Sequential Spelling - does this really work???

[Tami in CA]

I used Sequential Spelling with my 14ds (who is a horrible speller) up till about Lesson 70. I stopped using it because I felt like there was no rhyme or reason to it. My son would just make his best guess at the word and then I would tell him the correct spelling and he would fix it. I felt like he wasn't really learning anything. I am wondering if I should have stopped after all? Maybe we should have kept going. Does anyone really see improvement with this program without using spelling rules?

 

We switched over to AAS and he breezed through Level One in less than 2 weeks and is ready to start Level Two. I admit AAS is a lot more work for the teacher as far as teaching time goes, but it does teach all the rules and the student learns why they spell things the way they do.

 

I am just confused now??? Should I continue on with AAS or go back to Sequential Spelling? My son is ready to start the high school years and I really want him to know how to spell. What do you think :confused:

[LG Gone Wild]

Ooh, that's a tough one. Could you at least finish a book of SS before you chuck it away? That way you will know for certain if it isn't a good fit and a nagging feeling that perhaps you might have quit too soon. You could do both program at the same time (overkill, I admit).

 

I am not against spelling rules but quite honestly, I don't really remember many of them and they are always broken...i before e, except a c but not always. Annoyed me.

[Karen sn]

I wish that the SS had a small booklet of rules to go along with the lessons.

Then it would be perfect.

We are in SS Level I and I plan on finishing it just because I can leave no book half done. I will evaluate her at the end of it and see if we move on to book II or do something else.

 

What is the overall cost of using All About Spelling?

[mamaof2andtwins]

I have used both. Stick with AAS. Read through the threads on how people use AAS. We do not take a lot of time per day with it. I know when you are speeding through the first books it feels like a lot, but it won't be when the student slows down.

 

I have not used AAS with my oldest, but I plan to do it because his spelling is not good. I used SS with him but there was no retention.

 

I would encourage you to press on with AAS. If this is going to benefit your child then it is worth your time.

 

Jennie

[EKS]

I used SS with my 12yo son for almost 4 years. It took until lesson 120 the first year to even be able to get through the lessons in under 30 minutes (and without tears). His spelling did improve with SS but then it leveled off and didn't improve at all for at least the last year that we were using the program.

 

I started AAS with him about a month ago and, like your son, he breezed through the first level (thank goodness!). But even in that first level there were some things that were new to him, like doubling f, l, and s on the ends of words and also the c rules. Oh, and open and closed syllables.

 

I will be sticking with AAS as my last ditch effort to get this child to spell properly. I like how it explicitly teaches rules and I *love* all the customized review. My son desperately needs review! I love the cards so much that I've implemented a similar system for all of our drill work.

[MerryAtHope]

Sequential was a disaster for my oldest--his spelling actually got worse as we did it, because he didn't understand it at all, and he felt like they were hiding information that would help him (he feels that way about other discovery-oriented curriculum we have tried too!), and that they deliberately set him up to fail. We have had far more success and encouragement from using AAS, I'm so glad we found it!

 

I think Sequential Spelling works best for kids who appreciate a discovery-oriented approach to learning, or those who are likely to notice patterns but don't necessarily need to know that there are rules and generalizations that are useful most of the time.

 

For us, AAS has been worth it.

 

BTW, we really don't spend more time on it than we did on Sequential--only 15-20 minutes per day. We just pick up wherever we left off the previous day.

 

With a 14 yo, you'll likely spend more time to get him caught up faster--but really, you'd have to do that with Sequentail to get him caught up too--you'd want to finish 2-3 Sequential books a year to get through all of them before he finishes highschool. Still, I think you'll be pleased at how much progress he can make in a fairly short amount of time with All About Spelling. That's been our experience anyway, I blogged more about it here. HTH, Merry :-)

Edited April 25, 2009 by MerryAtHope

[MerryAtHope]

What does AAS stand for?

 

All About Spelling.

 

Merry :-)

[ElizabethB]

I wish that the SS had a small booklet of rules to go along with the lessons.

Then it would be perfect.

 

Several online lists of rules:

 

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=77560

 

And, a great book with almost all the rules and also teaches Greek and Latin roots and prefixes, the rules start on page 43:

 

http://books.google.com/books?id=6QISAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=spelling%20book&lr=

[Tami in CA]

Thanks for your replies. I would love to hear more.

 

My concern is that I have Levels 1-4 of AAS and it doesn't seem like the words are very hard even at Level 4. My son can spell most of these words already. Being that he is starting high school next year, I feel he needs to be spelling harder words. I just wonder if learning all these rules is really going to help him? I guess the more difficult words won't be coming along until Levels 5 & 6.

 

I liked how Sequential Spelling was just pick up the book - test the words - correct and we were done. I just don't know if he was really learning anything - or retaining anything. AAS is more involved with the book, the cards and the tiles.

 

We are ready to start Level 2 on Monday with AAS and I don't know if this is going to be what my son needs to do. Will learning all these rules - open and closed syllables, etc. really help him spell better? I think I am just confused.

 

I have also thought of using Megawords with him. This deals with the multi-syllable words that he needs to be learning and practicing.

 

Oh, what to do :confused:

[laughing lioness]

I just wanted to share our SS success- my now very bright 14 yo could not spell his way out of a paper bag 2 years ago. We bought SS and do it only in the summers. Wow. He can spell, he can figure out words, he can guess with intelligence :). He loved the word family approach. We do 4 lists a day, 2 books a summer. It was the only thing that worked and really stuck for him.

I use a white board. If he misses a word I write it out, spelling it as I write, he re-writes it, saying it as he writes it. Then we move on.

[nmoira]

 

I used Sequential Spelling with my 14ds (who is a horrible speller) up till about Lesson 70. I stopped using it because I felt like there was no rhyme or reason to it.

DD the Elder did most of the first level of SS. I would have been happy to continue, but she wanted a more variety. We did, however, find it to be effective. I didn't just correct her words and move on; we used a white board with different coloured markers to build up the words she missed (as in the examples in the introductory section). The instructions for this are in the introductory materials.

[Willow]

SS worked brilliantly for one child (we also built the word on a whiteboard with coloured markers) and totally failed to work with another.

 

I hope to try AAS with this one soon.

[Tami in CA]

I think I am going to continue on with AAS instead of going back to SS. I am also going to add in Megawords after we finish Level 3. We will be starting Level 2 this week. I think by having my son go through Megawords after getting a good grasp of all the rules with AAS, he will have plenty of practice with multi-syllable words.

 

Thanks to all of you who replied and helped me make my decision. :)