Spelling You See - {TOS REVIEW}

We love Spelling You See we have reviewed it before here with Captain and he is still using it. So when I was given the chance for one of the older kids to review it I was really excited. Boo actually tested in their highest level available at the moment Modern Milestones Level G. There are seven levels currently available from A to G.

What we received;

Level G Modern Milestones 2 workbooks
Level G Modern Milestones Teachers manual
1 pack of erasable pencil crayons

Level G Modern Milestones contains 36 weeks of lessons (3 lessons and 2 dictation exercises per week). Boo actually works at a slightly faster pace however I think this program would be perfect for a year long spelling study. This is how we have been working on the Level B program with Captain that we reviewed last time.

I have mentioned before that we love a traditional education and lean towards Charlotte Mason methods, which is one of the reasons we love the Spelling You See approach. Spelling You See follows the fives stages of spelling and if you click on the link it will take you to their page that explains each step.

1. Preliterate
2. Phonetic
3. Skill Development
4. Word Extension
5. Derivational Constancy

Boo is a very independent student and she has really enjoyed this program. She reads at a very high level, but sometimes doesn't feel as confident as she would like in her spelling ability. When the review for Spelling You See first came up I assumed it would be for Captain. However when we looked at what was available and completed the placement tense Boo was very excited to try a nontraditional (you know the list of spelling words - test every Friday) spelling program. She almost aced the test so I think her problem is more a lack of confidence than lack of ability. Modern Milestones Level G is designed for spellers in the word extension phase (see above). To use this program the student really needs a very good basis in spelling. The spellers study the patterns that are used to create alternate word forms especially prefixes and suffixes.

Boo really hates just learning lists of words. However, she loves learning new information. Spelling You See Modern Milestones links spelling with learning about inventions and inventors. She is learning about artists, musicians, scientists, and other people who have influenced the world since the invention of the printing press.

The program is designed in daily lessons.

Day one -

The student reads a new paragraph aloud and asks for help with any unfamiliar words. They then spend time looking for a list of base words and underlining the ones that has an ending (suffix) added. The student then copies the passage and underlines the base words in blue.

Day two-

The student again follows the steps for lesson one except this time you also underline the endings in yellow.

Day three-

Unlike day one and two which focus on copy work day three is a workshop activity. This is where the student practices whatever concept is being taught in the lesson that week. For example week one is suffixes and prefixes, week five is 'Past tense and e-drop' and week six is 'Adding -ing'.

Day four-

This is the first attempt at dictation. The passage read on day one and two is dictated (make sure to cover the left-hand page in the workbook). Each passage is found in the teachers handbook to make it easy to read the dictation. The manual says that during this first dictation you can give as much assistance as needed including spelling, punctuation, and capitalization.

Day five-

This is a second opportunity for the student to write the passage from dictation. This is a little stricter as it's the final test (kind of the the Friday spelling test). You don't help the student spell the words, instead if they ask for help you encourage them to do their best. However punctuation and capitalization can still be given. (When I do this dictation with Boo I always end a sentence by saying 'full stop' or may say 'comma' when one appears in the text. I don't however take a long time with this.

The awesome thing about this day 5 is if day 4 is done perfectly - we skip it - bonus day off !


Boo loves that she can learn spelling skills without endless word lists to memorize! She also likes that the weekly lesson is broken down into small daily chunks. Sometimes she does more than one daily lesson or not depending on her schedule. However, because each section is clearly defined she doesn't feel that she 'has' to complete more each day if she is busy.

I love that she is learning new skills to approach spelling but also learning facts about amazing people and inventions too. It's almost like spelling and history rolled into one! The other huge bonus for me is the dictation. This is something that I feel quite strongly about. I feel it is a huge skill to be able to write a passage down from dictation. My husband and I were talking about this recently and it's something that we had been wanting to focus on. So another box ticked with this program.

Improve spelling - tick
Learn new facts - tick
Practice dictation - tick

The crew had the opportunity to review 2 different levels of Spelling You See, Modern Milestones and Ancient Achievements so make sure to click on the link below to see what others thought.

As always make sure you check out Spelling You See on social media. It's a great company that will help your child to spell better with NO WORD LISTS and NO SPELLING TESTS.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SpellingYouSee
G+: https://plus.google.com/+SpellingYouSeePage/posts
Twitter: http://twitter.com/SpellingYouSee
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/SpellingYouSee/





©2011-2014 Chickensbunniesandhomeschool. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author Chickensbunniesandhomeschool.blogspot.com