It seems like some children come out of the womb with a natural aptitude for reading and spelling. Others, however, balk at the seeming mysteries of the English language. These children often shine in math and science where consistency and rules reign supreme. In my early elementary years, I firmly vocalized my disapproval of the English language in a tongue that transcended both written and unwritten languages!
You can imagine my dismay years later when I discovered my son shared these same sentiments. How could I, an outspoken denouncer of the seeming fickleness of the English language, possibly hope to teach my son to read and spell? Fortunately for me, a woman named Marie Rippel had the answer.
When a doctor informed Marie that her nine year old son was severely dyslexic and would never learn to read or spell, she refused to accept failure. After extensive research and hard work, Marie developed a multi-sensory curriculum for spelling and reading which, for me, removed the mystery and frustration from the process of teaching my son.
Hard work and self-discipline have always been the keys to success. Although Marie’s approach to teaching and learning spelling and reading are no exception to this rule, both my son’s attitude toward learning these subjects and my own attitude toward teaching them dramatically transformed when we started using her program.
I strongly encourage you to consider her curriculum All About Spelling and All About Reading. Even if spelling and reading come easily to you and your children, her step-by-step lesson plans may save you hours of lesson planning! Now, if only I could package up her curriculum and time-warp it to my parents 31 years ago; I still feel sorry for that scrawny little six year old whose reading primers were streaked with tears.