Spelling, Fun, and Easy!

There are so many updates that I have swirling around in my head, but for today I will share about the love I have for All About Spelling. This program has blown me away. When I began homeschooling (officially for kindergarten) two years ago, I felt like I had one year to accomplish it all. When we were homeschooling last year I took the recommendations of all my friends who had been doing it a lot longer than I and combined them all into one curriculum. Needless to say, that was WAY too much and we were spending ALL day "doing" school instead of having fun. The one program that I did not chose based on a personal recommendation, but on my own research was All About Spelling. I cannot say enough about how thankful I am to have taken a leap of faith. But I also have thoroughly enjoyed it. It is easy for me to use as the teacher. It is interactive with tile magnets and word cards. It also is systematic (which is key for me) and thus my son has been learning spelling in ways that make sense to him. It is not a spelling test every week, but learning what the letters say and how to form words. We are starting Level 2 this year and that is where we begin to learn about "rule breakers" and they get sent to jail. We aren't there yet so I can't inform you too deeply about it, but the idea is exciting for both my son and myself.
They have just added onto their Spelling interactive programs by creating an All About Reading program. When I first read about it, I knew this was what I wanted to get for the girls. Now, my son is an amazing reader. He is incredible, reading far higher than his grade level. But to be honest, I am not sure how it happened. We started with Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. I got bored with it quickly and I think we only got to lesson 23 13. Then we moved onto just trying to read Level 1 readers and honestly I don't even recall what happened except overnight, he was a reader. As the librarian commented the other day, they sure love their books. Yes, they do! My daughter, Mary, is so intrigued to learn how to read. I had found Bob Book collections at our local Sam's Club and she requests the "shape" books to be read everyday. She is now "reading" along and finishing the sentences. But, I don't feel like I know the best way to take her from A to B so to speak. When I look at the All About Reading program, I feel like it has the answers of how I can go from A to B concisely with clear comprehension. Hopefully someday soon I can share with everyone, my love for AAR as well. :)