All About Spelling (AAS)

by Rita
(Kansas City)

I don't know where to start! We love All About Spelling! I'm using Level 1 with my 10 and 6 yr old daughters and sometimes my 5 yr old son joins in when he is in the room.

My oldest was a horrible speller, still is except for those words that we have covered lessons for. But she is improving so fast and is now thinking about how to spell words instead of just writing down letters.

I like that the program is easy for me to teach. I can grab the book and start as soon as I pull out the cards from the file box that are needed for that day. I spent about an hour initially getting the cards set up and reading through the first pages of volume one. I find that I am much less stressed with this program than with other ways/programs we had tried. If my daughter or I get stressed, we just stop for the day and pick up there the next day. The lessons are written so that you can do as much or as little at a time as you want.

The rules that are taught are written simply and have plenty of practice. And the author provides suggestions for alternate methods of teaching some difficult concepts.

The letter tiles are great! We keep them on a magnet board for easy access. When my daughter is struggling with spelling a word, I have her grab the board, segment the word (a very helpful skill I don't think I was ever taught) and she can usually spell the word very quickly.

The money back guarantee encouraged me to buy one more program. I'm confident that this will be the last spelling/phonics program I buy!

Dislikes: I know I'm supposed to list a dislike, but I just haven't found one yet.

Time-Consuming, but Effective

by Holly
(CT)

Levels 1 and 2

Used May 2009 to Present

This program works especially if you have children with the learning issues that we have. Our oldest is dysgraphic and this is the first program that is helping her to clear the jumble in her head. Our second is very hearing impaired and this program is helping me to pinpoint the spelling errors that are hearing related. Our third has visual tracking issues and this is helping her read. I love it. We tried everything with our oldest.

Unfortunately, this is very time consuming but it can be broken down into smaller pieces.