Is All About Spelling Overkill?

As I've written before, I am in love with the program All About Spelling.  (I am just a customer of theirs and am not affiliated with them in any way.)  I've often heard that people use it with their child who has trouble with spelling but that it is "overkill" for their children who are more natural spellers. 

Everyone has a right to their own opinion, of course, but I have one child who really needs the systemic and rules-based approach of All About Spelling and another who has an excellent visual memory for words and would probably be okay with any spelling program (and could get by in life without a formal study of spelling).  I use the program for both of them, and absolutely do not consider it "overkill" for my natural speller.

I had no problems spelling as a child.  I picked up a lot of words from reading and didn't have trouble with my spelling tests.  There are a few words I struggle to remember as an adult (who doesn't with our crazy English language?), but I would consider myself a better speller than most adults.  I have a bachelor's degree in English and Classics.  Even with all of this, I have learned a lot about how the English language works on a phonetic level from All About Spelling!  That is why I can't imagine that it is "overkill" for any child. 

There are a vast amount of phrases, sentences, and "extra" words that can be spelled in the program.  I think this is what confuses people.  Everything in the program is optional.  I don't waste my children's time on words that they already know.  I will often offer a pretest before beginning a step for words that I think they may already understand how to spell.  These go directly into "mastered" and are not reviewed. 

My 5th grader does 5 of the sentences per step.  My 1st grader has been writing 6 phrases per step.  I customize the program constantly in order to meet their needs.  If they miss a word in their sentences/phrases, I'll make a word card for it so that it can be reviewed again. 

What I like about the program is that it can be gone through very slowly and extensively or very quickly, depending on the needs of my child.  We spend around 15-20 minutes/day on All About Spelling, and normally take three days per step, but sometimes I will go down to 2 days for an easy step, and even 1 day if my child already knows how to spell all (or nearly all) of the words.  My youngest, who is a natural speller, wanted to start the program when he was very young (5?), but he did not have the attention span at the time to spend very long on a step, and it might take us 5-10 sessions to get through a step. 

Certainly, one spelling program is not going to meet every child's needs, but I think that natural spellers can benefit from the program just as much as struggling spellers.  I know I have benefited! 

All About Spelling, Continued

We've been using All About Spelling for several months now.  I posted an initial review when I got it.  Bee is nearly through Level 2, and has really not been challenged too much by the spelling words, but he has learned a lot of spelling rules that neither of knew before and filled in gaps in his spelling that were causing him frustration.  This program has been immensely helpful in identifying exactly where he is confused so that I can review those concepts only and not bore him by reviewing things he has already mastered.  Neither he nor I are frustrated anymore with spelling.  A bonus to the program is the sentence dictation, which helps his spelling, handwriting, and punctuation.  So far, I only give him about 3 sentences with each level.  I am really happy with the program, and I only wish I had started this with him a year or two sooner. 

Bug is using it too.  He is a little young for it as far his ability to focus goes, being not yet 5 1/2.  But it has been really good practice for him.  He seems to prefer the skill of encoding right now to decoding (reading), so the program is a good fit, as long as I don't try and push him.  I do modify the program.  I don't worry if he wries letters in upper case, whereas I make his brother write his words in lower case.  We're taking it very slowly. 

The only flaw I have noticed in this program is that both of my children have gotten confused between the segmenting of sounds and the clapping of syllables.  The result is that they clap extra syllables.  I have decided to drop the segmenting with the tokens, since Bee doesn't need it, and Bug can do it without the tokens.  I am curious to know if anyone else has had this problem, and I wonder if I did something to confuse both my children.

I continue to recommend this program! 

All About Spelling: A First Impression

After a little over a year of using a basic spelling list and online flashcards with Bee, I decided we needed a different approach.  He was getting frustrated sometimes, and there were words that he just kept missing, even though he had seen them over and over.

I decided to try All About Spelling, which is a spelling program that uses coloful note cards, letter tiles, a large dry erase board, utilizes audio, visual, and kinesthetic learning, and emphasizes the rules of English spelling.  Bee is very logical, and I think he will appreciate having a better understanding of why things are spelled the way they are.  As I understand it, English spelling does actually have rules, but most of us aren't aware of most of them.  I mostly learned how to spell by being an avid reader, and memorizing my spelling words each week as a child.

I ordered level 1, and although much of that level is going to be pretty easy for Bee, there are some new thinsg for him to learn, and there are even a few things that I have learned about English spelling!  I haven't learned to spell anything new, but I did learn how to tell when letter "c" is going to make the "s" sound instead of the "k" sound, and when to use the letter "k" in place of the letter "c."

It's not a material for independent work.  The parent sits with the child and gives a number of lessons that are carefully explained in the teacher book.  This is ideal for Bee, as he thrives on one-on-one interaction with an adult.

It took some time to tear out the cards, and I still have not finished putting all the magnets on the tiles.  Still, the teacher prep is easy work that requires no mental power.  I don't know about other homeschooling moms, but my brain is totally fried.  So, this is easy, and the only prep is a glance through the teacher manual, before giving the lesson. 

Another huge plus for this material is that it is worksheet free!   The emphasis is on learning the concepts, not filling out worksheets.  There is a card file to store the cards, so the parent knows what to review, and mastered cards go into their own divider.  It's a very well organized little system. 

I hope that we will work through level 1 relatively quickly.  I did the first lesson yesterday, and I hope to do 2 lessons a day a few times a week until we master level 1.  Then, we will move onto level 2, and maintain or slow down our pace depending on how challenging Bee finds the material.  It seems like a great material for homeschooling that can be used with both children who are natural spellers and those who struggle with it.

So, that was my first impression, at any rate.  I will write another review after I've been using the material for a few months.  (Here it is.)