All About Spelling Level 1 Review
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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?Â
I have eight children, seven old enough for school, and we’ve used three different spelling curricula (four if you count just winging it by teaching only the words they seem to struggle with in their writing). Most of mine are natural spellers, who seem to pick up on the “rules” without effort, but child #6 just *isn’t*. She’s seven, and a great reader, but she spells completely phonetically and when corrected, says, “Well, that’s the way *I* spell it!”
We’ve really enjoyed All About Spelling, because it makes sense to her, just as much sense as her usual method. She’s in level two now, and we’ve seen a great improvement even in her willingness to admit that there is a right way and a wrong way to spell.
One caveat, though. It MUST be worked through starting at Level One. My other poor speller was 11 when we heard of AAS, and it was a little late to start. The first two (and most of the third) books would have been all review, but you can’t skip them because the speller needs to understand the AAS process and be sure not to have any gaps in knowing the spelling rules. She was very frustrated and overwhelmed by how interminably LONG the program was stretching in front of her before she even got to a single word she didn’t know. I had to find something else for her.
If you do have an older student like her, who has gaps in spelling ability, I recommend Sequential Spelling. It seems to find the spots that need filling, without having to lay the huge foundation that AAS does (and does so well). It would even work for an adult who is a poor speller.
I love All About Spelling, and plan to use it with my younger kids, too, but to get to the higher stages, you can’t just jump in at Level Four, you have to progress Step by Step from Level One and that can be really overwhelming for a kid who is already at a higher level, ability-wise.
We are using Sequential Spelling with our other son who spells good, but it just wasn’t a good fit for my struggling speller. I agree that it needs to be started at Level one. I think if you have an older child and you want to start you just need to work quickly through the easier books until you reach the harder level.
I’ve been trying to decide between all about spelling and sequential spelling. We won’t start until next year (2nd) after we finish up phonics this year (Ordinary parent’s guide to teaching reading for 1st). So far my son hates writing so he might really like the tiles. Is All about spelling complete and does each level take up a year if moving along at a decent pace? i.e. how many lessons does each level have?
This program is probably not good for every child, but Levels 1 and 2 can be worked for very fast, skipping or combining entire lessons depending on the child’s needs. For instance, I skipped most of the green cards for my son (age 8) on Level 1 because I was certain that he knew them, understood the rules behind them, and they were very simple phonetic words. I found there were very few “lessons” he actually needed to do in that book. We’ve also moved very fast through level 2. I expect that we will go fast until level 4 or 5.
Can you tell me what science curriculum that you use? I am trying to find one that doesn’t do experiments. I don’t have the space or finances for them but I know that they still need to do science. If you can help thanks!
Kate,
We are going to start using Christian Kids Explore. It does have Science Experiments in it at the end of the chapter, but I have read some moms say they don’t use them. 🙂 I’m SO excited to start using it next school year, I really like what I have read from it. My step-mom is a science teacher and she seemed impressed with it also.
https://www.brightideaspress.com/store/affiliates/bipaffiliate.php?id=1085160&url=197
I love this program too; I think it’s brilliant. I posted an initial review of it on my blog. Now we’re almost done with level 2, and I think I’ll post another one. We’ve gone through levels 1 and 2 very fast with my 9-year-old to fill in gaps and level one slowly with my 5-year-old to learn phonics and beginning spelling.
Are you going to the conference in Omaha? My husband and I are going. Maybe we will bump into you there! 🙂
W are going to start level 1 in the fall. I am so excited! I am using it with 3 children at the same time Would you recommend buying them each their own letter tiles? Thank you for the great review.
Shannon – I’m using it this year with 3 children – 9 yo, 11 yo and even my 13 yo who couldn’t spell well at all. He particularly loves it! You don’t need tiles for each child, but you will need a box the student pack for each child (all the cards).
We plan on homeschooling our kid(s) and it’s great to see what other mothers are using. The way you described the AAS it seems to be a gerat program to use. I like the idea of the hands on and the magnetic board.
Thanks!
haha, and I can’t even spell. *great … 😉
I have heard so many wonderful things about this program. Thank you for the great review! My sux year old is a fantastic reader but spelling is a struggle fir her. Definitely looking into this! 🙂
I just ordered the first two levels for my 11 year old. I’m afraid that she’ll be very bored, but after not seeing improvement after a year of Spelling Power, we’re ready for something new. Hopefully we’ll get on to some better words. I also found some used Sequential Spelling books to try as well. I’ve also got an almost 13 year old. She has a natural spelling ability, but I’d like her to learn the rules instead of just memorizing how to spell things.