TOS Crew Review -- AVKO Membership

AVKO is an organization committed to leveling the playing field. They are a "non-profit, 501(C)3 membership organization that focuses on the development and production of materials and especially techniques to teach reading and spelling, handwriting (manuscript and cursive) and keyboarding."

Reading lies at the foundation of independent learning. When reading suffers, academic progress becomes a greater challenge. AVKO recognizes this correlation and seeks to eliminate any stumbling block a student might encounter to enable them to read, spell, and write to the best of their ability.

Their website offers help and resources for those of all levels struggling in the areas of reading and writing.

Product: AVKO Educational Research Foundation membership
Details: The membership opens up a wide variety of resources on the AVKO website. E-books free for the viewing, informative articles, reading comprehension selections, and instructional videos. See their membership information page for all the details on the benefits of membership.
Price: $25.00 per year (includes 25% discount on all ordered materials as well)

What we liked . . .

• The ebooks that membership provides access to are packed with information. The titles include: The Patterns of English Spelling (All 10 Volumes) with Word Families in Sentence Context; To Teach a Dyslexic; Starting at Square One; The Teaching of Reading & Spelling: a Continuum from Kindergarten through College.; The Reading Teacher's List of Over 5,500 Basic Spelling Words
• Lots of resources to use in conjunction with Sequential Spelling. We don't use this curriculum, but still found the word lists and other activities helpful to enhance our spelling lessons, which in turn enhances our reading lesson.

Challenges we encountered . . .

• I would add a word of caution to those viewing some of their dictation exercises and more "light-hearted" selections (puns, quotes, humor, etc.) Some of these are not suitable for all ages. You might get a little chuckle over them, but I would not use jokes or puns referencing drinking when working with my elementary aged children, or in most academic settings regardless of age.
• Some of the material was not completely beneficial for us since we do not use Sequential Spelling, although it looks like a fantastic program from the samples and information online.

While I would most likely not purchase the AVKO membership, it might be of greater value to those families that need some more help, support, information, and resources for their special needs learners. It is definitely a good value for all that you receive, it simply does not meet a need in our household.

For more TOS Crew reviews on this product, check out the TOS Crew blog.

Disclaimer: This membership was provided to me free of charge from AVKO Educational Research Foundation as part of my participation in The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew. I received no additional compensation and the opinions expressed here come from my personal experiences and sincere thoughts.