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Where to Start with AVKO Materials

See also: Materials Listing | Catalog | Free Curriculum Consultation
Information Based on Your Individual Situation

Genre: Spelling | Reading | Handwriting | Keyboarding | Reference

Spelling:

For children who have yet to learn the alphabet.

For students who do not have a basic grasp of phonics (roughly estimated as below 2nd grade level); for students who need additional help with phonics:

For adults who are learning English or adult dyslexics who want to learn to read and write.

 Start with Starting at Square One.  This teaches not only spelling but also reading, handwriting, and keyboarding as the alphabet is learned. 

Available as an e-book FREE with membership
 
For 2nd grade levels up: Start with Sequential Spelling 1.

Note: We generally recommend that everyone starts at level 1 if they can read/spell at a 2nd grade level.
 
For older teens / adults: Start with If it is to be, it is up to me to do it if confidence needs to be built due to years of feeling inadequate because of poor spelling/reading skills.

Continue on to Sequential Spelling 2 after completing If it is to be...
 
For adults / those with limited time to learn spelling: Use Sequential Spelling for Adults or create your own spelling program.

The word families taught in Sequential Spelling 1-7 are condensed into two volumes, available in one book.
 
For students who only have random gaps in spelling proficiency: Use Individualized Spelling combined with The Patterns of English Spelling (FREE as an E-book with membership) to create your own customized Sequential Spelling program.
 
For students who struggle with choosing the right homophone in spelling (they're vs. their, e.g.): Use The Tricky Words to address those homophone spelling problems.

These homophones are also presented throughout Sequential Spelling.
 
For students who struggle with the I Before E rule, Apostrophes, or its vs. it's / two vs. to vs. too Use The I Before E Rule Set which includes 3 books in 1: The Complete I Before E Rule, Apostrophes Made Easy, and It-ss & Tooze Made Easy.

See also The Tricky Words.
 

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Reading:

For students who struggle with simple common words or different scripts (fonts) or who rely too much on the "picture" the letters make instead of the individual letters: Use Readings for Fluency. 
For parents and educators who want to learn how to teach reading using the AVKO methodology: Use the textbook, The Teaching of Reading: A Continuum from Kindergarten through College to learn how to teach reading and spelling using AVKO's methods.

Available FREE as an E-book with membership.
 
 

For students who need extra supplemental exercises (dictation, reading, copying for handwriting) for their spelling program

:

 Use Engaging Language Kits, which correspond to each level of Sequential Spelling.

Use Word Families in Sentence Context.  Available for FREE with membership (as combined with The Patterns of English Spelling); however, this book is still available separately as well.
For students who are just learning to read: Start with Starting at Square One.  This teaches not only reading, but also spelling, handwriting, and keyboarding as the alphabet is learned. 

Available for FREE with membership
 
For students who need additional practice reading materials, regardless of their reading ability: Use our freebie Readings for Comprehension

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Handwriting:

For students who need help making their writing legible: Use Let's Write Right to address legibility.
For beginning writers and readers: Start with Starting at Square One.  SASO teaches not only handwriting but also spelling, reading, and keyboarding as the alphabet is learned. 

Available for FREE with membership
 
For students who just need a bit more practice with handwriting but have the basic letter patterns down (e.g., need help with linking cursive letters) Spend one or two days of Sequential Spelling, or selected exercises (at your own discretion) within Engaging Language Kits, to focus on handwriting in addition to the other lessons being taught. 

See Customizing Sequential Spelling for more information.

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Keyboarding:

For students who need to learn to type: Use Individualized Keyboarding
 
For beginning typists and readers: Start with Starting at Square One.  This teaches not only keyboarding but also spelling, reading, and handwriting as the alphabet is learned. 

Available for FREE with membership
 

Reference Materials:

For seeing every word in the English language by its word family: Use The Patterns of English Spelling.

Available FREE as an E-book with membership
For seeing the word difficulty level of the 5,500 most common words or these words in rank order of difficulty from the easiest to the most difficult.: Use The Reading Teacher's List of 5,500 Basic Spelling Words.

The difficulty levels are also listed in The Patterns of English Spelling.

Available FREE as an E-book with membership
For learning more about AVKO, its founder (Don McCabe), and what it was in his life that not only allowed him to learn to read but also learn how to teach other dyslexics how to read. This is told in an easy-to-read and humorous book: Read To Teach a Dyslexic, the autobiography of Don McCabe.

Available FREE as an E-book with membership
For learning more extensively about AVKO's philosophies, how to teach reading and spelling, and how to be a good reading tutor: Use the textbook, The Teaching of Reading: A Continuum from Kindergarten through College to learn how to teach reading and spelling using AVKO's methods.

Available FREE as an E-book with membership.
 

If you are still not sure where to begin, please contact us.  Or, complete a free curriculum consultation request.

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