Spelling You See- TOS Review

Spelling You See,

brought by the good folks who brought us Math You See, is, hands down, FANTASTIC.
We reviewed both  Wild Tales (Level C) and American (Level D
I have some natural spellers, some o.k. spellers and some "shoot me now, 'cause I'll never be able to figure out this spelling," spellers. I would almost count myself in that last category and Thank-God regularly for on-line dictionaries, and the creator of Spell-check.
My mathy girl struggles greatly with spelling. We've tried other spelling programs and they've left her in tears. She is a good writer but a hurtful comment by another girl in co-op about what a miserable speller she was and her own insecurities about spelling left her with wounded confidence and the belief that she just wasn't ever going to "get" spelling. We've tried several programs, with success ranging from terrible to hopeful moderate.

Enter Spelling You See. Frankly, I wasn't sure what to expect. What we received was a very slim teachers manual, 2 workbooks and a well and strategically packaged set of erasable colored pencils. Both Cub and Flower were curious about the program straight off given the pencils.

I had originally signed up to review American (level D). Flower is a solid and confident reader. Due to a shipping snafu we receive Wild Tales first, and then later on Americana. Flower and I looked through Wild Tales and decided to give it a go. Oh, I am so glad we did!

Each lesson is formatted the same, and divided into 5 sections, A, B, C, D and E. Each lesson focuses  on identifying and learning one of the following: vowel chunks, bossy r chunks, consonant chunks, endings or wise Y's. The genius of this program is that the kids identiy these areas and circle them. The vowel chunks are always yellow, the consonant chunks blue, etc. In this way, the kids learn to see the words in phonetic "chunks" versus individual letters. There is tons of repetition built in to each lesson and by the end of a lesson, the kids are writing it from dictation.

You can see how Flower circled the consonant chunks and vowel chunks by color- vowel chunks yellow and consonant chunks- blue.

Wild Tales begins with nursery rhymes and has an animal theme. The lay-out is simple, but bright and colorful. Each picture coordinates with the text. While Flower is far beyond the reading level of Wild Tales, this was a perfect place to start with spelling. From Day One her spelling improved. Not just a little, but significantly. She started writing letters to friends again (something she's been avoiding since she realized she wasn't quite up to speed with spelling), leaving little notes around the house and in her Dad's lunch. What joy to see her confidence grow by leaps and bounds!

American focuses on all things American. Part 2 even has Mt. Rushmore on the cover (we live in the Territories, y'all!). Each days worth of spelling reiterates some small snippet of American History. Part of Flower's history for the year is to finish reading an American History book used in Co-op last year. Spelling You See's American ties in beautifully, reiterating simple stories.

Spelling You See: Wild Tales (Level C)
Spelling You See: American (Level D)

One of the things that makes this so successful is that the program is not "grade level" dependent. The student starts wherever they are, gaining mastery quickly and painlessly. Flower did several components of a lesson a day, blazing through Wild Tales, gaining spelling mastery along the way. In no way did she feel that she was behind or less than. The sentences and stories are complex enough to engage even those way beyond reading wise. Each section of a lesson takes about 10 minutes. We did spelling every day because Flower was highly motivated and enjoyed the lessons. The copywork and dictation are something she's done for English for years, so this was nothing new. Also, the spelling has to do with words the kids would use in every day language. The focus is on spelling mastery; so there's not a lot of bells, whistles and extras thrown in. And for that, I am grateful. I'm all about the simplistic, straightforward and effective!

Spelling You See: Listen and Write (Level A)
Instructor’s Handbook $14
Student Pack $20

Spelling You See: Jack and Jill (Level B)
Instructor’s Handbook $16
Student Pack $30

Spelling You See: Wild Tales (Level C)
Instructor’s Handbook $14
Student Pack $30

Spelling You See: American (Level D)
Instructor’s Handbook $14
Student Pack $30

Spelling You See: American Spirit (Level E)
Instructor’s Handbook $14
Student Pack $30

This program is geared for elementary students, or for those who need remedial help in spelling.

Spelling You See is worth every penny. This is a fantastic program for the spelling weary, the visual learner, those invested in classical methodology and anyone interested in an effective, affordable, fantastic spelling program. I'm so thrilled to have found something that has given my daughter the skills she needed to unlock the mysteries of spelling. Major kudos to Spelling You See on one of the best spelling programs we've ever used.

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