IEW: Phonetic Zoo Spelling ~ Review

Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW) has provided us with another fantastic product to review!  We received the Phonetic Zoo Spelling Level A [Starter Set] which contains:

• 5 Audio CDs (and MP3 downloads)
• Lesson Cards which have Levels A, B and C on each card
• Personnel Spelling Cards which help to keep track of student’s typical misspellings
• Zoo Cards that have the practice jingle and can be used as rewards
• Phonetic Zoo Teacher’s Notes as a downloadable PDF
• Spelling and the Brain video seminar (this is a link to streaming video)

The goal for the Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW) is to teach children the skills they need to communicate confidently and effectively.  This includes writing well, thinking clearly, and expressing themselves eloquently and persuasively.

Earlier this year, I was able to review IEW’s Deluxe Combo Writing Package A, which was my first experience using IEW.  If you haven’t read that review yet, be sure to check it out. Our experience with Phonetic Zoo was much like the experience we had with the Writing Package.  Phonetic Zoo has been such a good fit for the kids.  They can progress through at their pace as it encourages mastery.  To progress from one lesson to the next the student needs to get 100% on their spelling test twice in a row.  There are forty-seven lessons in Phonetic Zoo.  If a student completes one lesson per week he/she will finish the level in one year.  For other students it will last longer, which is fine, since the goal is mastery.

Phonetic Zoo is based on Mrs. Anna Ingham’s effective Blended Sound-Sight Program of Learning.  She discovered that children learn better if both sight and sound are included during the learning process.  The way this is accomplished with Phonetic Zoo is that not only are the spelling words listed on the Lesson Cards; the Audio CD (or MP3) says each word and then at the end of the lesson gives the correct spelling of each word.  During the spelling test, the “rule” for that lesson’s words is also given multiple times to help the student(s) remember it.

Brock and Adisyn have been working through Phonetic Zoo Spelling Level A.  They have found some lessons to be easier than others, but they have been progressing well through the program.  They both agree that Phonetic Zoo is the best spelling curriculum we have ever used.  The two of them have been pretty competitive also not wanting the other to get ahead of them.  This competition has been a good motivator as they both have worked hard studying the spelling lessons so that they master the lesson and are ready to move to the next lesson.

We have really enjoyed Phonetic Zoo!  The kids don’t complain about doing spelling, instead they say it is fun.  I appreciate the fact that the focus is on mastery not on completing a certain lesson in a certain time.  When they have hit a hard lesson, the mastery thought process has helped them push through and keep practicing until they get it.

I would recommended Phonetic Zoo as a great way to teach spelling in your homeschool!

 

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Blessings,

Jennifer

 

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