I am a "right-brained" 47 year old mom
teaching a "right-brained" 11 year old
boy (who has never spelled well) and a
"left-brained" 8 year old girl
(who has had little problem spelling
her whole school experience)
SIMULTANEOUSLY.
We are on Day 30 and already I can see
the light coming on for my son.
I love that each word is corrected and
discussed before the next word is
called. That has made all the difference
for my son. He finally gets to feel
successful as a speller! He has no
problem with math or science and loves
to read but spelling has always been a
challenge for him.
I really needed all that advice on how
to present the words too. I was a
computer pattern maker in my career -
not a teacher-type - so I need all the
cool tips! It has made this year flow
much better for us. Both children beg
for Sequential Spelling first each day
that we home school.
You might suggest to those selling this
curriculum that they really suggest
buying the same number of Student
Response books as students. I bought one
Response book with the intention of
allowing the right-brained child to use
the book and the other to use notebook
paper. I thought I was saving but I
realized that the Response book keeps
all the lists together in one tidy book.
My daughter has no problem numbering her
paper and staying in numerical sequence
but I knew my son could not manage that
kind of task. I will get the other book
when I return to The Home school
Gathering Place in Raleigh. The owners
of that store had heard good comments
with the program and since I know the
owner home schooled her kids I trusted
her advice.
What I have noticed about my son is the
inability to write like other children.
He knows the information and can speak
it orally but forgets the information as
it runs down his arm to his fingers that
are writing for him. Having the response
book has saved us the hassle of
numbering our paper... and it actually
saves paper, too.
if you ever need a testimonial I'm your
girl.
Anita Mason Shaver
Sundance Academy
Brown Summit,N.C.
336 656 5359
sndance@bellsouth.net
I wanted to thank
you, Mr. McCabe, for your efforts in
producing Sequential Spelling. We
have just started using the first book
in our homeschool, and it is probably
the first time we have ever had a
positive experience with spelling.
There are at least three things I like
about your curriculum. First, the
fact that my children are doing so well
with it (and my worst speller is the one
who is having the most rapid
improvement!). After a few days I
was a little concerned when I still saw
lots of writing movements when I gave
the correct spelling. I thought
they must still be having to make a lot
of corrections, but I didn't say
anything at the time. Later I
found out that they were so pleased that
they had spelled the word correctly they
were drawing little smiley faces next to
the words. That's when I realized
how good of an experience they were
having. The second thing that I
like is the fact that it is so
affordable. If it had not been, I
probably would not have tried it.
We have just had too many bad (and
expensive) experiences with programs
that "guaranteed" that they were the
answer to our problems. Last, but
not least, is the fact that the program
is so simple and easy to use and
requires so little advance preparation
on my part.
Janice Walker
Dear
McCabe,
I learned of your spelling curriculum at a
homeschool book fair in Arlington, Texas from a
vendor located outside of Houston. After
pouring over your website, I ordered the first
level of spelling for my 15 year old son who has
a diagnosis of high functioning autism. This is
so exciting. With eleven years of
homeschooling, six children and a special ed.
degree this is the greatest approach to spelling
I have ever seen for anyone, not just those with
learning differences. I will pass your
website on to our local school's special ed.
director. Your hard work and dedication is
evident. We will be start the spelling as soon
as it arrives. I am expecting great gains
in spelling and reading this summer.
Sincerely,
Sandra Deal
Hello Mr. McCabe,
I just wanted to tell you how
much we LOVE your program! My 9 year old
son is FINALLY getting spelling!! (See me
jumping up and down right now!!) I've
tried everything with him over the 4
years I've been homeschooling him - he reads
pretty well, but could not spell when I asked
him to spell something and couldn't memorize
spelling words. Recently, I heard about
AVKO. Though my son is not dyslexic, I
decided to try your online sample lesson for the
word beginning. It was working,
so I purchased Seq. Sp. 1 at the MACHE
conference and we've been doing that ever since
MACHE. I'm SO proud of him - and SO
thankful for your program!!! I'm
recommending it to EVERYONE I know and on all
the homeschooling e-mail groups I am on.
Not only does it work, it is easy to use
and reasonably priced!
Again, THANK YOU so much!
Chrisanne Holm
Albertville, MN
PS. I do have a question:
On words such as "disagrees", "freed",
"treeing".....which letters should be green and
which black?
Grace be unto you, and peace,
from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus
Christ. 1Cor. 1:3
Answer: disagrees
freed
treeing.
I can't thank you enough for your
"If it is to be, it is up to me to do it" spelling
program. My son is 19 and will be going to
LeTourneau University this fall majoring in
engineering. He is very smart and especially
gifted in math, but he couldn't spell. He
would spell phonetically and it was very difficult
to read. He's all right with "spell checker"
on the computer, but he'll still have to write essay
tests in class and I wondered how it would go.
Plus our society thinks people are stupid if they
can't spell and it is very embarrassing.
I have tried countless spelling
programs with him - every year a different program.
Two years ago we spent several thousand dollars for
him to go to the Dyslexia Correction Center of
Washington (Davis Orientation Counseling Program).
He wrote out the words with clay, but he still
didn't retain the spellings.
He was desperate and said, "Mom -
we've got to find something to help me." So I
went to the internet and found your program.
We are on Lesson 25 and it makes sense to him and he
is learning and retaining the spelling. We do
2-3 lessons a day, separated by several hours.
We are both so excited. I want to introduce
this to our school district. It is a shame this
isn't used nation-wide for all dyslexic kids.
It is a wonderful program. Thanks also for the
sample lessons on-line. I got tired of
purchasing programs that didn't work. This
enabled me to try it with my son and find the
success it provided.
Thank you so much for developing
it and providing it at such a reasonable price.
You have no idea what this has meant in the life of
my son.
Thanks,
Diana Hay
Dear Mr. McCabe,
I've been giving out lots of
information about Sequential Spelling on
VegSource Reading and Math website and it seems quite a
few people are
commenting about using it or ordering it. Thank you for
sending me the
copy for a field test without paying for it up front.
I'm using it with
ten students now and it is so painless that there is
never a complaint
about spelling...and it seems to be carrying over into
their writing,
which regular spelling programs fail to do.
Joan Callaway
Dear Mr. McCabe,
My son is now 12.5 years old. I have
suspected the dyslexia part since he was 7 but was told
it is really not diagnosable until after 3rd grade
because a certain percentage of students still would
reverse letters in 3rd grade. Everyone who meets this
kid and TALKS to him thinks he is brilliant. He is not
dumb. I finally took him out of school after he was
supposed to be in 3rd grade but spent most of his time
back in the 2nd grade classroom. He repeated
kindergarten, he repeated 1st grade, and then it looked
to me like he was repeating 2nd grade! I homeschooled
him the next year and we did 3rd grade. He's now just
finishing 5th grade finally. I thank you soooo much for
the sequential spelling program which we used in 4th
grade before he was officially diagnosed and have
continued to use in 5th. He recently started the
keyboarding program. I am really looking forward to the
book, To Teach A Dyslexic, which I will
order soon. Christopher was diagnosed in just this past
November with dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalcula. What
a long long road it's been. He and I just can't say
enough good about your program! I have told all my
friends about it. I am still working on a couple of
mothers who refuse to accept that their sons have
anything other than immaturity where language arts are
concerned. "Oh, they'll grow out of it." I've been there
and I wish I'd known then what I know now. I still cry
for the lost years. I just am immensely grateful to you
and the work you have persevered in to carry this
message to the world. I want to help in whatever way I
can. I know that when I have gotten my son past his
current hurdles, I want to tutor others. I will go back
to school to get a teaching certificate and then I will
use your materials to help other students. It disturbs
me to read in your web site that you are looking for
someone else to transfer Avko to. I don't want this
resource to disappear. I hope and pray that the exact
right individual or organization will come forward and
continue to make the resources so accessible. Anyway,
thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!! I am so glad I
found you. I'm not done. I want lots more of your
materials. You can't close up shop until I have saved up
to buy everything I want and need. O.K. I really
appreciate you.