Hi everyone and welcome to today’s homeschool curriculum forum! Today we’re discussing the every so popular subject of spelling.
It’s no secret that I LOVE All About Learning Press products. And I’m particularly fond of the All About Spelling program. I started using them last year for our phonics and spelling help and we’ve never looked back.
One thing to note, there are only about 25 lessons in both the first and 2nd level books. I’m used to doing 1 lesson/day with my other curriculum, so obviously that wasn’t going to work. Some of the lessons for my 1st grader are pretty easy so we’re blazing through them quickly, but you are to teach to mastery with this program so after talking to the super nice people at All About Spelling I realized that you don’t need to go through 1 lesson each day. Instead you are to stay on that lesson until they’ve got the rules down pat, so we’ve slowed down a bit.
Why do I love All About Learning Press so much?
- It’s easy to do with no prep work on my part
- The phonics rules are reviewed often so kiddos remember them
- It’s a hands-on learning style that makes learning fun
- Results: I personally witnessed in overnight improvement in all of my children’s spelling and reading skills
- The kiddos love it. ‘Nuff said.
We also rotate around how we do things, some days they use tiles, some days a white board, and some days my iPad chalkboard app. We’ve stamped words, said words orally, and something we lovingly refer to as Stair Phonics. I love the flexibility and effectiveness of this program, and my kids love how fun it is.
Pros:
- Hands-on.
- Great review using flashcards and key questions.
- Easy to teach.
Cons:
- Can be pricey if you purchase multiple levels at once. To help combat this we share the student flash cards.
- Is teacher intensive time-wise as you direct all of the lessons so it’s not something you can hand to your students to do on their own.
- Word lists are appropriate for each skill, but typically too easy for my students, so we’ve added in BJU Spelling workbooks for a spelling list each week.
So, now comes the fun part!
What are your favorite Spelling curriculum, resources, websites, etc? Leave a comment below discussing your choices for this year and why.
Feel free to ask questions or reply to each other too!
It’s my way of doing a forum without actually doing a forum haha!
And hopefully this will help us all as we start the process of researching curriculum, and trying to decide what will be the best fit for our homeschool.
Note: Please keep today’s conversations geared towards SPELLING, I will be posting one for each subject separately so we can keep our comments organized.
Click here if you missed my previous Homeschool Curriculum Forum posts!
Disclosure: This was not a sponsored post, I may however be affiliated with one or more products mentioned. The opinions expressed in this post were not influenced by the company. They are products I have used and felt like sharing, cuz’ it’s my blog and I can if I want to.
I just recently received A Beka’s Language/Phonics/Spelling/Poetry system. We’ve not started it yet because we’re not *quite* finished with what we are currently using. I was going to purchase A Reason For Spelling and Handwriting, but I liked how A Beka’s curriculum overlapped with their lessons. Not that others don’t, I just liked how A Beka’s DID. We did NO SPELLING this year in K. I’m not sure our *big box* curriculum even had spelling in it. Never saw it. Looking forward to using his spelling words to work on handwriting soon. 🙂 Good suggestions from everyone though! Many blessings on your school year!
I am planning on using Word Journeys and Word Sorts and More by Kathy Ganske. I like this instruction for the main reason that it is highly individualized for each student. There is an assessment to give your child at the beginning to determine what level of spelling he/she is at, so you know exactly where you need to begin based on your child’s level. (There are five stages to spelling mastery.) The program is based on word work and word sorts, and the text gives you all kinds of ideas as well as word lists to choose from each level. I also like that it’s not worksheet based, which will be nice for my oldest student who likes to work with his hands rather than complete an endless amount of worksheets. However, since it is individualized, it’s up to you to create the lessons each week, so it’s a little more work on the teacher’s part since it’s not a pre-packaged, one-size-fits-all curriculum…
I use AAS with my 1st grader, but it just took too much time to do it with my older children as well. So beginning in 4th grade, we transitioned to Megawords. It has the same rule-based-spelling concept as AAS but with larger words and a more independent workbook style so they can complete all but a weekly test on their own. They are wonderful! The only drawback, we do 1 lesson every 2 weeks (lots of pages) and we can complete 2-3 levels per year so it can be a bit costly if you choose to do that. The TM is $11.45 at Rainbow Resource and the student book is $9.75. Great continuation for AAS students if mom needs to focus on little ones or other subjects and needs spelling to be more independent.
We tried AAS this year and I’ve been very impressed!
I love word study, which is somewhat related to All About Spelling, where kids focus on word chunks and phonograms. Words Their Way is what I use/adapt (I also create my own stuff), but homeschoolers who aren’t trained in word study would enjoy Spelling Mechanics Homeschool Word Study.
I’ve been reading these posts and reviews and have been intised by a few of the curriculum ideas, this spelling being one of them. I have obsessively read descriptions and reviews of curriculum since we started homeschooling two years ago. I taught elementary school for five years and, from that experience, worry about ‘filling gaps’ in homeschool curriculum. I used My Fathers World in K and was disappointed that my daughter wasn’t very challenged and wasn’t an independent reader in the end. We used the Abeka complete dvd curriculum this year and love it. I feel that there are no gaps and that my daughter gets a good day of instruction between myself and the DVDs no matter what kind of day the baby brothers are having. She is reading above a mid third grade level now and with the repetitive phonics rules and spelling practice on the DVD she is an incredible speller. I’ve been tempted several times by other curriculum and learning styles but always end up back at Abeka.
We will be starting AAS Level 1 as soon as we finish AAR level 1. My son really enjoys AAR so I’m hoping we’ll have the same success with AAS!
Hey Erica!!
So, do you use the whole workbook with BJU, or just the word lists from them?
If so, how much of the AAS do you use in one lesson??!!
So many questions!!!
Thanks for hosting this spelling forum Erica 🙂 We are currently using All About Spelling and I’ve been contemplating adding in or switching to The Writing Road to Reading. I just did a blog post today regarding the two…. http://reflectionsfromdrywoodcreek.blogspot.com/2013/05/speaking-of-spelling.html I’d love to hear more discussion regarding these two programs. Feel free to jump over and leave a comment there as well.
Blessings,
Melissa
I have a question about AAS. My boys have been going to the school that produces Abeka since K4. They are in 2nd & 3rd grade now. My younger one is struggling with math and I am considering taking him out. My 3rd grader is the genius of the family, haha!. Anyway, “if” I decide to take both of the boys out of school, which level would you recommend us starting with? My 3rd grader has learned all of the phonograms (called special sounds at Abeka), the 2nd grader has learned almost all of them. I don’t want them taking a step backwards, but I don’t want them missing anything either.
What would you do? Start with level 1 and quickly move through? Or just keep on going with Abeka 3rd grade?????