[Rod and Staff / writing with skill]

This is really good to know! I have read up through book 6. Where he is.  I like the idea of using rod and staff to its fullest and then writing across the curriculum and not adding in another rewriting program (WWS) 

[Rod and Staff / writing with skill]

1 hour ago, Ellie said:

If he does *all* of the writing--the grammar, the writing assignments, answering questions in writing on actual paper--then R&S English is a complete English course (except for literature). To put it another way, if you want only grammar, I would do something else, such as Analytical Grammar, instead of just doing the grammar lessons in the R&S English.

I would like to use the Rod and Staff, I already own the complete collection. I like the grammar portions but the writing doesn’t seem up to par. I have so far felt comfortable using the whole thing but we also do the narration and dictation laid out in Writing with Ease. It hasn’t been too much work so far. I could go on as we have, doing the complete Rod and Staff and doing outlining and narration across the curriculum (literature, history and science) but I don’t feel like there is a good guide for doing it that way. Which really I think is the ideal way

[Rod and Staff / writing with skill]

We are using Rod and staff for English grammar, would you use the writing lessons in it too? Or, skip the writing lessons and use writing with skill? He is 13, and very good and narration and getting his thoughts and narration to paper, but we haven’t done any outlining.

[Spelling in 8th grade]

On 5/27/2021 at 2:24 PM, Lori D. said:

I won't quibble with you, but I think you are misunderstanding what I am saying that from the 1 example you provided, it looks like he may be spelling by how it sounds to him. 😉 

At any rate, if his spelling instruction has been neglected (from your first post above), then this is the time to use a formal program to get him up to speed. I'd strongly recommend getting a formal evaluation, which could help you narrow down what spelling program would best help him "learn the rules" and "see the spelling patterns".

You might take a look at this short article: "Effective Spelling Strategies" which explains the four main strategies for spelling (phonetic, rule-based, visual, morphemic), and see if it is clear to you right away which strategy/strategies your student is weak in, to then know what approach to take for remediating his weak spelling.

In this list below, I see the following spelling programs frequently mentioned for struggling spellers -- BUT, each works on a different aspect of spelling that may be problematic for the student, so it helps to know WHAT specifically the student struggles with to know what to use to remediate. Examples:

- Apples and Pears = morpheme-based; presents morphemes as units of meaning within words, then drills those root units
- All About Spelling = phonics-based/Orton-Gillingham approach, using multiple learning styles (visual, auditory, tactile, kinesthetic)
- Sequential Spelling = visual-based; syllables and "chunking" to see smaller words within longer words for spelling attack
- Phonetic Zoo = phonetic-based; helps to strengthen weak auditory-sequential processing
- Megawords = rule-based; focus on syllabication (breaking long words into smaller syllables + spelling patterns), plus vowel patterns
- Apples Daily Spelling Drill = rule-based review
- Spelling Through Morphographs = morpheme-based + rule-based; words are morphographs (base + prefixes/suffixes), and rules for spelling these combinations
- Stevenson Blue Spelling Manual = visual-based; mnemonics (visual images) linked to spelling patterns
- Dianne Craft - "blocked learning gate" of spelling = visual-based, plus suggested techniques to increase brain hemisphere connections

In the meanwhile, if your 8th grader has not learned to touch type (type without looking at the keyboard), I'd suggest working on that, in order to get him typing all of his writing. Then tools such as SpellCheck will start flagging his misspellings, which, the more he types, the more it can help him to start seeing patterns of spelling / misspelling.

BEST of luck in finding what helps improve the spelling.

Thank you for so much information about ea program, it helps a lot.

[Spelling in 8th grade]

3 hours ago, SilverMoon said:

I'd start by ruling out a learning disability too. ✌️

 

Otherwise, I did use Writing Road to Reading on a fast track with an 8th grader (older... 4th edition maybe). It's very phonics based. There are flashcards to memorize and then we worked down the spelling lists, marking each word as we went. I jotted down any words he didn't do well on and we started every day with that list before starting down the big list again. I let his ability set the speed and ignored the suggested schedule. After a few months his spelling was light-years better and he cared more about getting them right. It was parent intensive the entire time but so worthwhile for that kid. 

What types of learning disability could that possibly be? He has never been to school. So we have never had input from anyone else.

[Spelling in 8th grade]

3 hours ago, Lori D. said:

The one example of spelling "any" as "eny" suggests not hearing or pronouncing words correctly, which will lead to misspelling of words. So that could indicate a possible hearing issue (not hearing words pronounced correctly to begin with), or that the student is hearing words being pronounced differently, which is throwing off the spelling. For example, I see by your user name that your family may be Spanish-speakers and are bilingual? If so, then vowels are pronounced differently in those two languages, which can lead to misspellings in English, if the student is thinking about Spanish.

All that to say, if all of the student's misspellings are like that, then there is a logic to the misspelling -- it is not random or "mindless". That would suggest using a program that focuses on the sounds that letters make in English, and the different ways those sounds can be spelled.

But, that is just guess work based on the one example provided. It would also be important to know if the student has any learning issues / disabilities. Or if the student strongly needs a particular style of presentation to "click" with spelling (for example, if the student is strongly visual, a program that practices spelling by repeatedly writing the words is not going to help much.

No, we are not bi-lingual, sadly. What is interesting about his writing is that it really is written exactly how most words sound. So almost the opposite of what you are saying. It’s like he has completely thrown out ANY rules of phonics and just writes. He is actually a very talented writer. So this has started to be a hang up because we have to go back and correct almost everything. I don’t want this to turn into a discouragement for him. 

[Spelling in 8th grade]

What would you do with an 8th grader, whose spelling has been neglected, and now is mindlessly spelling everything wrong. (Think spelling any as eny.) 

 

edited to add: He is a strong reader. 

[Key to Algebra]

My 8th grader is working through the key to algebra series this year and I am making plans for high school. My question is would you consider this a pre-algebra level or algebra 1? should she take algebra 1 next year or move on to geometry?