Franklin KID240 Speaking Homework Wiz

I bought this for my 7 year old (2nd grade) who unfortunately has my personal affliction of not being able to spell that well. We tried the traditional route of book dictionaries but they were heavy and cumbersome and took lots of time to find the words. Especially if it was a derivative of a word like friendly instead of friend. The longer it took the more frustrated he became and his homework was starting to suffer. Most kids limit their writing to what they can easily spell and his work looked like it was being produced by a 4 year old. I figured this product could fill four shoes at once. First, if you can't spell this will probably be able to locate the correct word. This is the answer to that age old question of how am I supposed to look it up if I don't know how to spell it? If you spell it wrong it searches and comes up with a number of different possibilities and usually your word is on that list. And if your child is young like mine and is not the best reader yet (3rd grade level) it will actually pronounce the word so he can be sure the right word has been located. Secondly, it can hold his spelling words that he gets every week. So at night he can take this to bed with him and study without a book or paper. You can also play games with just your spelling words so it reinforces the spelling without the traditional sit down and write it 4 or 5 times (or sometimes 15 if you really can't get it, ugh). Third, he doesn't want me reading with him any more and I don't want to make an issue out of that if I don't have to. But how could I be sure that he was reading the correct words? If he gets stumped by a word all he has to do is plug it in and it pronounces it for him and he can move on (he usually knows it from there) but even if he is not familiar with the definition he can get it right then and there. And if the definition contains words he doesn't know it can speak it to him or he can choose to look up those words. Using the product is very intuitive and easy. With just one lesson he as able to negotiate around the dictionary with little or no help. As I am doing things around the house I will hear the computer voice and know that he is using it. Finally, we started to play scrabble and my husband and I let him use the dictionary to see if he can make words with his tiles. Now every time he asks how to spell something we say look it up and we no longer get that horror stricken look.Now on to the part that's not so great. We opened this up and it had multiple problems from the get go. The battery cover would not slide on and I tried for 2 hours. It was also missing 2 of its rubber feet that keep it from slipping. I called the company and they said it would be two weeks but I hemmed and hawed and they said they could get a new battery cover out to me in 5 days. It arrived within that time frame and it fit. The bad news is that because the battery cover didn't fit initially we had to fiddle with it so the batteries wouldn't fall out and we broke the cover that hides the keyboard when not in use. I was ready to send it back because I didn't want it coming on in his back pack and wasting the batteries. But the truth is, it shuts itself off in about 90 seconds so I couldn't see it draining the battery power. I guess I could call the company and see if they have the feet and a new cover but it seems to work fine sans cover and feet. I also wish it had the capacity to handle more words. So far it has had mostly everything we have looked up but I know that as he gets on in grades it will have to be upgraded. We also bought him an inexpensive pair of headphones so that if he wanted to use it at the after school program (they do some homework there) it wouldn't disturb the other kids. Over all I give it an A++ for concept and a C for durability.

I bought the KID-240 for my 10-year old daughter who is in fifth grade.Good Points. My daughter thinks that the KID-240 does actually help her with reading and that it is better to have the KID-240 than a printed dictionary. In addition, the KID-240 does look nice.Bad Points. My daughter says that it is sometimes difficult to understand the definitions. I did not buy the KID-240 for the gaming capability, but my daughter says that she likes the Hangman game. She also does not like the deep voice of the computer generated speech. The speech generator sometimes skips words.

My daughter's school suggested that I get this for my third grader. She consistently misspelled many words and had a hard time sounding words out. It looks so cool that she doesn't get teased about it. The volume control and headphone jack are great for classroom use. My daughter likes how it greets her personaly every time she turns it on (it initially asks for the child's name).My daughter no longer struggles with learning new words. She doesn't have to come asking for help when she's reading an unfamiliar word. She can type the word in and it is pronounced correctly and defined. She catches a lot of her own spelling mistakes now. When she doesn't we can just circle the word and she'll go figure it out with the help of the speller. If it wasn't for the speaking feature, she would still be struggling.The cursive writing button has been very helpful since she just started learning that at school. By watching how it writes, she can form her letters correctly now. It is a good reference if she ever forgets. Her classmates ask her to show them words that they can't do yet.It is kid friendly in the fact that it does not allow inappropriate words. We tested this out beforehand and have been pleased. We all get a kick out of the Bong! sound that it produces instead. I do wish that it had a larger vocabulary so she could continue to use it until high school, but the benefits it provides currently are more than worth it's cost.She really likes and occasionally plays the hangman game. She views this as a schoolwork companion/helper first and a game last. It is good for traveling. Otherwise she'll be on her computer playing games. She does store her spelling words in the list and quizzes herself. This has helped improved her scores on her spelling tests.To sum it up, this product gave my daughter self-help skills and confidence in addition to improving her schoolwork. Sounding out words and spelling are no longer big battles between us all. Her teacher is as thankful as her parents. It has brought peace to schoolwork. We highly recommend this product to any child - especially those struggling with sound-symbol relationships and spelling.

...the Speaking Homework Wiz is a bargain. For beginning readers, language/learning disordered children, dyslexic adults and individuals learning English, the Speaking Homework Wiz is priceless. This handheld computer pronounces words and their definitions, corrects spelling, and demonstrates how to write the words in both manuscript and cursive. It is child friendly, free of undesirable words. It is even greets the owner with his or her first game when switched on and is programmable for spelling words. It is not all work and no play since it includes games such as Hangman. It can be used with an adapter or run off a battery; I don't think I have ever changed the battery in the Speaking Homework Wiz that I keep in my office to show patients and/or family members. It can be used with an ear-bud or head-phones when quiet is required, such as in libraries or classrooms. It opens the world of reading to preschoolers. It gives the pronunciation for those words that even good readers only see in print. This has to be the best teaching aid ever.