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Do you have a worst subject in your homeschool? The one your kids hate to do or you hate to teach? For me, the subject that used to fill me with dread the most was spelling.
To be honest, I didn’t have a very solid method. We did writing practice and worked through spelling lists that my kids would have to memorize.
We had language arts workbooks that would touch on spelling rules and included practice worksheets.
The problem was, they would retain some of the words they memorized, but their overall spelling was atrocious. I knew something had to change in the way I was teaching because the method I was using wasn’t working for anybody.
I started searching for a comprehensive spelling curriculum that would work for my kids’ different learning styles. One thrives with visual, hands on lessons while another does best with repetitive practice.
In my searching, I kept coming across glowing reviews of the All About Spelling curriculum. After looking through their website, I decided to give it a shot.
One and a half years into the program, and I understand all of the amazing reviews now.
Between my three kids who are using the program, we’ve used Levels 1-4, so I’ve been able to see how the program begins and how the lessons progress into the curriculum.
This program really delivers on everything it promises.
It didn’t magically turn spelling into my kids’ favorite subject, but it give them a huge amount of confidence in their spelling.
Before getting into exactly why I think All About Spelling is the best spelling curriculum for homeschoolers, I’ll give you a little run down of what the program is, how it teaches, and everything that comes with it.
Pssst!: If you want to see all of my favorite curriculum choices that we’re using this year, check out this the post Homeschool Curriculum Must Haves For This Year!
What is All About Spelling?
All About Spelling is an award winning, comprehensive spelling curriculum that’s based on the Orton-Gillingham approach.
What is the Orton-Gillingham approach? It’s a structured, multisensory, and sequential method of teaching. The lessons or short, direct, and explicit to help kids master small pieces of information in each lesson.
Because of the thoroughness of its teaching and its focus on a multi sensory learning experience, Orton-Gillingham is a favorite for teaching kids with dyslexia.
There are seven levels in the program, and each level contains short, structured lessons that focus on one spelling rule.
So, for example, one lesson might deal with when to use c, k, or ck at the end of a word.
The lesson starts with a review of the past lesson followed by any new sound or rule that is being taught.
After that, color-coded magnetic tiles are used to build practice words. This is excellent for visual learners! Kids are then asked to spell practice words on paper followed by some dictation sentences for practice.
What is Included in the Program
If you decide you want to use the program, there are two things you need to buy to get started.
1. First, you need to buy the All About Spelling materials for the specific level you are starting at. This pack includes the Teacher’s Manual, all instructional materials for that level, and progress chart with stickers.
2. You also need to buy the Spelling Interactive Kit. The Basic kit includes the magnetic tiles that each level uses, divider cards to organize the cards you get with each level, and a phonogram sound app (this is GREAT for on the go practice). The Deluxe kit also includes a box to store the cards and a tote bag.
For reference, the picture below shows you what you’ll get with the Level 1 materials and the Deluxe Spelling Interactive Kit (they haven’t shown the huge amount of magnetic tiles or the card dividers, but you get the idea). See the tote and box? Take those out and it’s everything you get with the Basic Kit.
Do you need the Deluxe kit? Not really. I bought the Basic kit and have no regrets.
>>>Mom hack!: If you can find a Tupperware box that fits the cards, that’s really all you need. I have storage containers that I use for storing the cards and the tiles. If you have multiple kids using multiple levels, have something to keep each kids’ cards separate.
The only other thing that you really need is a magnetic dry erase board. It needs to be big enough to fit all of the tiles. All of the tiles can be put on the board before each lesson or can be store that way (the magnets are pretty strong, so they don’t fall off easily)
What I Love About All About Spelling
There are no grade levels
The levels don’t correspond to grade levels, so you can start at whatever level works for your child. It can be discouraging for a 5th grader to be put in a 2nd grade program, so I love that they chose to take grades out of the equation.
You can take the placement test on the website or you can choose to start at square one to get a really solid foundation.
Since I was starting All About Spelling with my then 4th and 2nd graders, I decided to start them both at Level 2 since I thought Level 1 might be too simple for them.
When we started a year and a half ago, I also had a Preschooler. I chose to not start him in All About Spelling, since he was still working on learning to read. I recommend that you make sure your child is pretty good at reading (can sound out words) before starting this program.
He has since started on Level 1 and is thriving, but I know it would have been too soon if I had started him any earlier.
It takes zero planning
No planning or preparation on my side is a HUGE plus. All I have to do is open the book to the lesson we’re working on. The lessons are clearly written out, and I just have to follow the book.
I love finding programs that make life easier for me. Yes, there is a lot of parent involvement, but I can pretty much do these lessons on autopilot.
The books can be handed down
Yay for hand-me-downs! Because kids don’t write in these books, the can be passed down to younger siblings.
Homeschooling multiple kids can get expensive, so I really love when I know I’ll be able to reuse materials.
It’s self paced
Lessons can be finished in a day or a week. That means you can blast through lessons that are easy and spend a long time on something that’s causing trouble.
Normally, a lesson for us takes about 10-15 minutes, and then we move on to the next lesson.
However, there have been certain spelling rules that were really hard for my kids to make sense of, like when to double consonants. We spent about a week on that and have still had to go back and review that lesson a few times.
You can customize it and pace it for each child, which has been great for us.
They have an insane return policy
Seriously. You can try the program for a whole year. If at some point, you think that the program isn’t a right fit for you or you’re not happy with the results you can return it for a full refund minus shipping costs.
That was a big deal for me. There are so many homeschool programs out there that promise to be amazing.
I’ve spent money on products that just didn’t measure up to the hype and curricula that we couldn’t continue to use because it didn’t work for us. So I ended up wasting money and having to look for something to replace it with.
When I saw All About Spelling’s return policy, I was reassured. I had a long time to make sure the program was right for us. If it wasn’t, I knew I could get a refund.
Also, I felt better knowing that the creators of the program were confident in their product. They wouldn’t offer such a generous return policy if they weren’t sure of the product’s quality.
All About Spelling has been one of my top favorite programs that I’ve added to our homeschool routine. Confidence in spelling spills over into every subject, so it has really helped improve my kids’ work overall.
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Have you used All About Spelling in your homeschool? Leave a comment about what you thought or any recommendations you have!
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