Spelling is a subject I haven’t worked on much with my first grader, so when I heard that I would have the chance to review the new program Spelling You See, I was immediately curious as to how my son would do with a homeschool spelling curriculum! After taking a brief placement quiz, I determined that Spelling You See: Jack and Jill (Level B) was the right level for him, and that is the program level we have been able to try for the past several weeks.
There are 2 products for Level B that you can purchase, including the Student Pack and the Instructor’s Handbook. The Student Pack for this level includes 2 workbooks (Part 1 and Part 2), as well as some colored pencils and a Guide to Handwriting. We chose this level because my son is able to focus on a worksheet for a short amount of time, knows the letter sounds, is able to write, and is a strong beginning reader. However, he is not able to write 2-3 sentences comfortably and has no experience with spelling practice, so he has very poor spelling skills at this point. This indicated to me that he was not ready for Level C (Wild Tales).
Each workbook has 18 weeks worth of lessons (which is easy to divide into 5 days of lessons per week in just a few minutes per day). This totals 36 weeks of instruction, which is typical of a regular school year. You can expect this to be a year-long spelling curriculum!
Spelling You See: Jack and Jill (Level B) – Part 1
We are working on Part 1 right now. This portion of the Spelling You See homeschool spelling program is meant for students working in the phonetic stage of spelling.
Each day, my son completes 2 pages of work. The first page has him read a familiar nursery rhyme (which is the same for 5 exercises in a row, which is perfect for 5 times a week finishing a specific nursery rhyme/lesson number). Next, it gives him some sort of task to do. For example, he might have to underline rhyming words in the rhyme or find all of the commas in the passage. It helps him to be more aware of what he is seeing in the familiar words that he may read easily without paying much attention otherwise. Next, he has a bit of copywork to do from the rhyme.
On page 2, he has been practicing writing different letters and then I give him a spelling test based on a specific sound (short o, short i, etc) where I dictate the words to him and he writes them in the provided boxes. This has been neat for us for many reasons. It gives him a chance to practice his penmanship, which he desperately needs to be doing because he doesn’t write for fun or practice any time other than schooltime. Also, it allows him to attempt to spell words that he is already comfortable with and has probably seen and used many times.
He is having a hard time with some letters and remembering what they are supposed to look like, such as capital J or lowercase A. This gives us an opportunity to work on his lettering. He also has a difficult time deciding whether a c or a k is making the /k/ sound in words. My daughter (his older sister) is such a natural speller, so actually working on spelling with my son has been a new experience for me! It’s neat being part of the process and helping him to learn using the Spelling You See program.
Spelling You See: Jack and Jill (Level B) – Part 2
As the program goes on, Part 2 switches gears a bit. It is geared toward students in the Skill Development Stage, and the lesson format and lessons are changed from Part 1 to reflect this. It starts using a method called “chunking” in which they find different patterns in what they are reading. It still utilizes nursery rhymes, so they still have a familiar passage to refer to while doing this more challenging work.
The weeks’ lessons here include chunking and copywork, and then later in the week your student has the opportunity to draw a picture or write their own story about the rhyme. On the last lesson, they practice chunking and then must write the rhyme from dictation. I hope that my son will be ready for this work by the time we are done with Part 1, because it looks fun but far from where he is at right now! The Part 1 workbook seems to provide a ton of preliminary practice, so I’m sure he’ll be up to that level in a few more months.
Spelling You See: Jack and Jill (Level B) – Instructor’s Handbook
This guide is particularly good at breaking down the lessons even more to show exactly what skills are being worked on during the lesson. If you have to report to your state or district with specifics like this, you’ll especially enjoy this feature because it is very thorough.
For folks that are new to the term and instruction of “chunking” (like me!), there is a Guide to Chunking included and it really breaks it down simply for the instructor. There’s also a section with ideas for “No Rule Day” that give great suggestions to get your student’s creative juices flowing in 10 minutes or so.
Of course, you’ll also find an Answer Key for all lessons, as well as a comprehensive glossary and bibliography to refer to.
More Information
The Spelling You See products are meant for elementary-aged students, or as remedial work for older students. However, each level is not based on a grade range or suggested age. Rather, it is based on their current spelling skills. For more detailed information, including questions to ask prior to placing your student in a specific level, see the placement guidelines on the Getting Started page.
Pricing varies a bit on each level, but for Spelling You See: Jack and Jill (Level B), the Instructor’s Handbook is priced at $16, while the Student Pack is $30 and includes 2 student workbooks, a pack of erasable colored pencils, and a Guide to Handwriting for you and your student to reference throughout the coursework.
My Thoughts
I’m happy to have had a chance to review this program with my 1st grade son. We’ve both learned a lot about spelling instruction, and I’ve been pleased with the progress he has made in a very short time.
Before this program, I had never worked on dictation or spelling lists with him. Now, he knows what to expect because it is a predictable program. For my son, that’s a big deal. He thrives on routine.
Now, his handwriting has improved, he is noticing the spelling of words more, and he is able to write what he is hearing. Spelling You See teaches to many different learning strengths and abilities, and works with repetition and familiarity that make it more enjoyable to use.
We will continue to use it for the rest of the program! I am excited to see how his skills grow and his spelling improves. This is a great way to prepare him for the more rigorous writing demands of 2nd grade next year!
Jessica says
We just started using Spelling you See this week after testing revealed a less than stellar spelling score for my second grader. We are liking the program. Here’s hoping that it actually helps him spell!
Jessica recently posted…Best of Both Worlds: Guided Independent Travel with Tour by Locals