Review of Wordy Qwerty

For the past couple of months, my three youngest children (ages 6, 6, and 7) have been using Wordy Qwerty, the sequel to Talking Fingers' wildly successful program Read, Write, and Type.  Wordy Qwerty is reading and spelling software for 2nd and 3rd graders.  Through the use of 20 consecutive lessons, employing both songs and exercises, Wordy Qwerty teaches your child common spelling rules.  The fun character and narration should make Wordy Qwerty an engaging way to learn for most children.

If you're unsure as to where your children should start Wordy Qwerty, or even if it is the right software for you at all, you can take an assessment  

here.  Through spelling 22 words, the program will place your child accordingly.  

Wordy Qwerty is fun for kids, there is no doubt.  My children enjoyed using it.  My problem with the program, though, is that it relies so much on typing.  Perhaps if one used it after first using Read, Write, and Type, then the typing would not be such an issue.  For me, though, the program comes across much more as a typing program than as a reading and spelling one.  It is possible that my kids knew their phonics rules well enough that they really weren't learning as Wordy Qwerty intended.  They ended up getting hung up on the typing, frustrated because they knew what they wanted to "write" and they knew how to spell it, but unable to get the right answer because they typed very slowly and, sometimes, incorrectly.

Wordy Qwerty passes through a succession of different exercises:

Beginning with the basic sorting of words into the proper categories based on spelling rules, the program culminates with the reading of paragraphs.

Wordy Qwerty is available from Talking Fingers, and costs $25 for a single user, five year license.  The cost for adding additional users is quite reasonable, and can be found here.  If you prefer the program on CD, you can order it for $35.  Along with the software you will also receive a program guide in a three-ring binder and a copy of the song/jingle CD.  

Although Wordy Qwerty wasn't exactly right for our family, it has won enough praise and awards to convince me that it is a great product. I would definitely recommend starting with Read, Write, and Type, though.  I think doing so would have eliminated many of our frustrations.  To find out more about Wordy Qwerty, visit the Talking Fingers website.  To read other opinions of this software, visit the Crew blog.