Name: CHEC Rocky Mountain Homeschool Conference
Start: 2025-06-12T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-06-14T23:59:59-05:00
Location: Denver, CO

Tagged: Copy Work, dictation, spelling, Spelling Power

This topic has 8 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 13 years, 10 months ago by TracyM.

Viewing 9 posts - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)

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August 8, 2011 at 2:51 pm
4myboys
Participant
Does anyone or has anyone used Spelling Power? I’ve heard a lot about All About Spelling, but am curious to know how Spelling Power measures up. I like the fact that a one-time purchase would be all I needed for both my students with no future purchases necessary. I have time to decide as I don’t plan to start anything formal until at least after Christmas. That should give me a good idea of how they are doing learning through copy work. Our focus for copy work until then will be on penmanship, and I do not plan to do much in terms of dictation or written marration for the first month or two. I see the SCM guide does not recommend spelling until grade 4, so I’m not worried about my younger son yet (he’s a natural speller and I think copy work/dictation will work very well for him) but my older is not a natural speller at all.
August 8, 2011 at 3:22 pm
Michelle Kelly
Participant
Hello 🙂 We currently are using all three (SP, AAS and SWisdom) as we have a word girl (natural speller), one with Auditory Processing Disorder and then a youngest with some resolved visual processing struggles.
Spelling Power is really all that my word girl needs academically. It’s a simple fit for her, 10 minutes about 2 times a week is all we give to spelling. But once I incorporated Spelling Wisdom I saw a blossoming in her language usage.
All About Spelling is an answer to prayer for our child who struggles with APD! The format is very much like the format used by our reading tutor for the 2 years we needed that help! SW is only copywork for this sweetie. We don’t use it for dictation at all in this season.
We use SW and AAS for our youngest as for her, I was able to look at all our resources and put together a good fit for her. Although we believe that her visual processing struggles are resolved, it is a blessing to know that with AAS we are still reaching the audio, tactile & visual processes. I will start SW later this year as copywork, then dictation when I feel she is ready.
This may be too much information for you, but it is how we ended up a little “spelling heavy” on our book shelves.
August 8, 2011 at 5:17 pm
4myboys
Participant
What ages are your children? Have you used these programs since the beginning? My boys are coming from PS, so this is our first time HSing. I would prefer to wait until after Christmas to add in spelling for my older because he will already have a lot to adjust to. He has dysgraphia, so written assignments are a challenge on every level for him. I am hoping that by starting with copy work we can build confidence in handwriting before placing any great emphasis on spelling, grammar or composition. I guess I figure he’s about 2 years behind in terms of these. However, he does very well with oral assignments where his struggles with writing do not interfer with his thought process. We are going to work on typing this year as well.
My concerns about AAS are largely based on cost. While I’m sure that he could use a better foundation in phonics as well as learning the spelling rules, I would expect that he would get through the first level in a few months taking it at a very moderate pace. I think that my younger son would be offended starting so far beneath him. He already spells several grade levels ahead, and reads many more above that, so I think Spelling Power is the better choice for him there. I’ve not looked into Spelling Wisdom too closely, but by the online sample it appears to be very heavy on American content (we’re Canadian).
August 8, 2011 at 7:24 pm
TracyM
Member
Michelle, I really need to get that spelling. lol I have a house full of APDs (at least 2, maybe 3 and and the youngest is too young to know yet…at this point I’m proceeding like he does to avoid the very low performance I have with my oldest now. ) They are why I’m switching over to CM I keep hearing about AAS but haven’t looked at it much yet…guess I need to after the move.
August 8, 2011 at 8:12 pm
LDIMom
Participant
We use SP at our house. I like the flexibility and the usage throughout the spelling years. It is light on the rules but I like that about it. As a natural speller myself, I find all the rules to be too much unless one NEEDS that info.
I did not buy the optional student books last year but did for this year. I think they are well worth the price after spending time and money last year putting a notebook together myself for our three oldest.
I like that with SP I can adjust it to our schedule and needs. We use it 2 to 3 days a week. I hav an active learner. Sometimes we bounce a ball back and forth as he spells his words to me orally.
Our children were in PS too; oldest for 5 years. SP is not like what your children are probably use to in PS. You will test them only on words they have not mastered.
HTH
August 9, 2011 at 5:01 am
Michelle Kelly
Participant
Our “still at home” children are 12,10,8.
Tracy, You might “converse” with Jill Pike at Institute for Excellence in Writing and Marie Ripple at All About Spelling/Reading. Each woman was very helpful to me as I sorted out what would work best for our APD struggles. They are knowledgeable and so kind.
As for using these programs from the beginning, no. A friend suggested Spelling Power in the early years for our 12yo, becuase she is language gifted. It is simple and effective for her. But it took 2 years of struggle before I found out why our APD learner could not learn to read (I didn’t even know what APD was!) And during the next 2 years of tutoring I was told to not even worry about spelling for awhile.
We decided to not introduce “spelling” until this daughter asked. And she did last year. Thinking SP was developed by a mom for her learning challenged daughter I believed it would fit for APD learning. No, just more and more frustrated tears. That is when I researched and found Jill and Marie.
AAS is a little expensive in terms of “spelling”, but in terms of success for a child who is learning differently, so absolutely worth it! We’ve seen much improvement in spelling, a willingness to write and also, further improvement in reading.
The tactile, torso crossing method with the magnetic letters and memorizing the phonograms are two of the key things that are making AAS work for us. We spell with the letter tiles, orally, then we write the word. This system might be beneficial for dysgraphia.
If you would like to converse more about AAS, please feel free to email me, byquietwaters at gmail dot com.
August 9, 2011 at 3:57 pm
TracyM
Member
I’m using Saxon phonics right now for my 7, almost 8 yr old. We’re a year behind due to his speech processing getting in the way of really reading. (he trips all over himself with mis proununcations, reading the wrong sounds then confusing himself, etc.) But it’s working! He knows all the letter sounds, can blend, and read simple short vowel words, and it has some several phonemic and phonological oral activities in the lessons to help. Since it’s the one thing that I found that works, I’m sticking with it for now. It also includes spelling through 2nd grade so I won’t need anything yet. BUT my older kids have yet to do any decent spelling that helped them. Their spelling is o.k. until they get into the harder words that are more age/grade approriate, then it’s a disaster.
Our speech therapist was the one that brought of the APD for my now 7 yr old (my first to actually get any help for anything) and when I started looking into it more, I realized my oldest most likely had it too–it explained all the struggles and odd things he did for YEARS that I could never put a name to. But now that he’s in high school, we have ALOT of backtracking to do. My daughter really struggled with reading and orally repeating things (AWANA was a disaster because she couldn’t repeat verses let alone memorize them) but now is about at grade level except with math. But of the 3, she’s doing o.k. school-wise, it’s the boys who are really struggling more.
August 9, 2011 at 5:04 pm
Michelle Kelly
Participant
Tracy, Take heart, there is so much to learn on these homeschooling adventures. One thing I often repeat to myself “God gives me the information, wisdom, knowledge in His time.” Helps me to not get too bogged down on the “being behind” feelings.
Is it possible you can set aside a term or two to focus on building the foundation and framework for your high schooler, to empower him to more successful future terms & high school years?
We are in the process of a small direction change in our learning lifestyle and while I was hesitant at first I thought about where I want to be in 2 or 4 years. The “loss” of time for these few changes seems so much smaller when I look ahead a bit.
May God continue to bless and guide you.
August 9, 2011 at 5:30 pm
TracyM
Member
Well, that’s sort of what I want to do with the CM method. I’m not going by a dictated curriculum to “get done” in a hurried way so he can move on to the next and eventually get caught up. I don’t have time to do that with him. Instead, I’m making a list of specific goals for him based on what I want him to learn and things I know he needs to do either from the Speech therapists suggestions or my own experience with trying to teach him. Then just spend the time with books and working on those things. He’s fine in math (he likes it and is not behind in that so we’ll continue what he has for it.) So mostly it’s all the lang. based stuff and history. I haven’t a clue what will go on his transcript at this point, we’ll figure that out later. lol But to me, it’s more important he gains the skills he needs than finish X amount of pages in a book. I think the oral componants of CM’s methods will help him alot because it’s similar to some things I’ve seen the therapist do with both my younger and him. (Different things based on age, but I sat in enough sessions, I got the general idea. ) And once I get them tested and diagnosed, I’m hoping we’ll be adding in therapy again specifically for the APD. (We discontinued the speech temporarily due to a job change, pay cut, and getting new insurance with the new job to cover the testing and all thru a different place.) My oldest has never had therapy, but she did an evaluation for me just to see where he was before we stopped therapy with my other one.