Does anyone have experience with Spelling Power?

[akvtmama]

Have you used Spelling Power? Did you like it? Hate it? Most importantly, did it help your DC become a better speller? I am torn between Spelling Power, R&S spelling and Sequential Spelling, DD will be starting 3rd grade. After experiences with Spelling Workout and Steck-Vaughn Spelling I realized I couldn't stand busy work in spelling. So we gave up for about a year and now it's time to get going! She reads at abut a 9th grade reading level.

[Mrs Twain]

I started out using Spelling Power which I think is okay. Recently I added R&S Spelling to it because my eldest needed more practice. R&S Spelling is better at teaching things like rules and pronunciation, but Spelling Power has more advanced words. So I am doing a combination of both. If I were to pick one, I think R&S is better. However, you may want to use R&S one level higher if your student is a good at spelling.

[MooCow]

I've used it-briefly. My third grader needed "more". I am hanging onto it because I think it will be great

for him in Jr.High and above.

[Mommy22alyns]

Spelling Power... I've used it for 2 years for Rebecca. It's okay, I guess. She generally does very well, but when she can't spell a word, it's mainly because she hasn't seen it before. I'm thinking of switching her to R&S next year (Sylvia already uses it), but I can't decide what level to use. Sylvia went through 2 and 3 this year.

[FloridaLisa]

Spelling Power worked very well for one of my dc (I've only had a couple so far that really needed a spelling curriculum). It wasn't SP alone; it was SP along with conscientiously pointing out spelling in her writing and reading, making her spelling aware, increasing her reading and maturity. She was an unnatural speller but is a very good student.

 

What I liked about Spelling Power:

1. the diagnostic test put her at level
   
2. teacher prep was super easy/nil -- just had to set up the games and then open and go every day
   
3. we spent 5 - 10 minutes on it every day
   
4. the follow-up games and activities helped and cyclical nature of the spelling tests really helped her cement the words
   

What I disliked about Spelling Power:

1. principally, that there were no spelling rules. I think every child should know the very basic, easy-to-remember rules. I added these in as they came up in the lists.
   
2. some of the lists are by sound, not pattern which meant different rules. I think that was a bit screwy.
   

For my other unnatural speller (so far), I used Sequential Spelling, which I really, really, really like. :o) I think that might have been too slow for my dd, but it was perfect for a younger son.

 

Lisa

[Alte Veste Academy]

I use Spelling Power with all my kids. I use The ABC's and All Their Tricks as a complementary reference, for when we need to learn a new rule. This combo is fast, easy, and cheap (when you consider that it will take you from K-12).

[*Michelle*]

I use Spelling Power with all my kids. I use The ABC's and All Their Tricks as a complementary reference, for when we need to learn a new rule. This combo is fast, easy, and cheap (when you consider that it will take you from K-12).

 

What is that second one like? I'm planning on beginning SP in 2nd grade and I want to make sure we cover everything.

[Alte Veste Academy]

What is that second one like? I'm planning on beginning SP in 2nd grade and I want to make sure we cover everything.

 

Well, it is dry as a bone but comprehensive. :D You can see a good preview here: http://www.christianbook.com/the-abcs-all-their-tricks/margaret-bishop/9780880621496/pd/0621494?item_code=WW&netp_id=133713&event=ESRCG&view=details .

[*Michelle*]

Well, it is dry as a bone but comprehensive. :D You can see a good preview here: http://www.christian...CG&view=details .

 

 

Whoa, you're not kidding. That's an awfully cutesy name for a serious reference book! It looks good, though. The pages available are reinforcing my decision to focus on reading and copywork in 1st before picking spelling back up in 2nd.

[AngieW in Texas]

Spelling Power worked great for my two older girls.

 

My youngest is dyslexic. The first program that worked for her was Sequential Spelling. After she finished the first book, the second book didn't seem to do anything for her. I did the diagnostic for Spelling Power to start her at the right level and that is what she has been working through for the past 5 years. It works well for her now, but would not have worked for her before Sequential Spelling 1.

[Lori D.]

Have you used Spelling Power? Did you like it? Hate it? Most importantly, did it help your DC become a better speller? I am torn between Spelling Power, R&S spelling and Sequential Spelling, DD will be starting 3rd grade. After experiences with Spelling Workout and Steck-Vaughn Spelling I realized I couldn't stand busy work in spelling. So we gave up for about a year and now it's time to get going! She reads at abut a 9th grade reading level.

 

 

 

One quick caveat: the average student does not start to "settle down" into spelling until into grade 3. So your DD is *just* on the cusp of spelling finally being something a subject in which she'll be able to progress/retain info. (Unless she has a learning delay in that area of the brain.) Also, bear in mind that reading, writing, and spelling are all processed in very *different* areas of the brain, so an advanced reader does NOT automatically equal an advanced speller. And it also does not mean that just because the student has short term memory to remember spelling words to score well on tests does NOT mean they carry that over into their writing. In fact, most students don't develop that skill to simultaneously juggle correct spelling *while* writing until along about grade 6.

 

All that said, here is background on our experiences with some of your requested programs, FWIW ;):

 

Spelling Power was a bust for younger DS with mild LDs in writing and spelling. It was also a bust for older, average speller, sensitive DS who was in tears every day for "failing" the daily spelling test. Spelling Power has you give the child a daily assessment, you accumulate the words the child *doesn't* know until you have enough to have a list for practice and then testing. To older DS, this equated to daily failing a test of words he'd not seen before and he freaked out daily. Finally, Spelling Power was a bust as a previous poster said in that there was not enough of a clear "rule" guide to the word lists to be usable for us.

 

Natural Speller is a much gentler program, somewhat like Spelling Power in the *practice* aspect, but it lists words by family (usually a vowel pattern type of "rule"), and does not do the pre-testing, but lets you select words to create the weekly spelling for grades 1-8.

 

Spelling Workout was a complete bust here -- average speller DS retained nothing; and there was nothing in Spelling Workout that younger DS with mild LDs in spelling and writing could connect with. The combo of Tricks of the Trade & How to Teach Spelling to Any Child was also a bust for younger DS.

 

Sequential Spelling can work -- but I suggest waiting until about 4th grade, when students are old enough for you to be able to work with words, probably using something else as a supplement. I tried this one with younger DS with the mild LDs, but it did not work for us for several reasons -- tried it when DS was too young for it; there are no clear "rules" and patterns outlined; and there is not enough working with words to understand adding endings, prefixes, etc. I did use SS's idea of "building" words later on for spelling practice with DS, as that was helpful for him to see the "smaller" word inside a longer word.

 

 

Ultimately, I ended up creating our own individualized spelling, using The ABCs and All Their Tricks as a super guide to vowel patterns and letter sounds, and using words from their lists, plus words from Natural Speller lists, and then using practice ideas from Sequential Spelling, The Stevenson Blue Spelling Manual, and Andrew Pudewa's "Spelling and the Brain" lecture. :ohmy: I also had younger DS with the mild LDs go through the Megawords series of workbooks; he started those in grade 6. You can start them as young as grade 4.

 

 

That's a long story, and the moral is: if you have a struggling speller, check out All About Spelling (which looks like it does many of the things that I eventually, after years of painful trial and error of many programs, cobbled together for our spelling). If you have an average speller and can use a simple, traditional spelling program, go with something like Rod & Staff or Horizons, or Natural Speller.

 

If you have a natural speller, esp. who is not sensitive, then try Spelling Power or Natural Speller. BEST of luck in quickly finding what works for your family! Warmly, Lori D.

[Alte Veste Academy]

If you have a natural speller, esp. who is not sensitive, then try Spelling Power...

 

Yes. OP, I forgot to mention that my three all seem to be natural spellers (who have a tendency to view spelling as a friendly competition). I started off with AAS, which I think is a spectacularly good spelling program. It was just more spelling than we needed.