Do you like to create personalized worksheets and flashcards for your children? If so, you will be very interested in Teaching Made Easier. An online members-only site, Teaching Made Easier allows you to create activities that meet your child's needs perfectly.

The website is basically a worksheet generator that offers you an amazing number of options for creating personalized learning activities for your children. Doing a unit study? You could write a vocabulary list for your first grader and then create word searches, flashcards, and ABC order and antonym sheets for your child to practice the words. You could write a separate vocabulary list for your fifth grader but create the same types of activity sheets. So both children could be completing an ABC order sheet with their own vocabulary words! Once you get the hang of creating the worksheets, each one takes no more than five minutes to create and print.

I can't possibly list all the options for worksheets and activities available to you, but I'll do my best to give you a good overview of the possibilities. Under language skills you can create ABC order, books, concentration cards, Go Fish cards, flashcards, matching, scrambled words, puzzle cards, spinners, write the words 3/5/10 times, write a sentence with the words, synonyms, antonyms, homonyms, word searches, and more! In the math section you can create number order, bingo cards, chronological order, clocks, fact cards, number cards, timed tests and more!

The possibilities don't end there. After choosing the activity and typing in the words or facts of your choice, you get to choose font style, color, size, lowercase, uppercase, or all capitals. There are also options for bilingual worksheets and worksheets that include pictures.

If you aren't feeling creative, there are preset word lists in the following subjects: health, language arts, math, science, social studies, and a few other categories. So, for instance, if you are studying astronomy, you click on "science," then "space" or "planets". A large list of words comes up and you highlight the words you'd like to include on your worksheet. There are lists for beginners, advanced, and multi-lingual in each category.

In the math section, the website will generate preset worksheets in the categories of numbers, math facts, clock times, and Roman numerals. All you have to do is give some limitations (such as minimum and maximum number range). In less than a second, a math worksheet pops up to your specifications! You can easily customize further by adding or deleting problems.

First-time users are encouraged to watch a three-minute video that explains how to use the generator. There are always tutorials available to help if you get stuck. I really had no problems creating worksheets after watching the introductory video, though.

Our family doesn't rely heavily on worksheets, but I still found this site to be valuable for creating math fact and vocabulary practice sheets. Eclectic homeschoolers, those who do lots of unit studies, and those who enjoy developing their own curriculum would probably find Teaching Made Easier to be a helpful resource. Because you're able to personalize the activities to suit your needs, I believe it's suitable for preschool through 8th grade.

I'll admit that I expected something completely different when the opportunity to review came my way. I expected a database of worksheet after worksheet to be ready for my perusal. Even though I would have liked that, I found this site to be very unique in enabling me to create things that meet my needs perfectly. If you're ever frustrated that you can't find exactly what you need in a worksheet, this site is just what you've been looking for. Signing up for their seven-day free trial would be a great way to find out!

Product review by Cindy West, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, November 2007