Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in
exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I
compensated in any other way.

Digital Learning with Math Shed and Spelling Shed

Homeschool Review Crew

Math Shed 

Spelling Shed

My kids have been enjoying utilizing digital learning with a new program.  EdShed allows them to work on their math and spelling with Math Shed and Spelling Shed.  We received a 12-month subscription to the two programs for up to five students.  

About the Program

Math Shed and Spelling Shed are two programs underneath the head program called EdShed.  They are geared towards children in first through fifth grade to help them with their math and spelling while also making learning fun.  Utilizing digital learning, your child can work on math or spelling while thinking they’re merely playing a computer game. 

Each child or user has their own unique log in name and password.  This allows them to log in to their program which has saved their information so they can start where they left off.  It also means that more than one child can be inside the program at the same time as long as you have more than one device to use. 

I will talk about both programs below as well as a bit about the teacher hub. 

Teacher Hub

Also a part of the program, besides the children’s area of games, is the teacher hub.  The teacher hub allows you to see what your child is doing and how they are progressing. You can also customize spelling lists and create assignments.  Another aspect of the teacher hub is creating leagues which are groups of children.  I have not used this function yet because it did not appeal to us at this time. 

Within the teacher hub you can see the above to compare which children are doing better or worse than others and which subjects you might want to help kids in more or encourage them to play on more. 

Also within the Teacher Hub are guides and hints and tips to help you and your child get the most of the program. 

Spelling Shed

Within the spelling shed game, your digital learning experience is fun and full of knowledge.  There are four substations of gameplay.  The first one is simply play where they practice with a list of ten spelling words.  Here they work on spelling the words with a timed format so that its a rush to beat the clock. 

The next station for play is a beekeeper.  Here they guess and spell the words with a scramble of letters that are given to them. 

For the next station of play, we have buzz words where they use tiles to spell out the words. Basically they have the alphabet of letters and enjoy blank spaces at the top for whatever word the computer has in mind and they have to guess.  Reminds me a bit of hangman to be honest only you lose bees for each wrong letter guess instead of body parts hanging. 

The last part of the spelling games is hive games where they can play with other kids inside the program.  My children do not use this feature.  So I really cannot give you an actual thought on it. 

Levels Within Spelling Shed

With the above games, you can choose whether they are on the easy, medium, hard, or extreme level.  My kids have all started on the easy level though I have requested that a few up their game to the medium or hard levels.  I haven’t told anyone to go to the extreme level yet though it wouldn’t surprise me if a few had tried it. 

The easy level shows you the word, you hear the word, and only the letters you need are given to you. 

For the medium level, you don’t see the word but you do hear the audio of the word and only the letters you need are shown. 

The hard level takes it up a notch with giving you the audio but also adding some random letters to the letters you actually need. 

For the most extreme level, you hear the audio level and are given the full qwerty keyboard.  Capitalization and punctuation are counted here as well. 

Math Shed

Here you’re playing with math facts instead of spelling words.  Within this program, you can again choose between easy, medium, and hard levels.  The functions you are working on in this program of the digital learning site are number bonds, times tables, addition and subtraction, powers of 10, plus more.

Our Thoughts on the Program

My kids have been loving this program.  They beg to use it and are using it seven days a week if they can.  I do have fives students using the program.  They are ages 9, 11, 12, 13, and 15.  The older three are developmentally delayed and while their age makes them above the program levels they are within the grade ranges. 

I have loved how much they love doing the program and how much they seem to be learning.  A few times I have caught them asking me how to spell a word and I almost tell them before I realize what they’re doing!

The spelling program has you choose stages.  The stages are grade relevant.  So for grade 1, you choose stage 1, grade 2 is stage 2, etc.  I am a little embarrassed to admit it took me a few days before I figured that out. 

We don’t have an actual spelling curriculum that we use so I have been emphasizing them using the spelling program on here. I can definitely tell who my voracious readers are by how well they are doing on the program.  It’s been interesting showing them the connection and seeing who has started to read more and who hasn’t.

Another fun thing that my kids actually like that yours might not is seeing who has the most points or honey pots saved up. They do spend some on their avatar people but they also have been saving them to see who gets the most accumulated. 

Recommendation

We love this program and I can see us using this definitely through the whole twelve-month subscription.  And, if my children get their way we will be purchasing it as well.  I have not asked how this works for more than five children.  I will have other children coming up the ranks who can and would love to use this within the next year so that might be something I come back and add on here for you.  We always appreciate it when companies work with large families.

Learn More

Read all of the Homeschool Review Crew reviews linked up on the Main Blog Post on the Homeschool Review Crew blog to find out what other reviewers thought of the programs.  EdShed and Math Shed/Spelling Shed can be found on social media on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.