Just out of curiosity I was wondering on the AVKO spelling how many words are on the spelling list. I was comparing my child’s last year spelling to the words on the web site for AVKO and my child had more words, 25 words on her spelling list, and the website had 11. If that is the case, its no wonder it took so long for them to do spelling at school, when everyone on this site said it shouldn’t take that long.
Re: AVKO spelling
Yes there are 25 words per day on the AVKO lists, but the lists and how you use them are *totally different* from the way spelling lists are usually used in the usual pointless ritual.
The usual spelling list consists of a bunch of difficult words, often chosen specifically for their difficulty. Many of the words have phonetic irregularities. The words are sometimes chosen around a story or a theme, but are linguistically totally unrelated.
Students are told to stare at the words and attempt to absorb the spelling through thedir eyes, well-known as a very ineffective approach. Sometimes they also are required to copy dictionary definitions, another ineffective approach especially since the definition almost always uses other unknown words.
A list is given once a week, ritually stared at and copied three times, attempted to be memorized, tested on Friday, and then consigned to the memory dump as a new list comes along.
AVKO does every one of these things differently.
The Avko lists of words are based on common phonetic patterns. In the adult version, there are *only* two or three patterns on each list. For example the first list has in, pin, kin, skin, sin, spin, thin; also be, me, we
The Avko lists teach regular patterns first and introduce irregularities slowly and gradually.
The Avko program specifically is NOT to be stared at and memorized; the student writes the list “cold” from dictation, figuring out the best way to write each word, and then there is *immediate* feedback correcting and rewriting errors.
The Avko lists repeat and extend the same words over days; day 1 has in, bin, pin, skin; day 2 has ins, bins, pins, skins; day 3 has inning, pinning, skinning; day 4 has pinned, skinned, thinned; day 5 includes review of 1 to 4.
The Avko lists are not to be done once and forgotten; rather the same words, patterns, and implied rules (eg double a consonant after a short vowel when adding a vowel-start suffix) are constantly spiralled and practiced daily.
Since the program is based on a completely different philosophy and methodology — and a much more effective approach — it is not reasonable to compare how many words on the lists to a standard spelling list.
There are about 25 words a DAY with AVKO. AVKO will teach a kid how to spell and apply spelling in words. Spelling lists at school typically teach kids to memorize groups of words which is different which are often soon forgotten.
I am using AVKO this year. The kids get 25 words per day. Now the first week or so the list starts with small lists and gradually builds to 25 and it is 25 for the rest of the year or 180 days.