Our Journey With All About Spelling

by Florence Brooks

I would like to share with you a few vignettes from my All About Spelling journey...


Before we began with Level One a few weeks ago, my eleven-year-old son was quite down. Last year he scored on the first grade level in spelling. That information, combined with his own "fear" of not getting it right, has resulted in a huge wall with his spelling that we've been trying to overcome for the last year.

We've been through many materials. I think All About Spelling is our ninth official curriculum. Up until now, I have felt spelling was just an exercise in "busywork" for him. Regardless of the method, my son didn't connect with the information. That is, until now.

When we reached the step in Level One where the child learns how to decide whether to use a k or ck at the end of a word, my son—who had been in the doldrums about the whole spelling thing—just lit up. He looked at me. Wrote a few words down. And with a suprised look in his eyes, said, "I think I've learned something here!"

Since then, every step has been one more confidence builder. He's begun to scale that wall he built over the last year.

One of my other sons was asking me how to spell a word the other day and before I could respond, my once "fearful" speller blurted out the answer.

We just began Level Two last week. As we reviewed all we had learned in Level One, my son looked at me and said, "You know, I really like this material, Mom. I'm really learning how to spell."

So, thank you, Marie. Keep those new levels coming!