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Spelling….that word is not liked by one of my children. He can read fabulously and comprehends what he reads, but to spell the words? It just doesn’t come easily for him.

I saw so many different blogs post about All ABout Spelling. I have to admit, I wasn’t drawn to it right away because I was looking for an easy “sit down and study the words” textbook approach. This school year has been anything but easy for me. I’ve been pulled in a hundred different directions and have had to rely on textbooks more than ever before. I’m learning more and more that certain subjects work well for the standard textbook approach, but other subjects need the hands on time with Mama.

All About Spelling  provides an excellent way to spell using your eyes, hands, and ears (sight, touch, and sound). We talk through how to spell a particular word and the how behind why we are spelling a word that way. This program teaches one concept at a time, building slowly upon each new skill.

I’ve been so pleased with the quality of the program and everything they send. Nothing has been forgotten; they have thoughtfully put together every item in this program.

The Teachers Guide tells you each step of what to do, and what to say. Love that. I don’t want to think about what to say when I have a baby crawling on my lap while I’m trying to teach spelling.

You start out with the basic letters–the vowels are in red, everything else is in blue. The student used these magnetic tiles on a magnetic board (the board is not provided.You can purchase on here).

Students learn about digraphs using these tiles. The teacher introduces the digraph tiles, pointing to the individual sounds and then blends them together.

These tokens are used by the student as he spells a word out loud. As each sound is being spoken, the child pulls a token down the board in front of him.

As the student passes each step they can put a sticker on the chart. I’m saving this back for my next child  since my older child is going through this program and does not need the sticker chart.

All the cards you use for the student are stored in this handy box!

Everything fits in this sturdy bag, which I love! We do school upstairs and downstairs, so the bag just goes where we need it that day!

Overall I’m very impressed with this program. I think the first level was a tad too easy for my child, but I wanted to cover all the basics quickly before moving on to the next levels. There are seven levels all together! You can view sample lesson plans of all seven levels here.

I’m also excited to browse through the “All About Reading” program that “All About Learning Press” offers when we attend the “Teach Them Diligently Convention” soon!

It’s a wonderful feeling to find curriculum that works. I’d love to know, do you try various curriculum frequently, or just stick with the same thing each year? 

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Math and I were not friends when I was in school. When it came time to start teaching my son about multiplication I knew I wanted to find some fantastic tips and tricks to walk us through this. I started asking around for a good program to help teach the multiplication facts, the first answer I kept hearing was “Times Tales!”

Times Tales are easy to remember stories for the upper level multiplication and division facts. The child is first introduced to all the characters that will be on the DVD, which are actually numbers. Mrs. Week resembles the number seven. Mrs. Snowman is the number eight (think of the shape of a snowman and how it can look like an eight). Once they learn all the characters they learn simple stories which help them remember the math facts.

It is available on either DVD format or book format. You can also purchase a flip chart to go with it. We just have the DVD and I think it would be nice to have the flip chart to go along with it as well. I much prefer the DVD over the book alone. The stories are cute without being overly silly, and my boys are much more prone to watch the stories and retain the facts in their head over and over again versus simply picking up a book.

As with anything involving math, you must drill and drill some more. There are printables that come along with the DVD, and it helped when I printed them off and we used the actual flash cards for drill.

I recommend Times Tales for anyone who is looking to teach their child the multiplication and division facts! It’s very helpful and makes it more enjoyable to learn!

Trigger Memory Systems also has created the Clean n Flip Charts. These spiral bound chore charts are broken down in easy, step by step directions in how to clean a room. Included are the living room, kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom. It also comes with a marker to use on this erasable chart.

My children were so excited to get these! I didn’t even have to tell them to do chores, they grabbed the book and started following the directions to clean a room. I was super happy! Of course the excitement has not stayed quite at that level, but I still find this a very good way to direct your children in doing their chores without requiring a lot of mommy brain to do it.

I’m thankful for companies who come up with products that help make a mother’s job easier. Trigger Memory System is definitely one of those companies that takes some of the burden off the mother coming up with these creative ideas herself.

 (I was sent these products to review, but I was not paid by Trigger Memory System for this post. All thoughts are strictly my own. Affiliate links are in the post)

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