Customer Reviews

Spelling Power, Fourth Edition

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have been using Spelling Power with my 11 year old son (whom I homeschool) for about 3 months. The fact that it's a huge book shouldn't be intimidating. It contains lots of good info for the teacher as well as activities. The fact that it is crammed with so many spelling words means you won't have to buy another spelling book ever again, and you will be able to use it for all your children/students.

The best thing about this book is that the student studies only the words he or she has missed. For the words that are misspelled, there is a "routine" that is followed in order to help the student remember to spell the word correctly. Those misspelled words are then added to the new round of words to be spelled the next day. The only time a word is carried over to subsequent days is if the student has misspelled the word.

There are reviews as well as tests. There are also tests to help determine where in the book your child/student should begin. It takes us a total of about 6--7 minutes to get through the day's words, then it takes my son about one minute per misspelled word to go through "the routine" to learn the word. (The "routine" to help remember how to spell words consists of visualizing the word, closing eyes and spelling, tracing the word with one's fingers (and a few other steps), writing the word twice more, then writing the words in the sentence. When my son goes through "the routine" he rarely misspells the word again. I can tell when he's not doing "the routine" because he will routinely miss the misspelled words again!

I've used four other Spelling programs for my son who is not a natural speller. I hesitated to get Spelling Power because I was intimidated by the size of the book and thought it must be hard to implement. It's not! It really does only take 15 minutes per day and we are seeing results; he's remembering how to spell words!! I use it for my younger child as well. There are very accurate placement tests you give your student, so you know where to start each child. I wish we would have found Spelling Power sooner!

Finally, I have a spelling program that I love and the children love! I've been homeschooling for 13 years and have 10 children. I've used 4 spelling programs in the past. If I had not been trying to be a good steward of the resources God has given me, I would probably have tried even more by now. When I buy a resource, but really cannot implement it adequately, the resource is not helpful. Spelling Power is different. We are able to accomplish much in a small amount of time. It is incremental integrating review of previous spelling words. There is immediate feedback to the student and parent, so that I don't have papers sitting on my desk for days to grade. I am able to place each child at the proper level, not just according to grade level. Spelling has become the favorite subject of my 9 and 10 year old sons. This one is a keeper!

This book/program works! It made a good speller out of one son who was struggling mightily with spelling and a school spelling bee champion out of my other son. It works with all types of students. 2 out of 2 is batting 1.000 in my book.

I have tried many different spelling programs. Nothing I found worked for my son who would spell everything phonetically. To give you an idea, when was spelled `whin', enough was spelled `enuf', barrel was spelled `barl', where was spelled `whair', and on and on it went. I am talking a complete mess. He started 4th grade at a middle 1st grade spelling level. We spent 15 minutes a day with this material and have made it through the third grade level. He is picking up momentum and he should be at grade level by the end of the summer. If you are looking for a logical, consistent approach to spelling with a practical approach using spelling rules, and looking for lists that contain words that are most often used in the English language, this is the program for you. Not to worry about the size of the book, it is quite easy to use as long as you get the Spelling Power Record Keeping Book to go with it. You might not need the Record Keeping Book forever but it really helps when you are starting out.

My stepdaughter struggles with a learning deficit and she loves it when I tutor her over the summers using this book. Originally borrowed it from a friend and had to buy our own! Lots of great ideas and helps pinpoint weaknesses to strengthen spelling and vocabulary. Can't wait to use it for my own daughter to home school with. Bound so you can put it in a binder to maintain it for 3rd-12th grade. Software not compatible with Mac but still a fabulous book! Really the software is unnecessary, everything is in the book.

A friend recommended this for my eight-year old and it is everything I hoped it would be. I confess I skipped the dvd demo and just started but the quick start steps pretty much walked me through how to begin. My child is encouraged already with her progress and is actually excited to do spelling now! She hated it before and felt like a total failure, so this turn-around is so great for us!

I bought this book based on a review from another homeschool family. It has worked out great. I have one book for all three of my children. They all love to do their spelling now. The only complaint that I have is the website says it will work with a mac. It does not. We are mainly a mac family but thankfully do have a windows run computer so we are able to access the cd rom.

The basics of this program are great, and my daughter likes that it's basic. You test, you practice, you test, etc. My biggest complaint is all of the activities...they have all of these charts with activities in different categories and even though it's in a chart, the book doesn't do a very good job explaining when it's appropriate and which activity to use. It gives a number, but there's activities in the book, or on CD, or on an index card set you can purchase separately and I can't figure out what goes with what. You could get a lot more out of it if it were more parent-friendly.

Bought this product for my daughter because she is dyslexic and has a terrible time with spelling. Out of all the spelling help products I have tried this one tops them all. Uses multi-sensory, review and you only study the words that you do not know. Great product! Great for all ages even adults that are having a difficult time with spelling. Glad I purchased it.