question about curriculum choices

[mamabear2three]

If you have a child who is accelerated in everything and picks new skills up quickly, but is not a natural speller, (handwriting and production fine - she just can't spell) do you assume that with proper instruction, they'll pick it up quickly too?

 

My DD never made it all the way through formal phonics instruction before she took off reading - and continuing phonics seemed redundant especially since she wasn't internalizing phonics skills, she was just reading words that she could read without needing the rules.

 

So I feel like part of her spelling issue is that she just hasn't been taught the rules yet. 

 

In trying to pick a curriculum I'm stick at an impasse between a thorough curriculum that will provide step by step progress (like AAS, Apples and pears) and a program that I can easily accelerate as needed (like LOE and spell to read and write). Should I assume that she will pickup spelling quickly as she learns the rules? (I thought she'd be able to do that with sequential spelling but she needs something more explicit) Or is that erroneous... is trial and error the only way to know? (She's strongest verbally)

 

I just hate to spend money on stuff and have it not work.

[EndOfOrdinary]

I just added in the rules when we did Sequential Spelling.  Like dropping the e when each week the did the endings "ed" and "ing"  or when they did CVC words where you double the second consonant.  My son did not pick up on the rules immediately without me doing that.

[mamabear2three]

The biggest problem I have with adding the rules into sequential spelling is that I am not very strong with them myself and the teachers book I have doesn't tell me the rules, which means I have to go figure them out. Which I guess is totally doable, it's just an extra step that's frustrating and requires more prep work.

[EndOfOrdinary]

That makes sense.  I was a terrible speller!  I was in the generation where they were still using "whole language" and had just begun stepping back into phonics. This one helped me:

 

http://www.davidappleyard.com/english/spelling.htm

 

Hope you find one that works for you.

[Tanikit]

My DD does accelerate through spelling curriculum (I am using my own, but very similar to AAS) - for her it seems to have to do with the amount of repetition she needs to remember things (both the rules and the sight word aspects of spelling) - so unless the writing portion were to hold her back, you could probably accelerate spelling - I would still add regular dictation though - it is the dictation that seems to have got my child to spell correctly in her own writing, not loads of spelling lists. 

The reason I teach spelling without a curriculum is so that I can adapt it for the amount of repetition my own child needs - but I do keep a running list of words that need work in my head (I am sure if I kept a list it might help me more). 

[Jackie]

We used the first two levels of All About Spelling and accelerated them quite a bit. I posted about how we accelerated it here, in case it helps: http://everchangingchild.blogspot.com/2014/08/accelerating-all-about-spelling.html

[mamabear2three]

My DD does accelerate through spelling curriculum (I am using my own, but very similar to AAS) - for her it seems to have to do with the amount of repetition she needs to remember things (both the rules and the sight word aspects of spelling) - so unless the writing portion were to hold her back, you could probably accelerate spelling - I would still add regular dictation though - it is the dictation that seems to have got my child to spell correctly in her own writing, not loads of spelling lists. 

The reason I teach spelling without a curriculum is so that I can adapt it for the amount of repetition my own child needs - but I do keep a running list of words that need work in my head (I am sure if I kept a list it might help me more). 

 

Thanks - using dictation makes sense to help spelling cross to other writing. I think I'll go with an approach that has her doing several different types of activities that incorporate spelling words.

 

We used the first two levels of All About Spelling and accelerated them quite a bit. I posted about how we accelerated it here, in case it helps: http://everchangingchild.blogspot.com/2014/08/accelerating-all-about-spelling.html

 

Thank you! This was very helpful in seeing what my options are with this curriculum :)