This is a super comprehensive review, thank you for sharing it. I hadn't heard of Play 'n Talk and I like some of the things that you pointed out about Spelling You See. However, as far as Spelling You See Level D is concerned, I think the passages that they selected are very reasonable. Their goal is spelling instruction through context and repetition. Since SYS teaches words in context the passages included have to be made up of words used in a context that is easily/immediately understandable to a student. We can't learn from a context that we don't understand--we're too busy trying to make sense of the context. If they'd included the Declaration of Independence in Level D of SYS, they'd have had to actually write a "dumbed down" version of the Declaration. The Declaration of Independence contains pretty sophisticated language that **most** children wouldn't be familiar enough with to actually be able to *contextually* learn anything from. I've had my students memorize the Declaration of Independence as a memory work (after studying the relevant US History) and it takes ***weeks*** to get through the first two paragraphs--just under 350 words. These two paragraphs do NOT include the 27 reasons why the Colonies rebelled, or the last 3 paragraphs of the DoI. When they memorize it we have to go phrase by phrase or sentence by sentence. I have to explicitly teach them what each phrase or sentence means so that they actually understand what they're saying. We have to loop-back through the relevant US History when they're memorizing the 27 complaints/reasons so that the students make the connection between the text of the 27 reasons, and the reasons themselves. The language and especially grammar of the DoI is not at an instructive level for 90-97% of the 3rd-5th grade aged children in the English Speaking world so I don't feel that that's a fair remark. I do believe that children should read and be taught/familiarized with the founding documents, but I think it's an unreasonably Big Ask to think someone should use the Founding Documents to teach one of the fundamental language skills to elementary staged students. As homeschoolers or teachers, we need to have a reasonable expectation of ourselves, our kids and our curriculum.

This is exactly what I needed! I wasn't sure what spelling I wanted to do but you convinced me. Thank you so much!!

Most helpful spelling curriculum review I've found thus far.

Very helpful comparison. Thanks for sharing!

This video was so helpful! I wanted to find a video for spelling you see and for all about spelling. Loved finding both here. I have put all about spelling in my cart a few times in the past but have never bit the bullet. What we are using isn't working for her and I think this would really help her build confidence and skills instead of guessing. Thank you for sharing!

I also spoke with that lady at a homeschool convention about Play n' Talk. I was blown away by the price tag.

This video was so helpful! My daughter loves writing and is constantly asking me to right certain words. We use TGTB for language arts & tho its been a good fit rn it doesnt teach a lot of spelling or spelling rules when teaching phonics so i think this will be a good for us.

This was so helpful! But now I love them all! Lol!

Cant wait to use this in september for 1st grade! I was (and still am) a very bad speller so i know i will be learning along with him. He doesnt do writing just handwrite practice but hopefully it will build his confidence :)

This is a great comparison video!

This was SO helpful. Thank you. I was just talking to my facilitator about this program, she showed me her copies of it yesterday 🎉 Have you tried All about Spelling?

I was actually given play n talk and I think it would be great to use, do you think it would be adaptable and you could say the correct sounds? Or is all the audio incorrectly pronounced?

I'm really thinking about this. My kiddo is a strong reader and decent speller, but once she gets hung up on spelling. She doesn't have a lot of strategies for figuring it out. And while I feel pretty good about walking her through the phonogram options for a particular sound, if there is more than one I don't always know how you are supposed to know which one to pick besides whether it looks right. Why is it paid and not pade or payed?? 🤷‍♀She would definitely balk at going back to spelling words like cat and sit again though. ?? And it seems like I'd be taking a subject she does pretty independently right now to a teacher intensive situation. Things to consider...

Spell to Write and Read