My Review of Sequential Spelling

The only spelling program we have ever used in our six years of homeschooling has been Sequential Spelling by Don McCabe. I'm really not even sure how I first heard about it, but I'm SO glad I did. That's why I'm telling you about it now!

Instead of giving children a list of unrelated words to memorize and then forget, the spelling lists from Sequential Spelling builds from easy to advanced words such as from all, tall, stall, install, installment, and finally installation. This helps the student learn the patterns and rules of the English language simply by repetition. Believe me, if I had to explain why some words are spelled the way they are my children would be doomed.

But with Sequential Spelling I hardly get asked why words are spelled a certain way. Because the words they are spelling are built from easier words they've already spelled, it simply makes sense to them.

The way our lessons go is this...

We take one sheet of regular notebook paper and fold it in half long-ways. We do lesson 1 for the week on one side of the folded paper then flip it over to do lesson 2. Then we unfold the paper, flip it over, and fold it in half long-ways again. (Lessons 1 and 2 are now folded inside.) We do lesson 3 on the first folded side and lesson 4 on the other. This way we can do all four weekly lessons on one sheet of paper. (Or, you can purchase a Student Response Book for only $3.95)

I say the word they are to spell, hence they 'hear' it first. Then they write it (or 'see' it). Once they have written it down they spell it outloud to me, or 'say' it. If they are right, we move on to the next word. If they are wrong, they correct it and respell it to me (until they have it correct), then we move on to the next word. Our daily lessons take a total of no more than 10 minutes.

Before we started Sequential Spelling with Baby Girl a few years ago I was afraid she was going to continue to be an atrocious speller. (Did I spell that correctly? LOL!) I had no idea how to teach her to spell, but I knew if I didn't find a way that this is one thing that would embarass her and hold her back in so many areas her entire life. Thank God, literally, for Sequential Spelling. Baby Girl now loves spelling and in fact, says that it's her favorite subject. It has given her such a confidence boost and she is so proud of herself when she correctly spells big, difficult words with little trouble.

You can purchase Sequential Spelling here for only $12.95.