The Phonics Road to Spelling and Reading: Introduction and Level 1

This will be long. Bear with me.

I find myself recommending this program frequently, and since I have much to say about it, typing the same things over and over again. I'm going to put all my thoughts here as a place to send folks who are interested in Phonics Road.
In 2005, my oldest son was finishing up second grade. I had taken a very relaxed approach to Language Arts up to this point. My son had learned to read with virtually no effort on my part, quite literally by watching Between the Lions. By second grade, with no formal phonics lessons, he was reading books like My Side of the Mountain. But he couldn't spell to save his life.

Phonics Road: Level 2

(For review of Level 1, see below)
Level 2: With each level of Phonics Road, you can expect to have the workload increase slightly. I find the transition between the first two levels to be the easiest. I am working through this level with my 7 year old boy now. The spelling/grammar portions take a half hour or less, and we spend a half hour on the literature study, which is mostly completed on his own.
Blueprints: You continue with the five words a day dictation model, not much changed from last level except the difficulty of the words. This usually takes us just a few minutes.

Phonics Road: Level 3

(For Levels 1 and 2, please scroll down! I don't know how to get these in a different order.)
Level 3: We're in the big leagues now!
It is this level that my son #2 has taken two school years to complete. This way we could really focus on the areas he needs extra work on.
Spelling Log: There is a big jump this year as the student goes from 5 words a day, to between 15-20. This is why we spread the work out more than the lesson plans suggest. Dictionary work is really stressed at this level (though not immediately) as the student begins to connect the spelling words to the grammar work, understanding what jobs an individual word can do in a sentence.

Phonics Road: Level 4

Level 4: This is the tour de force of the elementary series. Although intended for a fourth grader, I've never had one genius enough to do work of this caliber. Instead, son #1 used this in 6th grade, as will son #2. This level contains a new section -- Sentences to Analyze -- and eliminates "Building Codes as there should be no further need for reviewing the phonics rules at this point. That will be done through daily spelling words in the Spelling Log. Something I don't want to fail to mention is this level requires quite a bit more preparation on the teacher's part than previous levels. I would always watch the teacher's DVD on Sunday afternoons; this level found me in front of the computer sometimes for an hour. The grammar concepts tackled here are complex; I have a BA in English Language Arts and Literature, and sometimes the lessons hurt my head. But thoroughly understanding it will pay off for your student. I don't want to discourage you, but I also don't want anyone heading into this level without fully realizing the level of commitment required.