Spelling -- Hooked on Phonics Material Revisit!

This morning, my son showed me his spelling test results. Other than one time he misspelled one word, he scored full marks in his spelling tests this year. Certainly he deserved my praises. To be honest, I did not even supervise him anymore since almost a year ago. He managed his spelling test almost all by himself.

My son told me that learning "Spelling" is quite fun and easy. I can see that he has very strong foundation in spelling, thanks to the Hooked on Phonics and Hooked on Spelling.

For your convenience, I will paste the link to the product from Amazon website:

Hooked on Phonics




Hooked on Spelling






However, to be honest, I know some of my friends are not successful in using the same material. Here are some tips from them that might benefit you:

[1] Don't start too early... The recommended age is 4 years old. My son started at 3.5 years old, and we were having a hard time as the first few pages took us more than 3 months. I do not see this problem with my daughter now.

[2] Don't start too late... a friend of mine started the material at the age of 3... but his daughter found it too difficult. When he used it again at the age of 5.5, she found it too easy and somehow, my friend could not raise the interest.

[3] Make full use of the games and stickers... and remember to praise. For some reasons, some of my friends did not use the stickers.. or perhaps not giving enough praises... They were not successful in using the material.

[4] Never kill interest... Stop when the child is bored. Every child is different. I notice that my daughter can concentrate less compared to the brother. So, I have to adjust the teaching time accordingly.

[5] Don't start Hooked on Spelling until you are about to start level 2! I have a friend who starts Hooked on Spelling at the age of 5-6, and I heard that she is not doing well either.

Regarding primary school spelling test, my observation is that I am taking the right approach to empower my son to learn spelling all by himself. I can see that he is taking a lot of pride in his good work, and he is motivated to continue to do well. Without supervision, he can enjoy the spelling test better!

I would like to thank all my friends who feedback to me about their findings. And also to thank the author, and to thank God that I was lucky to start at the right timing. I hope I can repeat the same success story for my daughter!

Please share your experience with us too by leaving a comment below!

Update 2015: This product is now available in SG. I prefer the older version better though...