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I have heard that AAS is the best, but I'm not sure I want to invest in it, as the price and involvement is too high for me at this time etc...

 

So, is there such a thing, as an independent spelling program/ workbook that works???

 

What do you use, and what have you used in the past but didn't work out?

 

Thanx!

 

 

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R&S Spelling is independent and pretty thorough (if Christian content is ok for you).

 

If your children are struggling spellers, they may need something more teacher dependent though. AAS is definitely not independent. It's also not necessarily the "best" program either. For those ages, something that moves faster might be better anyway. AAS is very expensive if you have to fly through 3-4 levels the first year.

 

If you need inexpensive, Spalding would be a good choice. It's easy to find the manual used. If you find an intact 4th edition, it will even have phonogram cards in the middle.

 

Alternately, if your kids might do better with a word pattern approach, Sequential Spelling or Apples & Pears (Sound Foundations) might be a good choice.

 

What have you tried? What is their phonics background?

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Whatever you use, I'd choose something with intensive and systematic review.  All About Spelling is expensive, but there are programs out there that do a similar job, for less money.

 

I used Spell to Write and Read with the Wise Guide.  It does require a parent....but takes about 15 to 20 minutes a day.  There is a bit of a learning curve, but it's do-able.  It covers K-12 for roughly $100 dollars. The Wise Guide tells you what needs to be done every week.  It's a great program.  I've used it with three kids with different learning styles, one of them had auditory processing disorder.  Excellent program.  This is a link to a page that helps you get up and running quickly.  This site totally helped me implement SWR and truly has blessed my family.  My LD child jumped three grade levels in one year, and was up to college level spelling by the time he graduated high school.  My younger students finished the program in two to three years.  I'm cycling back through SWR with my ten year old, but I suspect she will no longer need spelling after next year.  (She's spelling at an 11th grade level now.)

 

You can use Spalding, as the poster above suggested.  It provides no hand holding, but you can make it work.  I suggest reading through the manual like a novel.  Create your own spelling notebook and then begin teaching.  When you come across something you don't know, just tell your child that you don't know and you can learn together. 

 

I honestly do not know of a workbook that teaches spelling as thoroughly as a Spalding program.  I've tried a lot of programs over the years, and the Spalding method is the only thing that helped all of my children consistently.  I think the key is systematic and intensive review with a focus on rules and phonograms, rather than memorizing whole words or patterns.  Some kids are natural spellers, others have large memory capacity.  Not all students do though, and I think this is why Spalding works best.

 

 

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Apples & Pears it what is working for us.  It does require your involvement though.  DD is learning word patterns instead of memorizing lists.  We tried AAS but neither of us liked it.  DD has speech issues and I found that A & P works better for that.  One lesson of A & P should take no more than 15 minutes.  The 4 level set costs $120.  http://www.prometheantrust.org/usshop.htm

 

Susie

DD(9)

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I started AAS when my kids were 4th & 6th. Before that we tried a number of things, some independent, some not--I even tried making my own OG-style for awhile. We had use Spelling Power (oldest only), Sequential, Apples Spelling (oldest only), Spectrum, and studied copywork/dictation. AAS actually took us LESS time per day than Sequential did and it's what worked here. You can set a timer for 15 or 20 minutes and just pick up wherever you left off previously. I ended up making another subject more independent to exchange the time needed, because my kids just needed the help in this area. Anyway, hope you find a good solution for your family!

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R&S Spelling is independent and pretty thorough (if Christian content is ok for you).

 

If your children are struggling spellers, they may need something more teacher dependent though. AAS is definitely not independent. It's also not necessarily the "best" program either. For those ages, something that moves faster might be better anyway. AAS is very expensive if you have to fly through 3-4 levels the first year.

 

If you need inexpensive, Spalding would be a good choice. It's easy to find the manual used. If you find an intact 4th edition, it will even have phonogram cards in the middle.

 

Alternately, if your kids might do better with a word pattern approach, Sequential Spelling or Apples & Pears (Sound Foundations) might be a good choice.

 

What have you tried? What is their phonics background?

 

 

We were using CLE LA, and it relies on memorizing the list words. My dd 11 has also used ETC in the past. She has no trouble when she uses those lists, but she doesn't retain them long. Same with Maths! I'm not sure if she is just lazy, but she has lately been asking me to spell out easy words for her.

 

Thanks, I'll look into Spalding.

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We were using CLE LA, and it relies on memorizing the list words. My dd 11 has also used ETC in the past. She has no trouble when she uses those lists, but she doesn't retain them long. Same with Maths! I'm not sure if she is just lazy, but she has lately been asking me to spell out easy words for her.

 

Thanks, I'll look into Spalding.

 

You might try making some dictation sentences using her spelling words, so she'll use them in the context of "writing" instead of just a spelling test. That will often help get the spelling into their brains better. Many of the good spelling programs utilize dictation. Technically, Spalding doesn't, but it does tell you how to include writing that should do the same thing.

 

I've heard many people complain about the spelling in CLE. I understand that it doesn't teach much of the "why" of the spelling? Any of the Spalding/O-G based programs will teach the "why" (like using "ai" in the middle of the word and "ay" at the end of a word... that sort of thing). AAS and LOE (Logic of English) are probably the easiest and most open-and-go of those types of programs. AAS is more O-G style - introducing one phonogram or rule at a time and working with that, then reviewing previously learned phonograms/rules in dictation. Spalding introduces a large chunk of the phonograms up front, then jumps into analyzing words that use many different phonograms. LOE, which I haven't used, seems to be closer to the Spalding way, but I don't think it introduces as many phonograms up front as Spalding does. LOE has dictation built in. Spalding would require you to make up your own dictation or have the child make up sentences using some of the spelling words. It's been a while since I read The Writing Road to Reading (Spalding manual), but it's definitely something you as a teacher have to include - they don't lay it out for you to dictate xyz sentences or phrases like AAS, LOE, and even HTTS (How to Teach Spelling) do. HTTS is O-G based and has a TM that takes you through all grade levels (it includes words I didn't even know :lol:), and it has 4 workbooks to go with it that are not really grade leveled. HTTS is also reasonably priced. I think the TM is less than $30? You can technically use that program without the workbooks, though some users find it helpful to have the workbooks. They are not independent workbooks. I have HTTS, but haven't really used it for any length of time, and the workbook I own was too high a level for my son when I wanted to try it.

 

There are a lot of good options. If money wasn't an issue, I'd recommend AAS or LOE (probably LOE for an older child), since they would be easier to teach. If those are too expensive though, Spalding or HTTS are good alternatives.

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I have heard that AAS is the best, but I'm not sure I want to invest in it, as the price and involvement is too high for me at this time etc...

 

So, is there such a thing, as an independent spelling program/ workbook that works???

 

What do you use, and what have you used in the past but didn't work out?

 

Thanx!

 

I don't believe any product or method is the "best." :D There are some that I *like* the best, but the "best" one is really the one that works best for *you.*

 

AAS is a Spalding spin-off. I prefer Spalding, but neither one can be done independently.

 

Rod and Staff's "Spelling by Sound and Structure" series can be done independently, and it's pretty decent. The spelling lists are not always terribly difficult, but the assignments in each lesson (4th and up) can be very challenging and teach useful skills.

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AAS is a Spalding spin-off.

 

Not really. AAS is O-G based, and Spalding is O-based (Orton). The phonograms and rules are basically the same (clearly Orton's work), but the method is *very* different. In AAS, you learn one phonogram/rule at a time and practice word families using that phonogram/rule (O-G style), whereas Spalding has you learn many of the phonograms up front and mix them together the very first time you start writing words. That is such a huge difference, that I really don't see how AAS could ever be based on Spalding at all. :) Some of the words analyzed early in Spalding would be in much later levels of AAS because of the phonograms/rules being taught sequentially.

 

Basically, AAS is very much parts to whole, whereas Spalding is taking more of a whole to parts approach (analyze the word for all the phonograms/rules used).

 

They look similar due to the phonograms/rules being the same, but once you've used both products, the differences are staggering. SWR and PR are clearly Spalding spinoffs, and LOE appears to be one also, but AAS, HTTS, and Barton are all O-G based - going in a different direction.

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Apples & Pears is my favorite.  I've used SWR, Recipe for Reading, and have studied The Writing Road to Reading thoroughly in addition to many others.  (My oldest is dyslexic.)

 

 

Apples & Pears is all laid out.  It requires you to teach for 15min a day, but with zero planning.  It's all scripted.  It uses copywork and dictation extensively.  It works in morphemes and phonemic patterns (and it covers the important rules too), and then reviews them in tight spirals, from word to sentence....repeatedly.  It's effective at helping a student retain the correct spellings across the curriculum.  It would be Charlotte Mason if it would only use excerpts from literature for the copywork/dictation.  As it is, the copywork/dictation may not provoke profound thought, but it forces repeated review of all of the words & patterns taught.

 

 

The books are organized into levels.  There are about 60 levels per book.  An older student might do a level in one day.  A younger student might do one page per day, stretching the book out over a whole school year.  

 

 

FTR - My 9yo who is a natural speller is going to use R&S next year after completing A&P books A and B.  My dyslexic 11yo went through Book A twice, and is going to start Book B this summer.  My 7yo (almost 8) will be starting Book A this fall.  It's a lot of writing, so I sometimes tweak in other things to account (cutting dictations in a writing program, for ex).

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Not really. AAS is O-G based, and Spalding is O-based (Orton). The phonograms and rules are basically the same (clearly Orton's work), but the method is *very* different. In AAS, you learn one phonogram/rule at a time and practice word families using that phonogram/rule (O-G style), whereas Spalding has you learn many of the phonograms up front and mix them together the very first time you start writing words. That is such a huge difference, that I really don't see how AAS could ever be based on Spalding at all. :) Some of the words analyzed early in Spalding would be in much later levels of AAS because of the phonograms/rules being taught sequentially.

 

Basically, AAS is very much parts to whole, whereas Spalding is taking more of a whole to parts approach (analyze the word for all the phonograms/rules used).

 

They look similar due to the phonograms/rules being the same, but once you've used both products, the differences are staggering. SWR and PR are clearly Spalding spinoffs, and LOE appears to be one also, but AAS, HTTS, and Barton are all O-G based - going in a different direction.

 

You could be right. :-)

 

I will never be able to think of Spalding as being "Orton based," though. :-)

 

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