The techniques used in this program have long been used by Orton-Gillingham practitioners, and now they are available to homeschoolers through the All About Spelling program. All About Spelling combines the very best of the Orton-Gillingham approach with the latest research and proven spelling rules. And the staff of All About Spelling were also very willing to help with any questions or problems. Having that type of support when you are working with a new program is always appreciated.

As a parent there are many things that I enjoyed about this program. Being a work at home mom as well as a homeschooler, having the entire course scripted really saved me a lot of time when it came to prep work for the girls.  Even if you haven’t had time to read through the lesson ahead of time, it’s easy to pick up where you left off and keep going.  I also loved the laminated letters.

I received several sheets of laminated letters, letter combinations and even subheadings to help classify the different phonogram types.  There are separate letters with extra vowels and other letters that can appear more than once in a word (such as the letter “s”). And then there are letter tiles that contain the phonogram combinations (i.e., “nk” or “th”). That was just so cool because so many ties I find an interesting curriculum, but I’m the one mstuck with creating the materials (or improving the components that I received). Having everything laminated and labeled saves lots of time and aggravation for me.

My eldest daughter enjoyed the ability to do the spelling work using the magnets since it eliminated her need to write out her words longhand. The flash cards were also instrumental in helping her to remember some of the spelling rules that have eluded her over the years. My younger daughter didn’t mind working with the tiles, but she didn’t like the little disks that she had to use to sound out the letters.  Let me rephrase that — she loved the little circles that are used when the child is sounding out the words. Unfortunately she liked them for table hockey and finger frisbee. So I had to take those away from her for my sanity. My three year old son loves the magnetic tiles because he can move teh letters around when we sing the alphabet song together. So there’s something for everyone.

One thing that made this spelling course different (for me at least) was that they deal with the phonograms and not just the phonics. Phonics tries to teach spelling by sounding words out, but there are more sounds in English than phonics can work around. And that’s where the concepts of sight words come into play. Anything that doesn’t fit easily into the “phonics box” is memorized. This program does explain the other phonograms and talks about the rules that apply to them. Other programs that I have been exposed to didn’t do this as extensively if at all.

This is a good program for families who want their children to be good spellers and get a handle on the many rules that surround the English language.  It’s both parent and child friendly and easy to work with. And with the daily review of the previous lessons you can be confident that the children are gaining a mastery over their subject matter.

The All About Spelling program has six levels so it there is something for every age within the family. The program is also very economical since once you get the starter kit, all you’ll have to buy in the future are the additional workbooks for the next set of children. So, this program would also work well for larger families too.  You can learn more about the program by visiting www.all-about-spelling.com.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/2/tymgpw

Technorati Tags: language arts, multi-sensory, phonics, 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.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/2

Technorati Tags: auditory, Bonnie Terry, free tips, learning differences, speech, spelling

Recognizing that children have dominant learning styles, they’ve provided auditory, visual and kinesthetic ideas and materials to help parents use whatever works best for their children. There is also a ton of research that is stored on the website, so if you have a question about why something is working (or how to get it to work better) you don’t have far to look.

I think that this is one of the first places parents who are new to homeschooling should visit and sign up for a membership.  Although there are lots of free places to get information for developing a homeschooling curriculum, AVKO has the most comprehensive material that I’ve seen since I began this homeschooling journey with my kids. And I was surprised to learn that many of the resources that are sold in curriculum packs from company’s such as Sonlight and other major companies originated from AVKO.

One of the benefits of membership is that you get additional freebies and access to information that are not available to the general public. The basic membership package is only $25 and you more than get your money’s worth from the free e-books that are available to members.  If you have a variety of ages to work with, I think that the $100 membership is well worth the cost because not only do you get the basic member perks, you also get to view all of the AVKO curriculum materials (with the exception of Sequential Spelling and Engaging Language Kits).  I mean, economically speaking, it’s kind of tough to get purchase all of the materials that you might want. This way you can still read through the information and use it in your homeschool.

I wish that I had known about this resource earlier in the game, but I’m definitely going to avail myself of all the things that it has to offer from this point forward.

http://cmp.ly/1

Technorati Tags: avko, dyslexia resources, educational resources, freebies, membership, non-profit, reading, spelling, spelling aids