Why do you NOT like All About Spelling?

[PentecostalMom]

I've read some blogs and such, but if you have used AAS and dropped it, would you tell me why?

[HomeAgain]

It just wasn't our cuppa. 

 

1. Expense.  The first level goes quick, and then it's more to buy each year.  I'd rather spend $40 elsewhere.

2. It wasn't translating into everyday work.  My kid could memorize the rules and everything else, spelling each word correctly in the isolated program.  He would be stumped to do it in his writing.

3. It was too much time each day for the output we got.

4. I get it, the lessons are written in a way where you take as long as you need on each one, but it wasn't my style.

 

We switched to a free program, Dictation Day By Day, and added in our AAS cards as necessary.  Since that program has everything in context and spirals through the rules/words, it worked better for us.  And it was shorter daily lessons.

[EKS]

I really liked most aspects of AAS, but here are the things that I didn't like:

 

Tiles would get lost.

 

Spelling with the tiles is very time consuming.

 

It's expensive (especially when I used four levels in one year with my older dyslexic son).

 

And did I mention that we kept losing tiles?

[8filltheheart]

Way too expensive for what is covered. The books only cover very basic spelling words. I can use the $30 How to Teach Spelling manual and cover basic spelling as well as more complex words.

[boscopup]

I had to use 3 levels in a short timeframe with my oldest, and he didn't need an intensive spelling course. It was overkill for him. The child that really struggles with spelling doesn't do as well with phonics/rules taught in that manner, so he's doing Apples & Pears.

 

AAS isn't bad. I just didn't feel like I needed to spend so much on spelling in a year.

[WahM]

We’ve use four levels and I’m thinking about switching because it is very teacher intensive and now that I have two students I need to save as much time as I can. I will probably switch my older child and keep my younger child with it because we really do love it.

[sweetpea3829]

I've used Levels 1-6 so obviously I liked it enough to stick with it.

 

That said....

 

1) It is costly.

 

2) We really only used the tiles in the first level and a bit in the second level. Otherwise, we did everything on the white board.

 

3) The spelling rules really didn't stick and/or translate. My 11 yr old is a natural speller but my 10 yr old, who is accelerated as a student in every other way, still makes ridiculous spelling mistakes in his writing. Yet both did just fine on their weekly spelling tests.

 

4) It's a bit dull. I'll be glad when my younger two are done with it, lol.

[Insertcreativenamehere]

I'm not using it only because I need something more independent. The tiles were a pain, but we just used a whiteboard last year. 

[ExcitedMama]

Keep in mind you don't have to use the tiles. DS writes everything out so it's also good writing/penmanship practice.

[Garga]

It got to a point where it felt more like we were learning how to decode words that were already written, than learning how to spell. We were at level 7 or so when we stopped, and at that point it was almost impossible to know how to spell a word based on the sounds.

 

There are so many ways to make the various vowel sounds (ai, ay, a-e, etc), that by the end of the books they provided large lists of commonly spelled words with each way to make the sound (the "ay" list vs the "ai" list vs the "a-e" list, etc.). By the end, pretty much all the rules were taught and it was down to all the ridiculousness that is English where you just have to see how the word is spelled and remember it and review the list over and over. It felt like any new rules were few and far between and it was more of a matter of seeing the word and reading it, than hearing the word and spelling it.

 

Overall, the lessons felt soooo tedious to me, though my sons enjoyed them. I was bored out of my mind teaching them, but the boys didn't mind learning them.

 

One son was a natural speller, so he probably didn't need the program at all. The other boy was not a natural speller and I think the first few books were invaluable for him and I'm glad we used them. But I'm not so sure the last few books were helpful to him.

Edited October 27, 2017 by Garga

[Targhee]

I used it with two kids, but honestly it was overkill for kid #2 (natural speller who zoomed through two levels a year). Kid #1 needed it!! But I realized after #2 my other kids didn't need it.

[Jackie]

1. The tiles are slow to use. Very, very slow. By level 2, DD was begging to skip the tiles. When we switched to not using the tiles, lessons were less than 1/4 as long.

 

2. It was overkill for a kid who generally spells well.

 

3. It’s a lot of separate rules to hold in your head and apply.

 

4. There are too many words that don’t follow the rules, which drove my rule-loving daughter crazy. All homophones, for example - to, too, and two can’t all follow the rules, or they’d all be spelled the same.

 

Once we ditched AAS, I kept How to Teach Spelling on the shelf to refer to the spelling rules and have examples (practice words) if DD needed to understand why something was spelled as it was. Cost me about $35 on Amazon and had an entire spelling program in a single volume.

[Crimson Wife]

I used levels 1-6 with my 2nd. My big complaints were cost and the parent-intensive nature. I switched my DS after AAS 6 to the Glencoe free "Spelling Power" that covered a lot of the same material but in an independent worksheet format. He was at a stage where he could work more independently, however. When we started AAS 1 he would not have been able to use a worksheet-based spelling program.

[knitgrl]

The tiles. We have toddlers in the house, so we can't just leave them on the whiteboard, because they will quickly disappear. So if we used the tiles, that means 10 minutes of setting them up before the lesson, and if dd does it, that means more like 15 minutes, and by that time, she has pretty much had enough of dealing with them and the spelling lesson is over. It works much better just using the whiteboard. Some smart person on here has mentioned she used red and blue markers to make the distinctions that the tiles do.

[Targhee]

It's interesting because so many people do not like the tiles.  The tiles were the MAIN reason we used AAS over other O-G programs.  My oldest had fine motor skills way behind her language skills, and the tiles made AAS a successes as she wasn't bogged down in the mechanical difficulty of writing all the words.

[8filltheheart]

It's interesting because so many people do not like the tiles. The tiles were the MAIN reason we used AAS over other O-G programs. My oldest had fine motor skills way behind her language skills, and the tiles made AAS a successes as she wasn't bogged down in the mechanical difficulty of writing all the words.

The tiles were the only reason I tried the program. I was attempting to find as many pathways to imprinting correct spelling on my dyslexics' memory.

[Garga]

I used the tiles.  My dryer is a white box of a thing and is magnetic.  I put the tiles on the dryer and they stayed there all the time.  I had little kiddie folding metal chairs from an old kid-sized table and chair set.  I kept the folded chairs behind the door to the laundry room, and when it was time for spelling, we'd unfold our chairs and gather around the dryer.  

 

[Jackie]

It's interesting because so many people do not like the tiles. The tiles were the MAIN reason we used AAS over other O-G programs. My oldest had fine motor skills way behind her language skills, and the tiles made AAS a successes as she wasn't bogged down in the mechanical difficulty of writing all the words.

I listed the tiles as a major drawback AND I bought the program initially because of the tiles. I was also trying to use the program with a kid whose spelling ability was ahead of her fine motor by a good bit. But she still found the tiles so frustratingly slow that the tiles were a flop. We had better luck both doing the program orally (think spelling bee style) and on a keyboard with the spell check turned off.

Edited October 27, 2017 by Jackie

[My4arrows]

We haven't dropped it, but there are things that I don't like about it and change.

 

I don't like the tiles and neither do my kids- we don't use them at all.

We don't use the review cards (probably should)

It's expensive- We don't buy the review cards to save on this

I want applied work like Rod and Staff has to show more understanding

I want it to be more fun hands on.  Even the silly games that AAR has my kids love and look forward to

Parent intensive- but at the same time the kids I use it with need that, so....

 

 

[MotherGoose]

Tiles. I know you can get around that. Teacher involvement. Much easier to hand over a spelling workbook, especially when kiddo was being completely uncooperative.

[alisha]

It got to a point where it felt more like we were learning how to decode words that were already written, than learning how to spell. We were at level 7 or so when we stopped, and at that point it was almost impossible to know how to spell a word based on the sounds.

 

Yes! That! 

 

I also feel like quite a few the lessons (in 2 & 3) cover a rule in the "New Teaching" section, but then move onto some other facet and the spelling words have nothing to do with the New Teaching just learned. I guess i would say I have a problem with the way it's organized.

 

I haven't switched yet, but am seriously thinking of it, though not sure whether soon or wait until the end of the year.

[coastalfam]

The reasons we didn't stay with it were 1. It takes an amount of time from me that I am not able to give, which caused us to get really hurried and frustrated at each other. Not worth it. And 2. My son wasn't improving in his spelling outside of spelling lesson time. I still use what we learned in regard to spelling rules at times to help him puzzle out a word he has misspelled, and we still use the phonogram tiles on the white board for my other kiddos, but with a simpler O-G program. So there were parts that were really great about it that we still benefit from. For spelling we now do prepared dictation, and that is translating into actual spelling improvement.

[nixpix5]

We didn't stick with it because I realized AAS book 1-3 and part of 4 was covered in our phonics program and our phonics program did it in a way that made the rules actually stick so their spelling with those rules were already quite solid. Also it moves so slow and is really easy. I see it more as a program for children that may have learning challenges and need something at a slower pace. After we finished our phonics program we just moved on to copy work and dictation which worked for my spellers infinitely more.

Edited October 28, 2017 by nixpix5

[PentecostalMom]

The reasons we didn't stay with it were 1. It takes an amount of time from me that I am not able to give, which caused us to get really hurried and frustrated at each other. Not worth it. And 2. My son wasn't improving in his spelling outside of spelling lesson time. I still use what we learned in regard to spelling rules at times to help him puzzle out a word he has misspelled, and we still use the phonogram tiles on the white board for my other kiddos, but with a simpler O-G program. So there were parts that were really great about it that we still benefit from. For spelling we now do prepared dictation, and that is translating into actual spelling improvement.

What do you use for prepared dictation?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[abacus2]

I think AAS 1-2 are very valuable. AAS is great for introducing the concepts of spelling and the sound/letters connection. Before AAS, both of my younger daughters didn't understand the concept of the importance of the order of the letters. They would try to spell by just writing the letters with sounds they heard in the word in random order. Once my middle daughter got through level 2, she was ready to attempt spelling most words. We switched to Sequential Spelling which has worked well. My youngest is still working on level 1, but I expect a similar pattern from her. The parent involvement and the tiles can get tedious.

[8filltheheart]

What do you use for prepared dictation?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The How to Teach Spelling TM has dictation that spirals back through previously learned words/rules. You have to be comfortable making decisions on what words to teach and what sentences to use, though. It doesn't intimidate me at all, but others have posted that they can't figure out how to make it work. I can't relate, but I design almost everything we do on my own, so for me it is super simple bc the info is all right there to just pick from. I don't have to create the word lists or the sentences. :)

[Amy M]

I think it's a great program and used levels 1-4 and would have liked to keep going with it. My main reason for quitting was how teacher-intensive it is. I needed something independent, because I wear my teacher hat too long in the day as it is, and I was looking for subjects that my kids could do more as "seatwork" while I worked with another child. I was willing to do that with spelling, especially considering what Garga said about the upper levels of AAS, where you repeatedly get lessons in which you make charts on notebook paper of the, say, "5 ways to spell long A sound," and then you dictate words, and the child guesses which heading to write it under.

 

I love AAS for teaching the rules so thoroughly, sequentially, and not mixing all the different ways to spell a sound until you finally do get to the aforementioned charts. But we came from ABeka, which had words with "ur, ir, er, and ear" spellings all together in one list, and my child just couldn't tell which one to use when. AAS helped with that tremendously. I'm not too worried about the spelling translating across grades, because SWB says that doesn't usually happen until about grade 5, especially for the bad speller. In other words, don't stress too much if they are forgetting the correct spellings while writing in other subjects that they had spelled perfectly in spelling. It will all come together later.

 

So we switched to R&S. I wish AAS had independent workbooks like this for the older levels, which has them use the words more in a context, rather than just dictating the list daily until they remember them all. But I don't like how R&S, though way better and more explicit than ABeka, also shoves a lot of concepts into one spelling list, and sometimes there doesn't seem to be a reason for the words they include in a list. So I was still seeking a way to get the benefits of R&S and AAS into one program: explicit spelling instruction, not mixing too many sounds and rules into one list, not teacher-intensive, more workbook exercises. And someone here recently suggested MegaWords for that. So I'm switching to MegaWords. We'll still use AAS for levels 1-4 (or maybe just through level 3) and then use MegaWords starting in 4th grade.

 

Another negative of AAS is simply that it's not needed for a natural speller. I have no natural spellers as of yet, so we need AAS. Honestly, though, I think natural spellers don't really need a spelling program.

[YodaGirl]

I don't feel like I ever really stick with one thing, thus I end up pulling what I like from various things. Currently for phonics & spelling, I'm alternating my first grader between items from Horizons Phonics & Reading 1, Horizons Spelling & Vocabulary 1, IEW PAL Reading, & AAS 1. He's very active, a mostly self-taught reader, and a natural speller. He gets bored if we stick with anything for too long. I use various programs to teach the skill he's ready for next.

 

That said, I won't be purchasing AAS 2.

 

I love the phonetic sounds cards. Some of them I didn't even know - or at least I would've never thought about them individually. Same thing goes for the rules.

 

Oh, the tiles... They're the main reason I bought them. DS doesn't like to write a lot. His penmanship is actually pretty good, and he's got great fine motor skills. Still, writing is a fight. He's able to spell words without having to write them out. However, it also means that it's one more "toy" for him to play with. He likes to make "letter factories" where he can just slide the letters (map -> nap -> tap). This makes for a really freaking drawn out process because it takes FOREVER since he's playing. Ain't nobody got time for that. Then we went to just pointing at the letters. Lately, we've been doing a combination of spelling them aloud or writing them on his lap board.

[monalua]

We've done level 1 and are working on level 2. We like the program, but we find the tiles to be ridiculous. Now I just write on my white board and he has a Boogie Board. We don't use the tiles at all.

[Farrar]

Not only were the tiles slow for us, but they were also so poorly made. I know some people like that they can tip them to move them, but I thought they were just cheap. Both my kids disliked them and found them frustrating.

 

I did use the program a good ways through though. There are some good things about it. It just depends on what you want.

[strawberryjam]

We initially dropped AAS because I couldn't get over the lack of very detailed instruction and daily spelling lists. I felt like I needed more direction. I tried a bunch of other things, none of it worked - and then we came back to AAS last year (after about a 3 yr hiatus from it). Now I get it. I understand it now. I understand why it works and why it's actually perfect. I feel more comfortable with the system and figuring out a daily schedule and how to use it for our needs. And my kid is flying through spelling. I think we've gone through 4 levels in a matter of months. My reluctant speller has turned into an excellent speller, thanks to AAS and lots of reading!

[strawberryjam]

It's interesting because so many people do not like the tiles.  The tiles were the MAIN reason we used AAS over other O-G programs.  My oldest had fine motor skills way behind her language skills, and the tiles made AAS a successes as she wasn't bogged down in the mechanical difficulty of writing all the words.

 

Same here. We love the tiles! We keep them on a portable white board, out of reach - have been using the tiles for six years and none have gotten lost so far. My kids love using the tiles and makes a big difference in them being attentive in the lesson. I do let my older one dictate spelling words to me orally if he wants to, but we still use the tiles for learning the rules.