Sequential Spelling Review
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Spelling is something I have not been the most consistent with in our homeschool. My oldest has not done much of it at all. I wanted to try something new to work on his spelling this year. I have heard about Sequential Spelling a few times in the past, so I decided to look into it some more. Sequential Spelling was created by the AVKO Educational Research Foundation. They agreed to let me try out their spelling program for free in exchange for a review here.
Sequential Spelling teaches spelling in Word Families. Their word lists have lists of words that relate and build on each other using patterns. They don’t stay with simple words but think that anyone that can spell at can ask spell cat, scat, flat, pat, rat, batter, flatter, rattle, etc. AVKO stands for Audio-Visual-Kinesthetic-Oral. Each day students are given spelling tests and they learn the words as they take the tests. Â They don’t need to study or memorize the words.
The students are given their tests or word lists orally using the word in a sentence. They write the word, then are told right away if the word was spelled correctly or not so they can correct their words. We do ours on a dry erase board and they can correct it immediately. The lists are not based on grade level but go from easy to advanced within each list. I love that they do it this way because it is giving my kids confidence that they can spell bigger words.
They recommend that everyone start at level one, but they can be accelerated as needed for older kids. They also have a pretest to see where your child is.
They do not teach spelling rules in Sequential Spelling. The rules are learned naturally and automatically as they progress through the word lists. However, they do have separate materials to use to teach the rules if you want to. Instead the emphasis of the program is on learning patterns of the English language. They learn root words and words they may not have heard otherwise.
They have teacher manuals as well as student companion books that you can have your kids write their lists in. There are also DVD-Roms with practice software you can load onto your computer. Or they have a great FREEÂ app for practicing the spelling lists, too! We love good educational apps. We have just been using the teacher manuals and it works great that way. They cost just $15 for each level.
We have had a really good experience with Sequential Spelling. My kids enjoy it and I like the simplicity of it. It is definitely a good one to look into if you are looking for spelling options for your homeschool!
Looks like a good concept. I’m going to look into this program.
What is the name of the app? It is not listed as AVKO, SS, Sequential Spelling, Wave 3?
I called AVKO years ago about the app. I was told that it wasn’t their app, and that wave 3 ripped off their Sequential Spelling program. At that time they had to take him to court. They agreed to let him sell their program, but he stole it.