spelling power?

[jborres]

Ever used it? How did it work for you? Did you use the intro DVD and the CD?

[Crimson Wife]

A friend gave me her old copy (3rd edition so no DVD or CD) and I started my oldest in it in August. It's a really good program for a student who is a "natural" speller because it's individually tailored. My DD placed into Level G but I backed up and did selected lists from E & F because I thought she could benefit from those particular ones. At the rate she's going through it, I'm guessing she'll finish SP by the time the next school year rolls around (we HS year-round).

 

It's a really good fit for my DD, but I don't think it has enough explicit teaching of the spelling rules for many students. For that reason, I'm using All About Spelling with my 2nd. I'm also planning on having my oldest "help" her little brother learn the AAS rules so that she will pick them up without getting insulted at the spelling words being too easy.

[HollyDay]

We used it for 2 years. I think it was not too difficult transition for us because we had used SWR. Dc already knew the phonograms and rules.

[tullyfamily]

We use Spelling Power. (Or I should say, when we do spelling we use it. I'm trying to be more consitent w/ it- really I am.) We do not do the cards/activities- my children didn't seem to need them & it took up time we didn't have. I do buy and use the workbook b/c it is all organized for me. I'm going to buy this to enforce the spelling rules b/c I feel like the program does not focus on this enough.

 

I do think it is a good program for "natural" spellers.

[alegnab]

We didn't use a CD or DVD. No DVD existed for it then (about nine years ago), and I don't think there was a CD, either. Ds#1 used Spelling Power for probably a couple of years. He did well on the tests, so I thought he was learning, but SP didn't carry over into his daily writing. His spelling was atrocious. Spelling Power has word lists grouped by sound, and a list can have words with various phonograms for the same sound. However, it doesn’t tell when to use which sound, which I’m sure is why it wasn’t effective.

We've tried at least five spelling programs. Spell to Write and Read/Wise Guide for Spelling and All About Spelling are the only two that have worked. I love AAS! It's so easy to use, and it's very effective.

[5LittleMonkeys]

but I don't think it has enough explicit teaching of the spelling rules for many students.

 

I agree with this statement. I used it with my two oldest last year. My dd12 flew through it...basically proved that she didn't need a spelling program. I still go over a list of spelling rules with her every six weeks and we just focus on the occasional words we come across that she misspells. Spelling Power felt like busy work for her. My dd11 did not do well with it at all. She would get many of the words wrong and have to practice them. I felt that even though they all followed the same spelling rule and the spelling rule is noted, she was still just memorizing how to spell a list of words. Not enough emphasis on the spelling rule itself. If I had been able to devote more time to it, doing the extended activities and games, I believe it could have been more effective but I really needed something she could do mostly on her own. I switched her to MegaWords and she is doing much better.

 

Now, that being said, I also had an older edition so I can't speak specifically to the newer version; it may be structured differently.

 

I think SP is a good program for the right family. It definitely would be a benefit to a family with many dc and a mom who could devote the time to extending and reinforcing the spelling rules. It just didn't work for us.

[EKS]

I am using it, but not as written.

 

I like that my son can progress at his own pace, which is extremely fast. I wouldn't use it for a child who was struggling, though.

 

I don't like the rules given before each list. I don't like the mix of words in certain lists. I don't like that lists will contain words for one "rule" that have some weirdness going on in another area that hasn't been taught. I wish I could think of an example now, but I can't.

 

But as a natural speller, my son doesn't even notice all of this. So we're sticking with SP.

[johnandtinagilbert]

Agreeing about the natural speller.

 

We got no carry over, either as they made high marks on each test b/c it's easy to fake when using word families.

 

There were no bells and whistles when we used it and I found the teacher's manual intense to get through.

[Crimson Wife]

I don't like that lists will contain words for one "rule" that have some weirdness going on in another area that hasn't been taught.

 

:iagree:

For example, SP has the word "boundaries" in a list with /ou/ and /ow/ words. Yes, it does have that phoneme in the 1st syllable but tricky part to spell IMHO is the schwa in the unstressed 2nd syllable. To me, it should logically go in a list with other -ary words.

[tullyfamily]

Agreeing about the natural speller.

 

We got no carry over, either as they made high marks on each test b/c it's easy to fake when using word families.

 

There were no bells and whistles when we used it and I found the teacher's manual intense to get through.

 

I listened to SWB speech & she mentioned that it is common children do not carry over the rules to their writing- it isn't the program, just the nature of young children.

 

When I bought the program, it didn't have the DVD & I like that there are no bells & whistles. I do not follow the exact layout of the program- we like things short & sweet. I like how I can use it for all of my children, reducing the cost. I currently do spelling w/ a 10 & 8 year old at the same time.

[johnandtinagilbert]

Agreeing about the natural speller.

 

We got no carry over, either as they made high marks on each test b/c it's easy to fake when using word families.

 

There were no bells and whistles when we used it and I found the teacher's manual intense to get through.

 

I listened to SWB speech & she mentioned that it is common children do not carry over the rules to their writing- it isn't the program, just the nature of young children.

 

When I bought the program, it didn't have the DVD & I like that there are no bells & whistles. I do not follow the exact layout of the program- we like things short & sweet. I like how I can use it for all of my children, reducing the cost. I currently do spelling w/ a 10 & 8 year old at the same time.

 

It Never carried over with 2 of my dc from 2nd--6th grade. We switched to an accelerated phonics regiment and their spelling has drastically improved.

[alegnab]

I listened to SWB speech & she mentioned that it is common children do not carry over the rules to their writing- it isn't the program, just the nature of young children.

 

I'm sure that's somewhat true. Kids don't want to have to think about rules when they're writing and will often spell things wrong. But if the program doesn't teach them rules that they can use to determine which phonogram to use when and they don't have a good visual memory, then the program probably isn't going to work well for them, no matter how young or old they are. Ds#1 tried a different program after SP, which didn't work, either, so we stopped that after a while. We next tried SWR/WG. There was an almost immediate improvement. That was the beginning of seventh grade. He did the SWR/WG program that one year and no longer needed to do spelling. That's how dramatically his spelling improved. I don't think ds#2 used SP, but he used the same program as ds#1 used after SP, and that also did virtually nothing to help him with spelling. I put him into SWR/WG at the same time as ds#1. He was starting 4th grade then. His spelling also dramatically improved with SWR/WG. He had to go slower than did ds#1 since he was three years younger, but he was finished with SWR/WG in about 1-1/2 years and hasn't done spelling since. That's how much his spelling improved with it.

 

I switched to All About Spelling for dc#3 & 4 because what it teaches is almost identical to SWR/WG, but it's far, far easier to use. It only required a few minutes of reading to see how the program works, whereas SWR/WG is so complicated to learn that there are workshops given to teach how to use it. I can pull AAS out each day and start the lesson with almost no prep. That wasn't the case with SWR/WG. AAS makes it easy to keep track of which words need review, since there is a word card for each word in the main part of the lesson. A lesson has at least ten words that follow the same rule, so there's lots of practice with that rule. But after we finish a lesson, the word cards enable me to mix up the cards with the cards from previous lessons, so the words are no longer grouped according to phonogram for our daily review, making it easy to spot problem areas. I also only need one book at a time, whereas SWR/WG requires the juggling of two books while teaching a lesson.

 

If I remember correctly, Spelling Power had oodles of instructional pages. I had a hard time getting through it. However, most of it was unnecessary and could be summarized in just a few pages.

[jborres]

Thank you ladies for your comments and ideas..my daughter is only 5 and in first grade and does not appear to be a natural speller so I am going to look into alternatives to SP!