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 
My biggest challenge to teaching spelling is that I don't know the rules!
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I love AAS. We are almost through with level one and would love to win level 2!
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Thanks for coming by Robin! AAS sounds like a perfect fit for you!
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I love level 2 🙂 Level one seemed a bit tedious although now that I'm using it with my second daughter it doesn't seem that way. I think the age level made a huge difference!
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My biggest challenge with teaching spelling is explaining the rules so my children understand them. We currently use Spelling Power, which works great for my oldest who was public schooled until 6th grade, but my now 5th grader & K4 daughters have a hard time. I've heard awesome things about AAS & think this would be a good fit for my girls. 🙂
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Thanks for stopping by! It is so hard to teach things on a \”kid-level\” sometimes. My background is in Junior High English, so I've had to learn how to talk to my young girls in a different way than I am used to teaching. AAS is really helpful with that!
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I have only taught spelling in a public school classroom so I'm not really sure how to teach it to my little home learners! 🙂
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Thanks for stopping by! I was also a school teacher and the switch to homeschool mode was intimidating for me too!
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So far we haven't had much challenge, but I'm feeling like we are missing something along those lines. Maybe I need to try and find a program I like.
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I honestly didn't get the HOD way of dictation at first, but I see the benefit to it now! At the same time I feel like it is missing the structure I like about AAS. It honestly feels like we have a complete program now with both aspects.
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this would be a great addition to our homeschool.
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I would love to win this, either way I cant stop thinking about it and I know I will more than likely be getting this for next year. =)
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Thanks for stopping by!
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Fabulous 🙂 I know you won't regret it! If you go through one of the links on my blog I'll receive a small percentage of the sale. 🙂
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Okay, great….I will remember this!!
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oh how I would LOVE to win this!!
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We started homeschooling last year and began with AAS as well. Our biggest challenge with it in the beginning was the tiles…all three of my children hate them, too. We still keep them on the board but we don't use them. My children just didn't like how the tiles fall off and all figured out they could write them much faster than using the tiles! BUT, with all that said, they are learning so much and I am very thankful for AAS and AAR! My biggest challenge now is teaching three different levels…but that's only challenging to me, not the kids!
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Thanks for stopping by!
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It is a little challenging for multiple levels! I only have 2 using it now, but once the littlest is old enough…oh boy! I'm expecting my daughter to be finished with level 3 this year, so maybe she'll be done by the time the youngest gets into it! Thanks for stopping by!
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The biggest challenge to teaching spelling I've encountered is the words that are not spelled phonetically. For example, flute sounds like floot. lol
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Oh my yes! That's why my daughter loves the rule breaker cards 🙂 She LOVES putting them in jail and the spellings really do stick out in her mind better!
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I love AAS! I used level 1 and 2 with my youngest. I brought my oldest home this year (4th grade) and realized he hadn't learned any phonograms. We are working through them. He was already a natural speller, but the rules we are learning has helped him improve even more. I'm like you in that I am learning as well too! Thank you for for hosting the giveaway 🙂
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It really shocked me to realize there was SO much I had not learned! Thanks for entering 🙂
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I struggle with the sounds of some of the vowels.
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Remembering all the rules for teaching spelling like phonograms and phonetic blends, rulebreakers, etc. …. I've had to \”refresh\” just to teach the kids! AAS would make it a lot easier to teach them from what I see on this review.
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We are still working on phonics now but I would love to use this when we start spelling.
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Biggest challenge is finding the time!
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We are using All About Reading 1 with my special needs 7 yr old. Amazing! We plan on continuing the AAR and then starting AAS. Can't wait!
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I too had never learned the rules. I was taught by memorization. Now my 1st grader is struggling with spelling and at times I feel helpless because I don't know how to teach her properly. Thank you for this giveaway!
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We are slowly easing our way into this with 10, 8 & 6 year olds (as well as preschooler and toddler around).
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I'm REALLY new at this so appreciate the compliment so much!
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I was always a natural speller and never really needed to be taught. So it's been difficult for me to break down spelling into rules that I just kind of \”knew\” for my daughter, who is definitely NOT a natural speller.
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Teaching spelling is hard b/c there are so many different sounds one letter can make… Would LOVE to win this. This is exactly what we need. I have heard so many wonderful things about it from friends who use it.
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Thank you for posting on your blog. Sharing info is very helpful!
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Consistency
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I think I should encourage my husband to be our AAS instructor and learn alongside with our daugther!:-)
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I just started trying to teach my son to read a couple of weeks ago. There is a lot I don't know also, and therefore can't explain. This would be really helpful.
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Love this! I am currently waiting until we are done with All About Reading 1 to start All About Spelling 1. AAR is wonderful and I have heard only good things about AAS. I can't wait to get started, both for my little boy and for me!
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We love AAS! I started with this program with my youngest daughter and wished it had been around when I first started homeschooling my oldest because she is the world's worst speller. Now I'm going over it with her while she's in the same room because level 1 is a bit easy for her and at age 14 it seems a bit young for her. But once we get to level 2 (which will be pretty soon), I'll have her join in. Anyways our toughest challenge is getting them to listen to the difference of E and I. I'm not sure if its a regional thing for us but for some reason they can't seem to discern between the two. Even when I stop and slowly say it. LOL I'm sure they'll get it , but for now its still our challenge. I would so totally love to win this so I can get level 3.
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We just started using AAS level 1 with my 8 year old. Our biggest struggle is to get her to sit down and focus on learning. She is too busy exploring and learning on her own! I expect to use AAS with my younger two as well, after they have a solid reading foundation.
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My oldest is a self-taught reader. He's great at spelling, but I worry that because he's self-taught, he's missing some basics. I'm not too great at remembering the rules, either! I've been eyeing All About Spelling (and Reading!) for all 3 of my kiddos. I've heard nothing but praise for it!
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My biggest challenge is that I'm not a good speller, myself. But, it's never too late to learn.
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We are LOVING AAS!! I too never learned the \”rules\” and was a poor speller, now my kids and I are learning to spell together, and loving it! Thank you for offering the giveaway!
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My biggest challenge is, like you, I wasn't taught the proper rules as a child. This is an awesome giveaway. I'm definitely going to look into the program!!
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We use AAS with my kindergartner to help with reading – in addition to writing and spelling! It's worked great – we're currently on level 1, step 15. I'd love to win this to fund more level purchases and even the preschooler pack for my younger son! =)
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My biggest challenge was spelling tests with my son. But this year we are using AAS and so far, no challenges!
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So far, I haven't had much need for teaching spelling, as my oldest seems to be a natural speller, but knowing how great the All About Spelling program is, I purchased their All About Reading program for my four year old. I figure that eventually, I'll need a spelling program for someday, and I'll already have a lot of the tools I need. My challenge right now is waiting for the next level of All About Reading to be available! (Very soon!)
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would love to win this our hardest is putting the sound of the letters together to make words would love this to help out with our homeschooling
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There can be a lot of strange rules that are hard to explain.
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The short and long sounds are easy, but doing those odd ones are hard… especially if you have a southern accent like me!
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