Beehive Reader: A Companion to All About Spelling

Posted by Lorren on February 12, 2010

I was recently sent a copy of Marie Rippel’s Beehive Reader in exchange for writing a review. The Beehive Reader is meant to be a companion to All About Spelling, which I previously reviewed. All About Spelling really works for my daughter, and I have already decided to buy level 3 for next year (she just completed level 1 yesterday, and we will be starting level 2 right away).

The Beehive Reader is a high-quality book. I like to buy high-quality hardback books for my school, even if I have to pay a little more. We have been using Story of the World for part of our history curriculum, and I always choose to buy the hardback, even though a paperback is available. I don’t want my kids to have to worry about bending the covers or anything. It would be nice if more textbook producers would create student editions in hardback.

The stories in the Beehive Reader correlate with the spelling ideas that are learned in All About Spelling. After the student learns short vowels, they read a story that contains a lot of short vowels. When they cover blends, or double letters, there is a corresponding story to read. Each page is beautifully illustrated with a pencil illustration. The stories in Beehive Reader 1 should interest younger readers. They are simple, yet interesting.

That being said, I’m not sure if the Beehive Reader/All About Spelling combination will work well for all students. When my daughter learned how to read, she went from a stage where she could barely sound out words one day, and the next day, it was like a light went on in her head, and she could read nearly everything. The trouble was, she had difficulty with spelling. In her case, the Beehive Reader would have been quite easy for her, while the spelling would be difficult. My daughter just finished All About Spelling level 1, and the Beehive Reader was much too easy for her. She may be the exception, as we found All About Spelling after she was a proficient reader. She read her first chapter book two days ago.

The Beehive Reader is likely to work best with students that are learning how to read. I plan on using All About Spelling with my little boy from the start, and as long as he is not an advanced reader or a poor speller, the program is likely to work well. With my daughter, I used the Beehive Reader as a source of additional phrases to spell if we need to spend a little more time on an All About Spelling lesson. I would recommend this book to younger students as they learn to read (whether or not they use the spelling program at the same time).

The Beehive Reader 1 is available for $19.95 from All About Spelling.com.