Homeschool teachers will go to great lengths to help their students overcome difficulties. Take Beverly Adams-Gordon, for example. An engineer and Montessori teacher, she left her teaching job to homeschool in an effort to solve her youngest daughter's severe spelling problems. Finding no suitable material, she thoroughly researched the subject and developed her own spelling curriculum.
So what is different?
- It's all in one book. One purchase for all years for all kids.
- A chapter on research details the most effective methods of spelling instruction.
- Complete instructions for introducing, implementing and evaluating the program. Directions are given for adapting to different learning styles and ages.
- The program takes only 15 minutes/day.
- Extensive Word Lists are based on research done after 1979 of most frequently used and misspelled words. Word lists used in most other programs are based on lists created in 1915 or 1947. Two lists are provided, with 5,000 and 12,000 words, respectively.
- General and specific placement tests start each student right where he needs to be.
- Program is based on phonics and spelling rules, not phonics alone.
- Review is built into the program which uses a "spiral" approach (repeated and spaced review) similar to the approach Saxon takes in its problem sets.
- Directions for over 100 games and activities are included which concentrate on specific skills and make spelling more interesting. Most are individual or partner games, but some can be played by up to 6 players.
Now available in the 5th edition, Spelling Power retains all of its award-winning effective procedures, but it is more user-friendly with larger type and more graphics. Easier to read and less intimidating, there is also improved organization of resources. The 5th edition Spelling Power package includes access to the Teacher's Online Resources on the publisher's website and an updated Quick Start video seminar. The online video provides a personal step-by-step introduction to using the Spelling Power program featuring author Beverly Adams-Gordon who explains each step as "real" homeschool moms and students demonstrate. The Teacher's Online Resources includes printable forms, searchable word lists, charts, printable Activity Task Cards, bonus activities, and the Digital Spelling Tutor which allows you to create spelling lists for multiple children, offers learning, drill and testing activities, tracks several children's progress, allows you to create and print progress reports, and can be used with any spelling word list.
Spelling Power provides the most thorough coverage of spelling that we have seen. This one is a "classic."