Apples and Pears Questions

[Mindfulgirl]

I have book A in the mail and I'm excited!

 

We use Handwriting Without Tears, which is a pretty different style. Did it bother your kids to trace a different font or did you have them do those exercises on plain lined paper?

 

Is there a good resource of spelling rules I could use as a reference to go alongside it if a question comes up? I really love the look of the morpheme approach, but would like to be able to refer to rules like All About Spelling would have from time to time. Actually, I have Bluedorn's Handy English Encoder Decoder now that I think about it. Maybe that would be enough?

 

As I'm looking through A, I don't see that they define the morphemes. Any ideas for a resource for that when questions come up?

[sbgrace]

I used a rule based program before switching to Apples and Pears. I'm trying to think back about whether I ever referred us to any of those rules, and I can't remember. 

 

But what I do remember is that the beauty of Apples and Pears to me, and what made it great for my kid who knew all the spelling rules and still couldn't spell, was that the few rules Apples and Pears teaches and emphasizes are the few rules that always work.

 

You can learn to spell well with just those rules and the morphemes technique.

 

I believe there are books of the spelling rules on Amazon and CBD and similar, but I don't think I'd do it unless you really want it for yourself.  I'm not sure that adding more information would help, and might actually hurt. You want the rules in Apples and Pears to sink in deep. 

 

I think I'd call morphemes chunks if asked? I don't think it will be confusing/questioned. 

 

I'm not sure on the tracing/writing! We used HWT too. I don't remember an issue with tracing/writing, but we were probably 5th grade before starting. 

 

 

[Michelle in IL]

My 8yo is just finishing up Book A. The handwriting style is different than what I had taught him. I just told him to make the letters the way he had been taught. So he's not truly tracing but close enough IMO. One of my older kids did all of AAS and I have a younger just starting it so I have the rules in the back of my head. I just throw them out as appropriate to my 8yo.

 

I refuse to stress about spelling with my younger kids. I was diligent about it with my older kids but it didnt seem to matter much. After 9 years of instruction, my stinky speller is still a stinky speller. My maybe almost average speller is still my maybe almost average speller. I'm guessing this doesnt hold true for every family or the spelling curriculum companies would be out of business! :)

[blondeviolin]

My 9yo sort of traces but doesn't really and he doesn't really need to. He knows how to form his letters.

 

In all honesty, A&P is awesome for him right now because it doesn't teach rules often. The rules and phonograms were what made spelling anxiety-ridden. He's excelling with A&P. He was doing just okay with SS.

[teachermom2834]

My 9 yo dd is a good student and avid reader but absolutely terrible speller. Shockingly bad :(.

 

She has been in the Memoria Press full curriculum since K and I kept thinking she would catch up and her spelling would improve. But it wasn't - at all. So, with just a bit of research here (I am a burned out long time homeschooler who does not get fired up about curriculum anymore) I ordered Apples and Pears. Without even understanding exactly how it works or worrying about the details we just jumped in.

 

In just a few weeks her spelling and confidence has dramatically improved across all her subjects. It might have to do with her age and that she is already a very good reader. I don't know but it has been a good purchase and I want to encourage you that you might not need to worry about all the details for it to work. It probably depends on the age and stage of your student but for my fourth grader those details are not a problem.

[Mindfulgirl]

Thanks, everyone! This makes me feel even better about it. My daughter has had a hard time learning to read and AAR really helped after trying a less rules based approach, so it is a little hard for me to give up the rules based approach now for spelling. But I know using rules for reading is different than for spelling since spelling has more exceptions and there is so much more to remember.

 

Sbgrace, I was actually wondering about definitions for each morpheme, such as what it means when you add "er" or "ly" to a word. I mean, I know a lot of them intuitively, but wondered about another source.

[sixpence1978]

We had great success here as well.  We were using AAS before switching to A&P and I thought I would refer to the spelling rules as needed.  Other than the few rules that A&P teaches, I also never referred to other spelling rules.  I actually found that they confused my DD more.  Like you mentioned, rules worked really well for learning to read, but fell through for spelling.

 

As far as the font, I didn't make a big deal of it.  My DD liked to try tracing it how it was, but she would still write using the font I taught her.  The tracing didn't seem to be that huge of a part of A&P for us. 

[Innisfree]

Thanks, everyone! This makes me feel even better about it. My daughter has had a hard time learning to read and AAR really helped after trying a less rules based approach, so it is a little hard for me to give up the rules based approach now for spelling. But I know using rules for reading is different than for spelling since spelling has more exceptions and there is so much more to remember.

 

Sbgrace, I was actually wondering about definitions for each morpheme, such as what it means when you add "er" or "ly" to a word. I mean, I know a lot of them intuitively, but wondered about another source.

For the definitions of many morphemes, I have found pairing Vocabulary from Classical Roots with Apples and Pears to be a natural fit. It defines the roots, which often are morphemes, and identifies prefixes and suffixes which are used to form different parts of speech. Often there isn't a "meaning" as such; a suffix might just change an adjective to an adverb, for example, so "slow" becomes "slowly". Anyway, it takes a little time to work through the books and learn the roots, prefixes and suffixes, but it's pretty easy and might help address those questions.

 

Alternatively, when questions arise you can just look prefixes and suffixes up in the dictionary. I just looked up "-ly" and found "a suffix forming adverbs from adjectives." Not every morpheme will be there, but some will.

Edited October 17, 2017 by Innisfree