Sep 302009
 

If you’re looking for a Bible study that your 8-12 year old can do alone, the Discover 4 Yourself Inductive Bible Studies for Kids are  a good choice. Written by Kay Arthur of Precepts Ministries, these studies are solid introductions to forming a lifelong Bible study habit.

discover 4 yourself bible studies
There are many titles in the series covering the gamut of Old Testament and New Testament books, people, and big ideas. My daughter has already completed the God, What’s Your Name? and the Joseph, God’s Superhero titles. She enjoys writing her answers and thoughts in the consumable workbooks.

Because each book has from 25-30 lessons, it generally it is a five to six week course. And each day’s lesson can be completed within 15 minutes. Since the books are not terribly expensive and they cover only a short period of time, they are easy to try out. If you like the format, then you can buy more titles. Although you can see some chronological progression, you don’t have to do them in any particular order. They are each a stand-alone Bible study.

  • How to Study Your Bible for Kids
  • God, What’s Your Name?
  • Genesis 01-02: God’s Amazing Creation
  • Genesis 03-10: Digging up the Past
  • Genesis 11-25: Abraham God’s Brave Explorer
  • Genesis 26-36: Extreme Adventures With God
  • Genesis 37-50: Joseph, God’s Superhero
  • Wrong Way Jonah
  • Daniel 01-06: You’re a Brave Man, Daniel!
  • Daniel 07-12: Fast-Forward to the Future
  • John 01-10: Jesus in the Spotlight
  • John 10-16: Jesus: Awesome Power
  • John 17-21: Jesus: To Eternity and Beyond!
  • James: Boy, Have I Got Problems
  • Revelation 1-7: Bible Prophecy for Kids
  • Revelation 8-22: A Sneak Peek into the Future

Each Bible study has a narrative theme that ties the book together. For example, in the Joseph, God’s Superhero study, the theme was creating a comic book and having it published in New York City. The theme of God, What’s Your Name ? was a secret agent mission. The daily lesson opens with the narrative and leads into the Bible study. My ten year old daughter finds the theme a bit childish and a distraction from the meat of the Bible study. In fact, she says the themes have too many characters that are hard to remember. Despite that criticism, overall she enjoys these Bible studies. Sometimes she just skips the story part and jumps right to the Bible part.

There are a few black and white line illustrations in the books, some related to the theme and others to the Bible stories. The student is meant to write his answers directly in the book. In fact, one of the things I really like about these studies is how it teaches students to study the Bible by marking up Bible passages. For example, in one lesson Genesis 22 was printed in the Observation Worksheets at the back of the book, and the instructions were to mark key words accordingly:

  • The LORD Will Provide – underline in blue
  • Love (draw a red heart around)
  • Obey (circle in orange)
  • Worship (circle in purple)

Once the passage is marked in this way, it’s easier to see the principles in the text and then answer the fill in the blank questions about the passage. These marking assignments are quite common in the Discovery 4 Yourself Bible studies.

discover 4 yourself bible studies puzzle pageSometimes there are puzzles to work such as crosswords, scrambled words, or ciphers. Other times the assignment is to sketch an illustration. Many of the questions are open ended applications to the student’s life, “When have you felt this way?” or “What does God want you to do?”

Despite their being many Bible passages printed in the book, you will still need a New American Standard or New Inductive Study Bible to complete the studies. We tried with other translations and found it most frustrating. So make sure that you’ve got one of those versions before buying a Discover 4 Yourself Bible study. Besides colored pens or pencils, there’s nothing else you need to complete these studies.

Sep 292009
 

     It is my belief that our homeschool adventure is just as much for me as it is for my children. I do not believe that I called myself to homeschool. I only answered the call. I believe it is what has been planned for our family since the blueprints were drawn up.

      May I share with you why I believe this? Deut. 6:5-9 says:

 “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”

  Kidsconstruction

      The summer before we started homeschooling, I came across this scripture again. I am certain I had read it in times past. But that summer it hit me like a demolition ball. You know, the kind they use to tear down a building that is of no use, on a site where a new building will be built in the near future. That summer the Lord spoke to me through this scripture. It was one of the many ways He used to confirm to me that He had indeed spoken. I did not believe I could choose another path. I believe I was being let in on the blueprints of my life, because that is what I was seeking. Of course, I didn’t see the big picture completely, and the same is true today. Yet, I knew enough of Him, to trust Him, even though I didn’t understand completely.  

      I say homeschool adventure with purpose. Like building a house, there are moments of great excitement. As you see the foundation being laid, and can imagine the beautiful structure, the finished product, standing firm on that foundation. Yet, at other times, there are moments of great dissatisfaction, and grief, as you realize, that wall, the one right before your face shouldn’t be there. Knowing full well, that it is going to hurt to take it down, but it must be done. To accomplish the end result, it must come down.        

     Life is filled with many of these days, and homeschool can be a great source for both. Yet on either day, we must remember to praise the Great Architect. The One Who designed and sees the whole beautiful picture.

      Meditating on this fact gives me strength and peace, even in the chaos and struggle, of what seems to be some days, mundane. Everything in my life has had one sole purpose. “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” According to Romans, homeschooling is no exception. The sole purpose of every life is to be more like Jesus. That is… our good. To love the Lord our God with all that is in us, and to enjoy Him every breath we take.

slowconstructionzone      Return now for a moment and think back to the previous years of your homeschool adventure. How were you different, where have you grown, in what ways do you look more like Jesus? After all, that is the final outcome of your good, is it not? Of course, we all have areas of struggle. Most days I feel as if I have a neon sign attached to my forehead that reads: Your browser may not support display of this image.   Be Careful, Construction Zone. Although I fail day in and day out, it is still my belief this is part of the whole big beautiful picture. 2 Cor. 12:9 says this: “And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” Today I choose rest in the promise that His strength is made perfect in my weakness. Construction Zone, demolition balls and all, this is the day that He has made, a day your eyes have yet to see. A smile you have yet to give. A breath you have yet to breath. His goodness waiting, which you have yet to taste. Mercy is new this morning, and grace abounds. Draw near to Him, and find out what phase of the blueprints you will be working on today.

     And remember, the end result is your good. What a beautiful result that will be. “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jer. 29:11                                                                                              

Written by Loni, blogging about construction zones, our homeschool adventure, and beautiful results at Hearts in Training.

 Posted by at 8:28 pm
Sep 282009
 
My son says, "I like the inventions and guessing what they are.  I can't wait for the next one.  Also, they don't take very long."

My son says, "I like the inventions and guessing what they are. I can't wait for the next one. Also, they don't take very long."

Reminiscant of the one room school house, where the teacher would write a sentence to be corrected on the blackboard, The Great Editing Adventure series provides adventures that reviews grammar daily in this similar fashion.

There are 3 adventure stories in vol. 1 that review grammar, writing mechanics, spelling, vocabulary, finding synonyms and dictionary use.  Each day you read a new sentence as you write it on a board, or use the student workbook (which I prefer) that already has the sentence written for you.  Then my child takes a few minutes to correct the errors.  I like to give the number of errors to look for.  And, if it’s a hard one, I will give them a hint.

The Great Editing Adventure is great for daily drills because they are a quick way to develop editing skills in a fun manner.  They also provide the opportunity to talk about grammar, spelling and writing in a contextual way.  My children start caring about the story and are eager to find the mistakes!

The added bonus of synonyms and vocabulary words is easy to use and all-in-all this takes about 10 minutes a day.  I recommend this for children beginning in grade 4 or above, with a prior grammar background.  You can also alternate years doing a grammar text one year and Great Editing Adventure as review the following year.

Someone pointed out to me a long time ago that there is only so much grammar to learn.  Many grammar texts simply repeat the same thing over and over which makes for “busy work”.  Learning grammar is simply preparing a child to speak and write correctly.  I like to alternate our focus each year between grammar and writing, and Great Editing Adventure is a great tool to help me achieve this goal.

Click here for a sample teacher page.

Click here for a sample student workbook page.

Written by Brenda, a classically eclectic mother of five.  You can find her blogging at Tie That Binds Us about her homeschooling journey and family traditions.

Sep 252009
 

This week’s guest writer is Richele from www.underthegoldenappletree.blogspot.com.  Look for more articles by Richele coming in the near future!

kumon1At a Glance….
Grade level reviewed:  3-5 year olds
Use as:   supplement
Instruction time:  low
Prep time:   low
Cost:  $6.95 per workbook

Kumon workbooks are based on a method created by, Toru Kumon, who originally developed these books to help his own son.  The Kumon method promises success by allowing children to master skills in small bites.  The workbooks are designed as a supplement to a child’s regular curriculum. 
The book is divided into several short lessons that should take no more than twenty minutes to complete.  Kumon is full of colorful assignments that will surely engage your child.  In the beginning of the book there are clear instructions on how to proceed with the lessons.   The lessons are step by step and move at a fairly slow rate to encourage true mastery of the topic.  Topics for the age group of 3, 4, and 5 year olds include:  uppercase letters, lowercase letters, drawing, cutting, pasting, and tracing. 

kumon2I purchased the workbooks based on letters, cutting and pasting for my four year old.  The letters workbooks focus primarily on letter formation.  The letters the child practices on are nice large letters contained in box to make it easy to see and follow.  There is a logical progression of practicing letters from straight lines then leading up to letters with curved lines.  My daughter loved this colorful workbook and asked me to get it out daily.  The size of the letters made it easy to practice and gave her confidence when writing her letters. 

kumon3Is there a preschooler who doesn’t love to cut and paste?  The workbooks, My First Book of Cutting and My First Book of Pasting, were a huge hit.  The books are filled with colorful illustrations that beg to be worked with.  Again, each lesson is fashioned in logical order from easy to do to more challenging assignments.  With each lesson her confidence and enthusiasm grew!  I had to stop her from doing the whole workbook in one day.  Even my older kids found the books engaging and wanted to help their little sister out. 
If you are looking for a supplement or some fun activities for your preschooler, I encourage you to give Kumon a try.  Kumon books are carried at local book stores and online at Amazon.com.  The workbooks range in grade level so be sure to check out books for your older students, I know I am. 
 
Written by Richele, classical and Charlotte Mason inspired, homeschooling mom, to four reflections of God’s love. 

Sep 252009
 

Lisa WhelchelWhen my husband and I decided to homeschool our children, I did what most new homeschooling moms do – I got online and started researching curriculum. Early on in my search I began to realize that there were many different philosophies of homeschooling. Up to that point, I honestly had not heavily pondered my own educational philosophy. I was simply trying to find a reading curriculum that would work well for my five year old son. As I began to read the vast amounts of online information about packaged curriculums, classical education, Charlotte Mason, unschooling, and a dozen other methods and philosophies, I soon became overwhelmed.

Somewhere in my searching I stumbled upon a gem of a book titled, So You’re Thinking About Homeschooling: Fifteen Families Show How You Can Do It. I didn’t know it at the time, but this book would prove to be an incredibly helpful tool in those early months of sorting out my approach to home education. Written by Lisa Whelchel, child star of the hit series Facts of Life and now a veteran homeschooling mom, So You’re Thinking About Homeschooling takes you on a delightful tour of fifteen different families’ homeschools.

Each chapter covers a different type of homeschool or educational philosophy and is written as if you’re having a conversation with another homeschooling parent right in their own home. You’ll meet moms (and at times, dads and grandparents) from almost every approach imaginable – Charlotte Mason, classical, traditional, unit study, delight-directed, and the list goes on. You’ll also hear from families in unique situations, such as grandparents who are homeschooling their grandchildren, a mom whose son has ADHD, a family who lives and travels in their motorhome, a single mom, a large family with children of many ages, a military family, and many others. No matter what their approach to homeschooling, each “character” has a positive, can-do attitude toward your ability to educate your children at home.

Mrs. Whelchel’s writing style is warm and encouraging as well as informative. Each chapter stands alone, so you can pick it up and read one family’s story in just a few minutes. You’ll come away from this book with a good understanding of the many different ways people approach their children’s education. Even now in my fourth year of homeschooling, I occasionally turn to this book to soak in a few moments of encouragement.

So You’re Thinking About Homeschooling is available through many online book distributors and can often be found in public libraries. I hope that you’ll enjoy it and benefit from it as much as I have.

Written by Shannon, who can be found blogging about her own family’s homeschooling adventures at Song of My Heart.

Sep 242009
 

I used to think that teaching children to read was easy. Well, I thought that after my oldest learned to read. We used a very simple phonics text, I told him how to blend the letter sounds to make words, he did it, and that was all there was to it. Then it was just a matter of learning a few extra sounds. All this happened BEFORE kindergarten.

Enter second child. Well, maybe it’s not as easy as I thought. She was a little bit tougher. She WANTED to learn but just didn’t seem to get how to blend those sounds together. Until she just got it. She didn’t take off quite as quickly as my oldest had after that, so I got some extra workbooks to reinforce the phonics that she was learning in another simple phonics book.

That must be what people mean when they talk about it being difficult to teach a child to read, or so I thought. Until….

I tried to teach my younger son to read. I was relaxed. I knew from teaching my daughter to read that there seemed to be a time when blending sounds just clicks. My plan was to keep trying until he finally got it. But he wasn’t getting it. This is my wiggly boy. He was not particularly interested in learning to read either. I didn’t want to push, but I couldn’t even get him to look at the page of either of the two phonics texts I used with my older two children. I began to get concerned when he couldn’t consistently read “cat’ at the end of kindergarten. I probably shouldn’t have worried, but I did.

Happy PhonicsI then began a search for a more “fun” phonics program. I thought maybe he needed all the bells and whistles. But none of the expensive flashy phonics programs seemed like they were worth the price tag to me. I also tend to be drawn to curricula that is more simple. It was in my search for something fun, that I found a program that was both fun and simple without a huge expense. I found Happy Phonics.

When you purchase Happy Phonics, you are purchasing a small user guide and a thick stack of games and flash cards printed on brightly colored card stock. The games start with simple letter recognition and letter sounds and progress through advanced phonics. After cutting (and cutting!) out the first few games, I was eager to try them with my son. His response was good. I’m not going to exaggerate and say that he was begging to play the games, but those games were the first things that got him to actually focus on the words.

Blending letters to make words finally clicked with him while playing a game consisting of a little house with a chimney. In the window of the house the last two letters of a word show through. Next to the window a column of beginning letters is advanced up and out the chimney of the house. I could never get him to read through lists of words in word families until I started using that house game.

This program is not magic. In fact, he might would have been able to read just as soon using the other programs. But the other programs were torture to him (and me). He finally was able to pay attention when I started using Happy Phonics.

One year later he can read phonics books. I’m still using Happy Phonics alongside other phonics readers and workbooks. He enjoys the games and is willing to practice his reading for much longer when he’s playing than when he’s reading columns of words in a book. I am so thankful that I found Happy Phonics. It is certainly not the phonics program that I would recommend to everyone, but it has been extremely beneficial for my wiggly son.

Happy Phonics can be purchased from Love to Learn.

Written by Kristen, classical homeschool mom of 4. You can read her blog at A Day in the Life.

Sep 222009
 

It isn’t a book my son picked off the shelf. The plain red cover is worn, stained, and wrapped with tape.  It looks uninspiring, but after the first chapter we are both captivated by the amazing story of two brothers.

47008: Landmark Books: The Wright Brothers

The Wright Brothers- Pioneers of American Aviation by Quentin Reynolds was originally published in 1950 by Random House for the Landmark Series. This series contains some of the best children’s history books I’ve come across. (In fact, Raquel Werk recommends beginning a Principle Approach study with one, The Landing of the Pilgrims.)

It would be simple to use The Wright Brothers as a foundation for the science and history of  flight. My son and I discussed those things, but I observed something even more wonderful.

While reading about the insatiable curiosity of Wilbur and Orville Wright, my son’s eyes sparked with understanding. Ideas tumbled out and half grins flashed often.

Now he knows exactly where those old, history books are on the shelf.

For more information:

Our small collection of Landmark Books is from library sales and second-hand stores, but many have been republished. Valerie’s Living Books has more information about available titles and current versions.

What books have captivated the imagination of your children lately?

Written by Renae Deckard, Biblical Principled mother of 3. Find Renae’s reflections about homeschool and family life at Life Nurturing Education.

Sep 212009
 

Wow.  We just finished reading Bruchko, the story of missionary Bruce Olsen, and I can truly say it’s an amazing book!

So many times, missionary stories can be rather dry and difficult to trudge through.  Not so with Bruchko – we were enthralled from beginning to end!  The excitement of the wonderfully woven true tale kept us on our toes.   Witnessing the perseverance of this young missionary who followed God’s call in spite of a lack of financial support was inspiring.  But most of all, seeing God’s work in the Motilone people of South America made our jaws drop.

You meet Bruce Olson as a young teenager as he learns to love and follow the Lord with all his heart and with passion.  You then follow this determined young man at the age of nineteen into South America with little support either financially or emotionally from family or missionary boards.  You watch him struggle time and time again, ready to give up so many times, as the Lord continually provides and assures him that he is doing His will.  You rejoice with him as he finally reaches a godless, harsh tribe of people with the Truth of Jesus.  And you walk a path of many highs and lows over the next several years of his life with the Motilones.  Most importantly, you clearly see God’s hand in every event throughout the book.

What’s most unique about Bruce Olson’s mission work is his rather unconventional method of bringing Jesus to the people.  Unlike so many missionaries who tend to “Amercanize” unreached people by bring their customs, songs, medicine, clothes and such to the people, Bruce instead helps the Motilones find Jesus in their own culture.  It’s amazing to watch the transformation!

I cannot tell you how much my children and I enjoyed this book!  It’s published by YWAM Publishing, who also put out another favorite series of mine – Christian Heroes: Then and Now.  Two of my favorite being:

Photobucket Photobucket

For those of you who have very young children, you should be aware that there are many things in Bruchko that might scare them.  Death, war, disease and very poor living conditions are not tiptoed over.  I read the book with a nine year old and twelve year old with no misgivings at all.

I’ve already offered to lend my copy out to a friend, but you’d better believe that I put my name on the inside cover.  This is one book I definitely want back!

-Cindy, eclectically Charlotte Mason mom of 3.  You can find her blogging at Our Journey Westward and Shining Dawn Books.

Sep 182009
 

PlantsI absolutely love to find products that help with our hands on approach of learning. I’ve come across another wonderful product from Evan Moor publishing called ScienceWorks for Kids Series. Full of hands on activities, projects, experiments, and much more.

It includes:

  • Step by step instructions with illustrations to help you teach each lesson quickly and easily.
  • Record Sheets
  • Logbook forms
  • Mini books to cut out, assemble and color
  • Picture cards to help in reinforcing the lessons
  • Reproducible pages so you can use the book over and over again
  • Experiments
  • Reading resources-books to help tie in each lesson
  • Movie resources
  • Worksheets for reinforcement
  • And more
Booklet Activities to Color

Booklet Activities to Color

What I love about this curriculum is the log book. It mentions it’s a classroom log but we used it after each lesson to write down what we remembered about that lesson after it was completed. For us there was no wrong or right answer. It was to demonstrate the knowledge they received during that time period. Something they can go back to later for review.

Sample How My Body Works Worksheet Activity

Sample How My Body Works Worksheet Activity

After reading each concept, my children loved reading the mini-books and assembling them. This brought the concept to their level of understanding. There is also a lot of opportunities during each lesson for group discussions while making hands on activities and experiments.

This series comes in three different age groups

Grades K-1

Animals
Plants
My Body
Weather
The Earth

Grades 1-3

Exploring Space
Animals with Backbones
Animals without Backbones
How Your Body Works
Geology
Plants
Habitats
Simple Machines
Energy: Light, Heat, & Sound
Water

Grades 4-6

Weather
Human Body
Simple Chemistry
Energy
Planet Earth
Living Things

Some project examples for How Your Body Works-

656265_sk_lgMake a Book About Me, Make a collage, five senses walk, skeleton puzzle, inside my body, match the smells, name that taste and much, much more.

Experiments include:

Looking at your skin through a magnified glass, Fingerprints, lots of five senses experiments, respiration model, counting your heartbeats, bones need calcium experiment and much, much more.

Some experiment examples for Plants-
Seed exploration, plant parts dissection, growing seeds in a bag, sunlight experiment, and much more.

 

Learning About Roots

Learning About Roots

You can use these books as a stand alone to teach these concepts or they are easily used to supplement what you are already using. We use lap booking while using these books and it really helps build more understanding and allows more hands on activities to help my children grasp the concepts being taught. I would highly recommend these books for those that like to color, cut, paste, do experiments and overall love to work with their hands while learning.

To benefit the most out these books you will need to purchase extra items to do the experiments. Each concept tells you what you will need to buy and gives you a few different things per concept so you have things to choose from or you can do all of them. I felt they were all inexpensive to purchase or you may already have the items in your home. There is also a list of books to help enhance the study and should be available at your local library.

Sample Plants Lesson

Sample Plants Lesson

You can purchase any of these great science books here

Written by Lynn Pitts, mom of 3, from Big Sky Country Montana. You can read more about our life at Learning by Living.

Sep 172009
 

Spelling Power coverWhen we first started homeschooling, spelling was one subject that I thought I could easily handle with a workbook.  We trudged through  many years of Abeka spelling books and then switched to Spelling Workout for a few years with the youngest boys. By the time I reached my third child, spelling lists and tests had begun to try my patience.  It seemed silly for them to be studying words for whole week that they already knew how to spell. It did not seem like an efficient use of time so I started to look for some new method of working on spelling.

In my research I discovered Spelling Power and I ordered the book. I tried to look at the cost of the book as an investment, an investment in the last spelling system I would ever have to purchase. Turns out it was an investment in building confident spellers.

The system is easy to start at any age, ability, or time of year using the Quick Start Steps in the beginning of the book. The Spelling Power system uses a placement test to place each child at the appropriate level in the book. Your child then starts working on a short list of words by pre-testing the next list in the book and eliminating any words they already know. So each list of words is made even more manageable and your child only studies words he is unfamiliar with each week. A thorough study of spelling is done in 15 minutes per day.

Spelling Power uses the 5,000 most frequently used and misspelled words. Each Spelling Power level is organized around spelling rules. Your child is memorizing the spelling rule as he goes along. DSCN7315For instance you can have a list built on the rule,  “Consonant letters are often doubled after a short vowel in short vowel words such as egg, fluff, sniffle, and mess”.  Each day that you work on this list, you review the rule and work on a few more words. Most rules are covered in multiple levels so you will have plenty of review of each rule as you work from year to year.

Each word shows up on several lists so there is also a built in review. This is something that really drew me to Spelling Power. The ability to test retention in a painless way is already designed into their spelling lists. There is little chance of your child only learning a word once for a test and then forgetting it.

The Spelling Power study plan is based on providing various means of getting the word imprinted in the brain using a preset method each day. Each day’s activities starts with having the child pronounce the word correctly with the assumption that many times a child misspells a word because he is not pronouncing it properly. The method is the same for all ages from the youngest to the oldest. Once you learn the routine, your spelling is the same from year to year.

Daily Study SheetThe daily routine goes something like this and even though it sounds like a lot, it only takes a few minutes to do with a short list.
*Pronunciation-say the word properly out loud
*Cover and Spell-write the word, cover it, write it again, check it
*Tactile Spelling-use your finger to trace the word on some textured surface like sandpaper or rough clothing
*Visualize Word-close your eyes and mentally spell the word on your mind’s “chalkboard”

After this process, you then complete a short activity to cement the spelling into the child’s memory. The Appendix of the Spelling Power book lists dozens of short spelling activities. Each year that we used this book, I would go through the lists and pick appropriate activities for the boys to choose from each day to study their spelling words. These activities are in addition to the process listed above.

I made index cards with each of my approved activities and they would choose from the stack of cards how to study each day. Here are a few we used over the years. (Please note that you can purchase a whole box of spelling activity cards to go along with your Spelling Power book if you don’t want to make up your own cards.)
*Write your words with dry erase markers on the window or mirror.
*Write your words on the sidewalk with chalk.
*Use the Scrabble letters, sticker letters, or a labelmaker to spell your words.
*Pronounce and spell your words into a tape recorder.
*String your words with the letter beads.
*Write your words in sentences.
*Use graph paper and make a “crossword” with your spelling words.

The whole spelling process took ten to fifteen minutes a day. I know that seems like we did a lot in a short period of time but with an average of five words to study each day, proper training, and having your activities organized you really are very efficient.

No more mindless workbooks or studying words they already knew how to spell. Spelling became easier and less stressful for all involved.

The book provides all the spelling lists from beginner to advanced in one volume. All the master worksheets are provided using various line spacing so you can print off appropriate pages for young and old.

Now that my boys are finished with Spelling Power and in high school I rarely need to correct their spelling. If they happen to misspell a word, I can usually point it out to them and have them correct it. The rules learned in Spelling Power have trained them well enough to get even complicated spellings correct or at least really close so they can look it up in the dictionary.

This multi-level, multi-year program is self-paced and a great value for families. It was the last spelling program we ever purchased.

Written by Barb-Harmony Art mom.  She also blogs at http://www.harmonyartmom.blogspot.com