Spelling Power gives your children the opportunity to master the 5,000 most frequently used words at their own pace — in just 15 minutes a day — using research-proven strategies. Everything you need to teach your entire family is found in the one “Big Orange Book”. Spelling Power is written by a home educator for home educators.
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Cons: On occasion, a spelling rule may be worded in a combersome way, but you can re-word the rule to make sense to the student while maintaining the integrity of the lesson/rule.
Grades Used: 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th
My children enjoy their Spelling Power. I enjoy not having to battle or coax them into taking their spelling tests or doing their study activities. They typically want to start their day with Spelling Power!
Cons: Lots of pre-reading for teacher, but not really too overwhelming
Grades Used: 4th grader
I really enjoy the detail that the author gives on how to teach the program correctly and that one book covers all grades, though I don’t think it s/b started until about 3rd grade. The pre-reading for me seemed a little daunting at first, but once I did it – I am glad I did. I like pre-testing the words so my son ONLY has to work on HIS specific words to learn. I love the 10 steps to study a word. We printed these out on big paper & he does the steps and almost always gets the word correct on the re-test the next day. My son is very good at spelling and I liked that the placement tests tell about what grade level your child is spelling at. However – if he was weak at spelling; we would spend more time with the activities to help make it a little more fun. As it is, I use the activities with very simple words my kindergarten daughter is learning. She loves to play some of the spelling games & doesn’t realize she is learning! Overall; this book is excellent. It is not as fun as some subjects, but we never spend more than 15 minutes a day doing spelling. It pays off when I see his writing improve because he is using words well above grade level – and they are spelled correctly!
Cons: It may be slow getting the program off the ground.
Grades Used: K&3rd
I am using this program for my 8 year old ASD son and average five year old. It has been an excellent program. I plan to continue using it it with all my children through future years. My family has to budget our books carefully. This book is valuable considering that I can use it with all my children at all grades. My two sons are very different learners in style and age and this book has worked for both of them.Although, it is a large book and takes some time to read and prepare for, once I had done that our spelling lessons took off and I saw that it was really easy after all. It has something for everyone.
Cons: a little expensive up front if you are buying for only one child, I guess
Grades Used: 3-11
We like this program because the kids don’t have to do pages of puzzles and worksheets. If they know how to spell the word it comes off of their list, and if they miss a word in their other work, we just pencil it onto their list. I’ll admit that we don’t use the curriculum exactly the way it’s instructed, but it’s so easy to tailor to your needs. I highly recommend it!
Cons: intial cost
Grades Used: 3rd
This simply did not work. After a year of thinking it was my DD, I finally decided it was the program.
Cons: Time consuming to read the manual to get started
Grades Used: 4th
I just started using Spelling Power this year with my 4th grader and I love it and so does he! It’s quick and easy to use (15 minutes max per day) and the best part is he only has to study the words he doesn’t already know how to spell. It was time consuming to figure out how to use the program, but once you read the quick start guide it’s very simple to use. I can’t wait to use it with my younger kids! It’s also a great deal–at first I thought it was pricey ($60) but then I realized it can be used for the whole family throughout their schooling.
Cons: None
Grades Used: 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th
Very please with Spelling Power, this is our third year using the program. My boys love it because they only spell the words they don’t know. My daughter loves it because she is an excellent speller and usually after the pretest doesn’t have to study many words. The value is that you can use this resource year after year, grade after grade. The student is placed at his own level (not grade) and works on the words he/she is having difficulty with. My younger son loves the 10 Steps because of the multisensory approach. Mastering a level gives the student a sense of accomplishment and the teacher sees real progress. Very pleased with this program.
Cons: expensive to start
Grades Used: 4
This is our first year using this program and I love it. It focuses on really learning how to spell and retain the information. Last year, I used another curriculum and one child was bored and the other learned the words for the test and couldn’t remember them the next day.
This year they are at different levels and they are moving at their own pace. The one has moved through an entire level in 10 weeks and the other is about half way through – but she is remembering how to spell the words.
I have built in some additional reviews just to make sure they are remembering. Sometimes we do a spelling bee where I use words they have missed – each from their own list. Sometimes, I have done an additional test on words missed in the last week. I generally on Monday will test every word missed the previous week. This extra step helps ensure they are remembering.
Cons: Expensive
Grades Used: 4, 6
This is my first year using the book. I didn’t read the book for all the ideas and helps. My boys like the fact that they only practice the ones they don’t know how to spell. If a child only misses 5 out of 18, they practice those they missed. Why practice over and over the ones you know!
Cons: NONE!!!! My kids love it! It covers all types of learners. From your visual to tangible! Spelling is my 7th graders favorite subject now.
Grades Used: 2nd -7th
My oldest daughter hated spelling until 3 years ago, when I decided to buy Spelling Power. She loves how it is set up and how hands on it can be. What she doesn’t like it that it only takes 15 min a day. She would like to do more activities to make it last longer. We retake to placement test each year to see where they are. She gets so excited when she moves up a level. I know that other people think this program makes it hard if you have more than one kid. I personally think that it makes it easier the more kids that you have. Corresponding lists on different levels all work on the same rule. You can teach one rule to everyone and then have appropriate lists for each age. We LOVE it!!
Cons: expensive up front cost if it doesn't work
Grades Used: 1st-6th...and then I quit
When we were only schooling one or two kids, this was fine to use. But once we had 3+ we were schooling, this was entirely too time consuming and tedious with 3 kids at different levels. I needed something that allowed my kids to work more independently. Also, I had boys who were great spellers and I never could find their correct level. We would spend the entire lesson TRYING to have words to learn to spell, and we felt that they weren’t really learning new concepts. I switched to Spelling Workout and MCP Phonics, and found that my kids enjoyed this more, felt there was a beginning and an end to a lesson, and enjoyed being independent in their work. We only test words that we misspelled in the activity. Spelling Power is just very difficult to use if you are schooling more than 2-3 kids. It didn’t work for our family…too much mom intensiveness.
Cons: Can be boring and repetitive if you use the book the way it is designed.
Grades Used: 2nd-8th
I used this book as a guide to see where my kids were at and to expand their spelling knowledge. My girls loved taking the spelling tests to see what grade level they were at. This book is designed with lists of words, divided by age/grade, that you give to your children to determine where to begin study. It can be used from early grade school through high school. The word lists are extensive, and the test are easy to administer and take. I consider this a very valuable resource.
Cons: The re-writing of missed words gets to be very boring for older kids so we don't do it.
Grades Used: 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th
My kids like advancing through the various levels of “Spelling Power”. I like the fact that I have purchased one book that I can use for both kids throughout their lower school and middle school years.
Cons: Some of the rules are a bit silly and can be changed at your own discrection for your child.If you want it to be fun you have to be creative.
Grades Used: 2nd & 3rd
Spelling Power is fairly easy to follow and you do not have to buy another book year after year.