Comparison, language arts

All About Spelling vs Spelling You See: which one suits your child?

All About Spelling teaches the rules and sound patterns behind English spelling in scripted, hands-on lessons, while Spelling You See builds spelling through reading, marking letter patterns, copywork and dictation, with no rules to memorize in most levels.

The short answer. Neither is better for every child. Choose All About Spelling if your child wants to know why a word is spelled the way it is. Choose Spelling You See if your child reads fairly well but switches off at rules and drills. Whichever you pick, the level matters more than the brand, so find out where your child is before you buy.

Check their level first, $9.99 →

At a glance

	All About Spelling	Spelling You See
Grades	Levels, not grades	Levels, not grades
Faith content	Secular	Secular
Teaching style	Orton-Gillingham, Mastery, Open and go	Open and go
Format	Workbook, Manipulatives	Workbook
Parent time	Some	Some
Price	Low cost	Low cost
Placement test	Yes	Yes
Often chosen for	Children who are behind, dyslexia, hands-on learners	Visual learners, children who are behind

How they differ

	All About Spelling	Spelling You See
How a lesson runs	The parent follows a scripted lesson: a new phonogram or rule shown with letter tiles, card review, then dictated words, phrases and sentences. About 20 minutes a day.	One short passage all week: read it together, mark letter patterns in color, copy it for a timed 10 minutes, and later write it from dictation.
Rules or patterns	Explicit rules and phonograms, one new concept at a time, so the child learns why a word is spelled the way it is.	Letter patterns, or chunks, are spotted in real text and stored through visual memory. No rule memorization, though the top level covers prefixes, suffixes and doubling.
Hands-on materials	Color-coded letter tiles, phonogram and word cards and a review box, in a multisensory Orton-Gillingham approach.	A consumable workbook and colored pencils for chunking, with nonfiction passages on animals, American history and the ancient world. No tiles or cards.
Parent role	The parent teaches every lesson; it is not a program a child works through alone.	Little prep, but the parent reads with the child and gives dictation with full attention, catching errors as they happen; copying is largely independent.
Review and testing	Mastery based: concepts stay in the review box until mastered, and early lessons have a check for skipping what the child already knows.	No word lists, spelling tests or scores; progress shows in dictation and everyday writing.
Dyslexia and struggling spellers	Built on Orton-Gillingham, the approach most often recommended for dyslexia, and widely used for remedial spelling with older children.	The publisher says it can help dyslexic children once vision problems are ruled out; families who need explicit rules often find it too passive.
Levels against school grades	Seven levels, not grades. Almost every student, including older ones, starts at Level 1 or 2.	Levels follow spelling stages, not grades. Passages read easily on purpose, because spelling usually lags reading.

Which one suits your child

Choose All About Spelling if

Your child wants to know why a word is spelled the way it is
Your child has dyslexia or needs explicit, step-by-step phonics to spell
Your child learns best by moving tiles and handling things
You can sit down and teach a short lesson every day

Choose Spelling You See if

Your child reads fairly well but switches off at rules and drills
Your child has a good visual memory and enjoys marking and copying text
You want short daily lessons with little prep and no spelling tests
Your child gets anxious about word lists and weekly tests

Why parents choose All About Spelling

Teaches the rules behind spelling
Tiles make patterns visible
Works for older remedial spellers

Why parents choose Spelling You See

No rule memorization
Copywork and dictation build visual memory
Short daily routine

Watch out for, All About Spelling

Older kids may need to start at Level 1
Parent-led lessons

Watch out for, Spelling You See

Too passive for kids who need explicit rules
Dictation requires parent time

Switching between All About Spelling and Spelling You See

From All About Spelling to Spelling You See

Use the Spelling You See readiness passage and dictated word list rather than the All About Spelling level. Children keep their rule knowledge, but some miss the tiles and explanations and find copying the same passage all week dull.

From Spelling You See to All About Spelling

Take the All About Spelling placement test; it only ever places at Level 1 or 2, and the publisher handles higher placement on request. Children used to copywork often know many words by sight but have gaps in rules and phonograms, so expect quick progress through familiar lessons and slower work on the rules.

Which level of All About Spelling? → Which level of Spelling You See? →

What parents often say

Many parents of struggling or dyslexic spellers say All About Spelling worked after other programs failed, and credit the explicit rules.
All About Spelling feels teacher-heavy, and starting an older child at Level 1 feels slow and young, though most move through it quickly.
Spelling You See is praised as easy to run with short lessons, but some children find the same passage all week boring.
Families who want rules find Spelling You See too passive, and some report copywork alone did not help a child who is not a natural speller.

Point of Progress in 20 seconds

Ready to see where your child stands?

See where they stand →

See where they stand →$9.99 · test and report, one payment

Not just a score. Every skill, and every answer.

The score, with its honest range

Grade 4Grade 6 typicalGrade 9

744, likely range 702 to 787. A good or bad day stops looking like real movement.

Every strand, marked

Number senseStrong
FractionsWorth work
RatiosStrong
ExpressionsWorth work

Five to nine strands per subject, on one scale, so the gaps inside one score show.

Question by question

Add 2/3 and 1/4Answered 3/7. Added numerators and denominators separately, so the common denominator step is missing.

Wrong

Every wrong answer, with the most likely thinking behind it.

What to do next, in order

Common denominators
Simplifying fractions
Ratio as a comparison

Ranked by how much each skill holds the rest back, then practised in the workbook.

Get the report, $9.99 →or add the ten-week workbook built from the gaps, $19.99See the full eight-page sample report

Questions parents ask

Is All About Spelling or Spelling You See better for dyslexia?

All About Spelling uses the Orton-Gillingham approach, which is widely recommended for dyslexia. Demme Learning says Spelling You See can also help dyslexic children once vision problems are ruled out, but it teaches no explicit rules, which many dyslexic learners need. No independent study compares the two.

Does Spelling You See teach spelling rules?

Not as rules to memorize. Children learn letter patterns by marking them in passages, copying and writing from dictation; the highest level, Modern Milestones, works on prefixes, suffixes, base words and doubling.

What level of All About Spelling should an older child start?

Usually Level 1 or 2, whatever the child's age, because the publisher wants every student to learn all the rules. Older children can move through early lessons quickly, and the publisher offers individual help for placement above Level 2.

Which level should my child start in?

Use the publisher's placement guidance for the program you choose; levels rarely line up one to one between programs. If you are not sure where your child stands, an independent adaptive test such as Point of Progress (grades 3 to 10, about forty minutes at home) shows their level and the skills that need work.

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Sources

Know where they stand before you buy the book.

About forty minutes at home, math and reading & writing, grades 3 to 10. The report is ready as soon as the test finishes.

Test your child, $9.99 →or with the ten-week workbook, $19.99

This page is Point of Progress's own research, compiled in November 2026 from publishers' websites, placement materials and parent reviews. Publishers update their products, levels, placement tests and prices from time to time, so please verify all information with the provider before you buy. Point of Progress is independent and is not affiliated with any publisher named here.