would not hurt.

Read on for a full review!

WHAT IS WORDELA?

Wordela Homeschool is an online vocabulary program for homeschoolers designed to individualize learning to a child’s needs.

WHO SHOULD USE WORDELA?

Wordela was designed for students who want/need to improve their vocabulary skills for a variety of reasons:

• to prepare for the ACT/SAT
• to get up to par with national standards
• to increase their level of reading comprehension
• to equip themselves for college and future careers

Wordela was designed with all grade levels in mind and has word lists for each grade, K-12. It also offers options for ESL learners, post-graduate students and more.

HOW DOES WORDELA WORK?

After a parent/teacher adds a student to the account, the student then logs in and runs through a series of simple questions.

• Why do you want to work on your vocabulary?
• What level of learner are you?
• What grade are you in?

Based on the student’s answers, Wordela then assigns several lists of words.

To get started, the student simply clicks on the first word list.

Then he/she chooses a way to learn:

• AutoLearn
• Smart Flashcards
• Review
• ZSpell

And then the student gets to work improving his/her vocabulary!

Wordela will walk your student through each word on the list and will even show your student progress for every word as he/she works. I love this feature because it gives your student a sense of accomplishment along the way and makes the list seem less daunting.

Wordela also keeps the student informed and encouraged after each section as well.

Each of Wordela‘s four ways to learn offers a different approach to learn and practice the word lists.

AutoLearn asks the student to select the correct word to go with the shown definition.

Then after a series of those, AutoLearn will ask the student to match up several words with several definitions.

Smart Flashcards show the student the definition and then he/she can flip it over to see the word.

Review allows the student to hear the word and read about the word from different sources.

ZSpell is a fun space game that gives the student the opportunity to practice spelling each word.

In addition to working on the assigned word lists with the above activities, students can also work on specific types of lists through different courses.

But, my favorite feature is the option to create your own lists. All you have to do is enter a word and Wordela populates the definition and then adds it to the rotation of words to be studied. I created a list of animals just for fun!

HOW CAN A STUDENT ACCESS WORDELA?

According to their site, “Wordela Homeschool was designed from the ground up to work with the technology setup at your home. Whether you are using Mac, Windows, iPad, iPhone, Android or Chromebook, we have you covered. Kids love the flexibility of learning on their phone, tablet, or computer.” The parent and each student have their own log-in credentials with the parent having the ability to assign work, check progress and more. Internet access and a web browser are necessary.

ANY WARNINGS ABOUT WORDELA?

There’s really nothing too big to warn you about, but there are a couple of minor things you might want to know about in advance.

• The processing seems a wee bit slow. After an action is completed, there seems to be a lag before the next step is presented. This may have been on my end or perhaps there is a setting that can speed this up for students.
• The lovely lady who reads the definitions seems to have a British accent of sorts. Not that I minded that, of course, because I would LOVE to speak with a British accent but I could see how this might be a little confusing for younger learners. Again, there might be a setting that allows this to be changed.
• A few of the definitions contained the base of the target word. For instance, metropolitan is defined as “relating to or characteristic of a metropolis.” This might be just an old-school pet peeve of mine, but to me, this approach gives away too much and causes the student to not really learn the meaning of the word.

HOW MUCH DOES WORDELA COST?

It depends, of course, on how many students you need to access the program.

• A Homeschool Family plan gives you access for four students- $67
• A Big Family plan gives you access for ten students- $97
• A Co-Op plan gives you access for twenty students- $197

But, no matter the plan, you get access for FIVE YEARS! That’s an amazing length of time!

And, they seriously have the best money-back guarantee in the market!

Posted right on their site, “We are famous for our guarantee, and we take our policy very seriously. Any Wordela Homeschool customer that isn’t completely satisfied is eligible to receive a full refund any time up to 365 days after their purchase. To receive a full refund, all you need to do is contact our helpdesk and state that you are not satisfied.”

With this level of guarantee, there really is very little to lose and, from what I have seen, so so so much to gain!

WHERE CAN YOU SIGN UP FOR WORDELA?

Go HERE {or click the image below} to learn more or sign up!