Spelling Power? Anyone use this?

[jennilv2003]

Any opinions on this program? If you have tried it, what did you like and not like about it? I am thinking about trying it for my 4th grader who struggles in spelling.

[Guest Cheryl in SoCal]

Any opinions on this program? If you have tried it, what did you like and not like about it? I am thinking about trying it for my 4th grader who struggles in spelling.

I hated it because the word lists are organized by sounds with many spellings for each sound and no explanation for why to use one spelling over another.

[duckens]

I used this with the older girl that I nannied/homeschooled. I LOVED IT, and I already have a copy purchased for use with my own dds when they get a little older.

 

Pros:

1) The child learns a ton of words and is only retested on the words they don't know.

 

Consider that a typical public school child has 20-30 words/week on a list. The child may miss 1 or 2 or even 5 words on Monday.....but Wednesday and Friday, the child must write all 20 words again. So the child has basically only "learned" to spell a maximum of 5 new words in a week.

 

In Spelling Power, the child only retests on the the few they missed....then moves on to the next list.

 

2) We set a timer for 5 minutes each day. We never worked longer than that on the "testing" part. We went either 5 minutes, or until the child missed 3 words. (The recommended 5 words were too frustrating for her).

 

3) One may use outside words for testing in the program. Some words that I may incorporate into my daughters' spelling lists in the future:

--vocabulary words from history, science, etc

--words misspelled from writing lessons (writing a paragraph, etc)

--words from "Wordly Wise", which I also plan to use

--words from the list of "1000 words high schoolers misspell" or other similar lists

--words from the SAT vocabulary list

**Spelling Power comes with a massive list of words for your child, but you are not limited to it.

 

Cons:

--There is not a lot of supportive lesson material for teaching the rules of spelling. Unless you want your child to simply memorize how to spell words or your child is an intuitive speller, this may not be a good fit for your child.

 

Currently, I am looking for a good starting spelling program for the early years for my daughters. We can always do Spelling Power in 3rd or 4th grade.

 

--Your child MUST do the practice exercises for the words she/he missed. If they do the practice exercises, they will have more success with the retesting of the words. If they get lazy on this part, then they will not put the word spelling into their permanent memory. You may need to sit with your child and ensure that they are doing each step for each word as it is recommended. ***Ask me how I know!!!***

[AmericanMom]

I used it for 3rd-4th grade with my oldest, who was not a good speller. It worked very well, but I had to tweak it a good bit. I had to simplify the rules, for one thing, because the rules it uses are unnecessarily complicated. I also had to sit with him and make sure he did every step on the sheets. I couldn't have done it effectively without The ABCs and All Their Tricks by Bishop.

 

I have another child in 3rd grade right now who is not a good speller either but I am not using it with him. I would if I needed a program, but I am confident enough now in teaching to teach him spelling in context. We do a LOT of dictation and going over rules relating to the words he misspells in writing. And we have spelling bees and quizzes on those words as well. I think it is just as good and a lot less trouble, but I couldn't have done it this way before I knew the rules well enough myself.

[Mama Anna]

Dd7 and I haved used Spelling Power for close to two years now. She's a natural speller, so I'm not sure our experience will be as helpful as some, but it's been good.

 

Pros:

Like the pp said, you only go over the words you missed.

It doesn't take a lot of time (15-20 minutes max each day) or (at this stage) much teacher prep.

I feel like she'll be exposed to all the words she's likely to use on a regular basis by the time she finishes it.

One buy goes through high school!

Included are activities for various learning styles to reinforce spellings.

You also have information on teaching a student to use a dictionary, edit their own work, etc.

 

Cons:

The author is very specific in how you must use the program. She has instructions for various situations and offers a help-line telephone number you can call for advice on specific difficulties, but there are certain things that are sort of "beyond the pale" for a teacher. Such as using the program with a child under the age of 8 :tongue_smilie:

Also, the prescribed method, while not complicated, takes a bit of getting used to and can seem overwhelming at first - at least it did to me! You'd want to give yourself awhile to become comfortable with it before putting it into action.

 

Um . . . that's about all I can think of right now. I'd recommend getting the Activity Cards if you plan to buy the book - I wish I had them but they will probably have to wait until dd4 begins using the program.

 

Oh, yes. Another pp mentioned the rules. If you're interested, an example is "When adding a suffix to a word ending in y, change the y to i, as in try to tried and baby to babies. Exception: When the y is preceded by a vowel, just add the suffix."

 

HTH!

 

Mama Anna

Edited March 9, 2011 by Mama Anna