Homeschooling for 3

Bonnie Terry Learning spelling program “Making Spelling Sense” has been a real gift to my family.  My daughter has always struggled with her spelling and I attributed it to her speech issues early in life. After reviewing the information found on Bonnie Terry’s website and her 10 free tips I think I am finally understanding how my daughter’s brain works when it comes to spelling.

Jade is an excellent reader who is way above grade level, but her spelling skills have always been poor. I understood that part of her problem was the struggle that she had to make to hear all of the sounds in a word. She had an immature auditory system coupled with some mechanical speech issues when she was younger and has overcome them.  Except when it comes spelling.

One thing that became apparent when we started using this system is that Jade had no concept of spelling have an orderly sequence.  The very first lesson proved that as we did an exercise where the V(owel)-C(onstanant) combination is used.  The student is supposed to look at the spelling word and pick the first V-C combination and write those letters next to the word. To my surprise this was a struggle for her. And not because she doesn’t know vowels from consonants, but because she (and other children who have auditory issues) has encoding difficulties. And actually, as I learned from Mrs. Terry’s website, this is auditory processing is one of the underlying reasons for all poor spellers. It’s a weakness that traditional school systems don’t feel a need to address.

Since we began using this program, however, she has become more aware of spelling patterns as well as being able to do more self-correction, which is truly awesome after years of trying to memorize spelling lists.  This program (as well as her others) has the potential of being a great asset to homeschooling communities because we do have the time to analyze where our children’s difficulties are and now we have the tools to address it.

I am also using the program with my six year old who is beginning reader.  Although we have to work a little slower with the program for her, she’s really catching on to the spelling patterns and enjoys the puzzles and activities that are included with each spelling list.  I don’t formally test her on the spelling words yet, since we’re still working on her reading skills. However, she’s really gained an understanding of vowels and consonants that began with the a DVD series I got her to assist with her reading.

My only complaint with her system is that it wasn’t one of those systems that you could jump right in and connect the dots. It took me a while (and maybe I just wasn’t thinking) to figure out how to stretch each lesson to last a week. At first I thought that each of the lessons were daily so I confused myself for a bit.  It would have been nice to have the lessons broken up into daily assignments.

I am very impressed, overall with the Bonnie Terry Learning products. Perhaps it’s because my daughter does/did have auditory problems and her way of teaching spelling has been a big boost to Jade’s confidence and ability.  My son seems to be mirroring his big sister with the speech issues, so I will definitely be investing in her systems in the future. But even if your child doesn’t have learning differences or difficulties, this is a very solid spelling course.

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