Each lesson begins with the speaker reading the rule followed by a 15 word list that includes the speaker repeating the rule every three words. After each word is presented, the student is given enough time to write down the word without feeling rushed. The word list is repeated along with the correct spelling. The student writes the correct spelling next to his word as an accuracy check, noting which words he misspelled. He then studies those words and listens to the same list (CD track) on subsequent days until he correctly spells all list words two times.

Upon first listening to the CDs I thought the program moved too slowly and that my children would find it boring. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I was wrong. In retrospect realize that I found it slow and boring because I already knew the words, but for a student just learning the rules and word spelling it moved at just the right pace.

Phonetic Zoo provides different rules from Spelling Power that were quickly learned by our oldest child (who is not naturally a good speller.) At the beginning of eighth grade (after completing Level H in Spelling Power) he worked through the entire Phonetic Zoo high school level in 3 months and was able to apply the spelling rules in his essays. We did a follow up test to the effectiveness of Phonetic Zoo by using the final Spelling Power lists. He missed less then 5% of all words on the last two levels of Spelling Power, and the words missed were rated as being college level. For our family Phonetic Zoo is an ideal program for older students who are yearning for independence and are anxious to "be done" with spelling lessons. This review is of the "Advanced" level of Phonetic Zoo. The IEW website contains an auditory placement test that is accurate in determining which level to purchase.

This little gem was used as a freshman college course after the author met philosopher Mortimer Adler and understood the importance of teaching basic language skills as the foundation of other learning. After some years of study, she put together this course in the Trivium, the three language arts – of word relations (grammar), concept relations (logic), and composition (rhetoric). The result is a primer in Aristotle's Categories, a demanding course in logic, and a prerequisite to good composition. It is not, mind you, a course in grammar conceived as the study of commas, periods, and subjunctive verbs, though it might lead to insight into these matters. Not is it a course in "symbolic logic", the modern logic stripped of thought and studied simply as a form of mathematics. Rather, Sister Miriam offers a prerequisite to philosophy and writing, for this is a course in clear thought and the right use of language.

With all this, The Trivium is demanding, yet it is very accessible. Despite its original use as a freshman college course, it reminded me very strongly of my high school logic text, which, like this, was the work of an obscure nun who had studied Aristotle and wanted his clarity to form the minds entrusted to her care. I look forward to the opportunity to use it at the high school level.

Not only is the volume accessible, but one must delight in its literacy. The illustrations are taken from the great literature of western culture – so the mind is always lifted. It is a pleasure to read, and study is always rewarding, because every step sparkles with beauty and interest as well as clarity. Many of Sister Miriam's examples were originally taken from great literature; her loving editor Marguerite McGlinn has taken the liberty of replacing those illustrations which were time-bound with even more good literature so as to move the book into its rightful place as a timeless resource.

For those who know and love Dorothy Sayers' little essay on the trivium, it may be appropriate to warn that this is not in any sense a resource for primary or middle school children.

Just as this book is much more difficult to use thanTeach Your Child To Read In 100 Easy Lessons, it is also more difficult to review. A companion book by Wanda Sanseri, Teaching Reading At Home, organizes the information into a one page flow chart, then expands each item in the flow chart systematically so you feel comfortable with what to teach when. The Riggs Institute also has an extensive web site (www.riggsinst.org) devoted to this and a lot of supplementary materials for the Writing Road To Reading.

WRTR is based on putting the 45 sounds of English into 70 phonograms or ways of spelling the 45 sounds in writing. A simple diacritical marking system is taught. An example of this is the letter a. It is introduced as the sounds of a (short sound), a (long sound), a (ahh sound) (the terms short and long are not used).The first sound of a is the most common so it is not marked, the second sound of a is underlined to show that it is saying the second sound and the third sound of a has a little number 3 written over it. By the way, consonant blends in which each letter still retains it sound are not taught.

The beginning of the program is the hardest. You introduce 4 phonograms each day by showing a flash card of the letter while saying the sound(s) of it. The student says the sound. You show how to write the letter. They are grouped by similar shape so you start with a, c, d, g and o which are formed similarly. There are detailed instructions as to presenting this. Being a "fine-motor-skill-challenged" family this was the most difficult. After three weeks the student should know the first 54 sounds. They then begin a spelling notebook. The words are dictated by the teacher. The students say each phonogram sound or syllable in it, then write each one, then read it. Then they mark it appropriately. After 150 words are presented by this method they then begin reading. They claim that reading is never taught, that after explicit, intensive phonics instruction and the encoding of words by spelling in this manner children are just able to read. They spell their way into reading. My children already read when we started this program so I cannot vouch for that. There are also 29 spelling rules such as the 5 ways silent e's are used in English taught along the way.

Spalding did not want children to be reading twaddle (not her word but appropriate here) but the finest in children's literature. There is a long appendix in the back of recommended books grouped by grade level. 

120 pages of the book are devoted to a spelling list which is to be used for grades 1 through 4. Each year a new spelling notebook is begun using a sewn composition notebook. All the phonograms and spelling rules are reviewed by writing them in each year's new notebook. 30 spelling words a week are recommended by Spalding and 20 a week by Sanseri. With my children I use 20 per week. I introduce 5 per day M-Th then have a test on Friday. They are reviewed and practiced by being used in sentences, playing hangman, etc.

Even though my children were already reading when we began the program I feel it was very valuable to give a thorough review of phonics and to apply phonics in the spelling lesson, not in the reading lesson. I plan to continue using it as a long term spelling program. I think the way spelling is taught in this program makes sense. My children's reading continues to improve and we have become comfortable with using it. By the way Spalding says the lessons take 3 hours a day, Sanseri says that in a home situation it takes about an hour per day. So far with both children at 2 different levels entailing 2 separate lessons it has never taken more than 1 hour per day for us. This program was recommended to me very highly by many people and I am glad I took their advice. The key phrase which sums up this complex program is "spell your way into reading."

Lynne Truss does it again, this time stressing the correct use of the hyphen, parenthesis, question and exclamation marks and also more comma use. I feel that my younger kids will have a wonderful and visual grasp of punctuation as they grow up exposed to Truss' humor and fresh approach to grammar! If you haven't enjoyed her first punctuation picture books, don't miss them: Eats, Shoots and Leaves and The Girl's like Spaghetti!