Focus Words changes the order words come up in. Spelling Stream keeps track of which words your child gets wrong, and with Focus Words on, those come first in practice, in both tests, and in every game. Same list, same number of words. It’s part of Spelling Stream Pro and it stays off until you turn it on.
What the free plan does
Without Pro, every game, practice and both tests run through the list in order or shuffled, whichever each one is set to. Every game and every word is included. Focus Words adds the part that remembers which words were missed and moves those to the front.
Turn it on
- Open Parent Center and unlock it.
- Tap Focus Words.
- Under Mode, pick Focus Words or Focus Words with Repeat.
The first time the app can offer it, you get a one-time page with Turn it on and Leave it off. Either answer can be changed later in Parent Center under Focus Words. Subscribing to Pro doesn’t switch it on by itself, and your child can’t switch it; the screen is behind the parent lock.
The three modes
- Off. Words come up in list order or shuffled, as each game is set. Past results don’t change what comes next.
- Focus Words. Missed words come first, in practice, both tests, and every game.
- Focus Words with Repeat. Everything above, plus each difficult word comes back a second time later in the same session, with other words in between. Repeat runs in practice and in most games. It never runs inside a test, so a ten-word test is always ten answers.
How a word gets in, and how it gets out
One miss puts a word in focus. From then on it comes up early, and it stays in focus until your child has shown they can spell it reliably.
The bar is deliberately higher than a single right answer, so a word leaves focus because your child learned it and not because they got lucky once.
What you see in the word list
Open a list in Parent Center. Every word currently in focus wears a small amber flag at the right of its row, so you can see what your child is working on without opening a report.
What you see on your child’s profile
Each child’s profile splits their words three ways.
- Focus. Missed at least once and not yet cleared. Listed by name, so you know which words to help with.
- Expert. Spelled right reliably enough to leave focus.
- Pending. Not tried enough yet to say either way. Early in a new list most words sit here.
There’s no percentage, no level, and no comparison to other children. Nothing in the app tells your child they’re behind.
What it doesn’t change
- Scores. A right answer is right whether Focus Words is on or off. Only the order moves.
- How much practice. Same list, same number of words.
- Your word-order choice. Every game, practice and both tests keep their own order setting. Pick In Order and you get plain list order with focus ignored, which is useful for a first pass at a new list.
Where the record lives
The record of which words were missed stays on the device. It leaves your phone or tablet only if you turn on Cloud Sync, and then only to show the same picture on your other devices. It’s never used for advertising; there are no ads in Spelling Stream.
Turn it off
Parent Center, Focus Words, pick Off. Words go back to list order or shuffled. The record is kept, so switching it on again later picks up where it left off.