When we brought my daughter home mid-year from 1stgrade to begin homeschooling one of the areas she seemed to be struggling with was spelling. We realized later that the words she was being taught were high 2ndand 3rd grade level words which explained her struggle, but I didn’t know that at first. So I sought to figure out how to teach spelling. I was a horrible speller because I do not memorize well and that was the strategy I was taught in school. I was given a list of 10 words, tried to memorize them by Friday, only miss two or three, but struggled with retention. 
I had seen All About Spelling mentioned on several blogs and websites, so I discussed the situation with a veteran homeschooling mom and asked about the curriculum. She told me a lot of parents she knew used it and that it was very rule oriented. Bingo! I knew it would be perfect from my rule-oriented daughter!
I received the box after just a couple of days and was thrilled to get started! The brightly colored tiles intrigued my daughter and she eagerly asked when we could start. It is suggested that you start at the very beginning in level 1 to make sure their foundation is laid strongly. Because she was already devouring books on a 3rd grade level the beginning seemed too easy, but after having been through half of the second level I am extremely glad I followed the advice to start in Level 1. There are somany things which are built on from that level which seem insignificant at the time but are truly stepping stones to upcoming levels.
We have a beautiful white board hanging on the wall. We also have a young preschooler! Add in brightly colored letter tiles and you have an enormous mess and the possibility of some missing letters! I opted to purchase 2 cookie sheets and 2 small platters from the Dollar Tree. One cookie sheet holds the basic phonemes which I use with both girls. The second sheet holds the letter combinations I use with Rose. we use the small platters for the girls to do their tile work. This has worked really well for us so far. One day we may switch to the white board, but for now this is a better solution!**Confession**
I didn’t buy the box that you can purchase from the website. In hindsight I wished I had! I have one that is working, but it definitely won’t continue to hold all the cards!
Because the beginning lessons were basically review I did about 1 lesson a day until we reached something new to her, about lesson 14. To be honest, my daughter was done with the tiles after about a week. So I tweaked. We use the tiles to learn a new concept, but everything else is done on paper. This has worked well for her. Once we reached the “new concept” point we now take about 1 lesson a week.
Although spelling is not her favorite part of the day, it is certainly more enjoyable now that she is learning rules and succeeding. I have once again started with level 1 with my next daughter. She just started kindergarten, but has completed her phonics program and is reading on a 2nd grade level. I would highly recommend waiting to begin spelling until after finishing a year of phonics. From my experience it seems to work best if done in this order.
Since she was younger at the start I took the whole program slower. She took about 2 weeks to memorize the initial yellow phonograms. She didn’t have any trouble with the consonants and already memorized the basic long and shorts sounds of each vowel, but remembering the new sounds for those was harder for her to remember. She mastered them this past week and was able to quickly review all the sounds. I accidentally included sounds taught later in the book like /th/ and /sh/, but she breezed through those without a second thought! Beth has currently been working on segmenting the words and she really likes sliding the colorful circles!
The only portion of the program I have not used as much are the green index cards with words on them. It is a good way to keep track of which rules and words she has mastered, but I think I would prefer a checklist that I could look at easier.
I didn’t quite get the need for so many colored letters, but now that I’m well into the second book I appreciate the various colored tiles for different phonograms. This is a huge bonus for visual learners and my daughter quickly recognizes letter patterns because of them.
**Secret Bonus**
I finally figured out why I wasn’t a good speller…I never learned the rules. Why oh why wasn’t I taught these very clear and helpful rules when I was in school? I had no idea there was actually a rule for when c says /s/ and when it says /k/ or how to know whether to use c, k, or ck to make the /k/ sound. Now that we are learning the rules we are all spelling better!
I finally figured out why I wasn’t a good speller…I never learned the rules. Why oh why wasn’t I taught these very clear and helpful rules when I was in school? I had no idea there was actually a rule for when c says /s/ and when it says /k/ or how to know whether to use c, k, or ck to make the /k/ sound. Now that we are learning the rules we are all spelling better!
To find out more about All About Spelling click on this link!
And NOW for the giveaway! There are a few ways to enter, but nothing too painful! Our giveaway will run until September 24th. Good luck!
*I received Level 4 for this review
gracefilledwriter.com 
I think I struggle teaching the sounds of the letters in some words. I just take one step and one letter at a time.
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We love AAS here and now I'm using AAR with my 1st grader and will use AAS for him when we finish AAR 1. I just love EVERYTHING that AALP puts out! It's all so wonderful and I'm learning new things right along with my boys.
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Excited to find your blog and to read about your adventures in homeschooling! Thanks for this awesome giveaway. This is our first year homeschooling and am I super excited. I've heard such great things about AAS/AAR and I'm hoping I'll win this so that I can snag some goodies for our kids. Thanks! 🙂
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Thanks for stopping by! I agree that segmenting the sounds can be difficult. I need to remember to just help my daughters take it slow and a step at a time like you said!
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Thanks for coming by! I'm in love with all things All About Learning too 🙂 I LOVE the sounds of AAR, but I purchased a phonics program several years ago for my oldest, so I can't justify getting another one! But I feel like AAS really helps supplement phonics!
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Thanks for joining us! Have fun homeschooling this year 🙂 This is our second year and has been an unexpected, but lovely journey along the way! You'll LOVE AAS. Everything is so well thought out and has taken the burden off of teaching spelling!
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I am enjoying AAS Level 2 also! I'd love a gift certificate to look at their AAR stuff! biggest challenge to teaching spelling is being methodical to make sure there are no gaps, since I naturally spell well myself and don't see where the trouble may come for my kids.
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I'd never heard of this program before, thanks! It could be super helpful for my rules-oriented nine year old.
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Just found your blog. Would love to win! Thanks!
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It looks like my comment didn't post last night…I apologize if this is a double post. To this point, we haven't had any struggles in teaching spelling since my oldest is doing kindergarten. I have read rave reviews of AAR and AAS, and we intend to begin using AAR 1 when we have completed My Fathers World Kindergarten. I am looking forward to it!Thanks for hosting the giveaway!
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Would love to win this!
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I have such a hard time teaching spelling because my DD is dyslexic. AAS is great for this!
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We're having problems with when to use C vs S as well as J vs G.
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Wow! A natural speller? I wish that was me!
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Rule oriented kids LOVE this! I can tell you that from my daughter. Spelling suddenly made sense when she had do's and don'ts!
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Welcome! I wish everyone could win!
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All 3 of my kids are dyslexic, I've been looking into this. I would LOVE to win it.
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Thanks for stopping in and reposting. Don't know what happened 🙂 You'll love this program!
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Thanks for stopping by! I stopped by your blog 🙂 Your boys are adorable! My girls LOVE their peanut butter too!
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I have heard good things about using DD with various learning difficulties. I'm glad it's worked for you!
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Us too! My girls constantly say S when they mean C, but they do usually write it correctly.
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Thanks for stopping by! I've heard good things about using this with kids who have learning challenges!
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Thanks for hosting! Found you through the HOD Beyond Facebook page!
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I am amazed that M. is reading on third grade level. Thanks so much for doing this giveaway! I know my kids would really benefit from using AAS, since I am NOT a rule-oriented kind of teacher.
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Welcome! I LOVE the Facebook pages for the individual guides! We completed Beyond last year, but I didn't want to miss out on any good stuff by not joining the group! We'll be there again next year 🙂
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I know 🙂 I was actually referring to E last year when I mentioned the 3rd grade level, but M is up to 2nd grade at least. I haven't evaluated her recently though. I got her up to about 1st grade because of 100 Easy Lessons, but she got herself up higher! She reads EVERYTHING see shes…even all those old signs in Cracker Barrel! So the rest has just been her trying words out and decoding on her own. It's been fun to watch!
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Teaching spelling is challenging for me because I am naturally a speller, and when your child isn't or doesn't seem to be, it can be frustrating for both parent and child. And I was never taught any of the rules, so I do need help with that. Thanks!
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My biggest challenge is consistency. We have been going through some very difficult times medically, financially, and with family and I have not been able to be very consistent.
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Great blog! We are using All About Spelling with our 5 year old and love it!
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It is hard for me to really get the sounding of the vowels..since English is not my first language. My oldest got it right away and reads at 5th grade level..my second child is having a much harder time. This would help me in so many ways. Thanks for the opportunity to learn about this program.
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Thanks for stopping by! I hadn't thought about the difficult of teaching when spelling comes easily! That makes sense and AAS will REALLY help with that!
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Thanks for stopping in! The biggest lesson I learned about homeschooling was to give myself grace, especially when life got hard. I'm so sorry things have been difficult and I know how hard it is to be consistent during the easy times. I just prayed for you that God would give you comfort and knowledge that He has everything under control even when we don't!
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Thank you so much 🙂 I'm REALLY new at this so appreciate the compliment so much! I just started with my 5 year old about a month ago and she loves it!
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Thanks for stopping by! That must be so very hard! I had a southern accent and had to work hard to pronounce the vowels correctly. I can't even imagine how hard it must be when English is a second language for you! I know AAS has a CD that pronounces the phonemes for you so maybe that would help you out 🙂
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This looks really cool! Can't wait to try it with my daughter.
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I have the first level and will be starting it soon with a couple of my children. I have several that struggle with spelling and I'm hoping this will be a good fit! BlessingsLeslie
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Thanks for coming by! It really is a fun program and my girls see spelling as fun, not a chore!
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Thanks for coming by! I hope it fits well for you too 🙂 It is always hard to make a particular subject fun when the child already has a frustrated outlook on it. My daughter was that way and it took some time, but now she enjoys spelling!
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I would love to try this out! I have 3 girls and my last 2 are hands on, and fun oriented! I have always had no problem at all spelling from the beginning – which makes teaching spelling tricky… My kids are not natural spellers and this could be the key to some more success!
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Fun oriented 🙂 Love that! This program has been such a blessing for our family! Yay for 3 girls 🙂
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My biggest challenge is, like you, I wasnt taught the propper rules as a child. This is an awesome giveaway. Im def. going to look into the program!!
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What a great giveaway! And, I agree, knowing the rules makes spelling soooo much easier. Thanks and God bless!
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I have never used a program like this and it sounds very interesting. We have always just used the spelling/dictation in the HOD guides. I've always wondered if I should be adding in \”rules\” to spelling in order to help them understand and retain better. I have 3 girls and a boy and would love to try this with them.
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I'm honestly spelling better! I don't know why spelling rules weren't taught in school, but I'm glad I can teach them to my daughter 🙂
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Thanks for coming by! I love rules 🙂 Our God is one of order and structure so it only makes sense that our language has it as well!
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Thanks for stopping by! I found out recently that some spelling rules are covered in later levels of Rod and Staff, and I really do see the benefit of using dictation to learn spelling. At the same time I like the idea of set rules. I think the balance has made a beautiful blend for us!
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I pulled my son (10) who is dyslexic out of public school in February. AAS has been on our list of most wanted!!! hopefully, the structure and rules will help him when nothing else has!
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I have read raving reviews of how this has helped kids with reversal issues. Part of why I think it works so well is the color patterns. It really helps them visualize the word!
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We haven't started spelling but I would love to add this to help our phonics.kuenzifamily at tds dot net
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Oh my yes! The phonics reinforcement is just fabulous! Thanks for stopping by 🙂
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