This is a series of books designed to teach spelling using the Charlotte Mason method. Both British and American versions are available. Each book gives dictations out of what they describe as 'the writings of great men and women of history' using 6000 of the most frequently used words in the English language. The child studies the passage, then chooses words to focus on and study. When he/she is ready the parent dictates the passage, quickly covering any misspelled words so that thy are not committed to memory. With this method spelling is learned through the use of language rather than memorization.
Website: Spelling Wisdom
(5 Reviews)
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Contributor Reviews
Reviews are solely the opinions of the contributor.
Cons: none
Grades Used: 7 & 9
We found our LA Curriculum UNICORN! We didn't learn about this until grade 7 and 9. I called SCM and they said that as long as you complete all 4 levels by high-school graduation, it's a full LA curriculum. We are doing a lesson every day since we are getting a late start and the curriculum causes my kids to FIND the info for themselves, which teaches them to pay attention to details. It starts off super simple, but quickly increases in difficuluty. I have seen tremendous growth in their spelling, grammar usage, capitalization and punctuation. We have used so many curriculums for LA. This is our favorite.
Cons: None in my opinion
Grades Used: 3rd
I love spelling Wisdom. I have a third grade boy who loathes spelling lists. But, he loves history and literature. This curriculum is perfect for him! He will rattle off those quotes months letters. Plus he learns grammar and punctuation right along with spelling. This is one of my very favorite curriculums.
Cons: uninteresting and still rote to my 7th grade daughter, didn't feel like there was much spelling learned
Grades Used: 7
My daughter and I are kind of traditionalists and we didn't care for this program. I thought the concept was good - it's like great works of literature, dictation, handwriting and spelling all in one, but it just didn't do it for us. I had chosen this curriculum based on a recommendation from another traditional homeschooler friend, but the next year I let my daughter choose the curriculum and she chose Soaring with Spelling and really enjoyed it ('lighter').
Oops forgot to fill in the stars above 🙂
Cons: Parent must dictate on dictation day
Grades Used: 3-12
This is a natural way to learn spelling rather than memorizing words that may or may not be relevant to the child. My children (ages 9 & 12) much prefer it to the traditional way. The only drawback is the time needed for dictation once the passages get longer in the harder levels. It is not every day, though, so for us it is no big deal.