It should NOT have an italic font. It should NOT be the "original" or even the "latest"! This publisher has put out some very confusing advertising and editions over the years.
Non-disabled students can do just fine with even the oldest version included in How to Tutor, and then transitioning to something else or just figuring out enough on their own, but your little guy will benefit from the consistency of starting and finishing the most complete version.
For the handwriting, I would use Spalding manuscript and plan on staying with Spalding manuscript. I have been in college and have not keeping up with tutoring and all the newest editions and resources for books. I see links to all sorts of teacher created resources that can be downloaded for Spalding handwriting and I have no person experience with any of them. The original author of Spalding was a good woman; the company that inherited here work is big business and you need to beware of them. Okay, I see the 6th edition still for sale and this has excellent handwriting instruction if someone were teaching cursive, but I think all you need is the Don Potter manuscript.
Do NOT leave the child unattended to go an entire page of handwriting. Monitor each letter as it is written. Even if you do not correct the child immediately, figure out which STROKE is off and make the child write that stroke and then the full letter, even if later in the day or the next day. Do not have the child continue to practice incorrect letter formation.
There are students that I have taught all caps handwriting, if they were severely disabled in their motor skills. There are many cons to this, but there are students that function in society best by just writing in all caps all the time.
Go slow. Do a lot of handwriting instruction, rather than just reading. Move ahead and then go back several lessons and review. You may need to take breaks and start over from the beginning. Several times. This is HARD for some students! The number of letters and combinations is just a mountain to learn.
Also do not believe everything you are told after testing. Testing is big business, and acting like the results you receive are important makes a lot of people a lot of money and lets them all live in their comfy world that requires creating categories with scales and forcing people into them and measuring them according to the scale of the category. Your child is wider and far more complex than their stupid categories. He may even be gifted in some ways. Maybe far more gifted than they and their tests can recognize or measure. Be alert for areas of strengths, and teach to them.
Just came across this older thread. Question for Hunter - I taught both of my kids to read with an Alpha-Phonics book that I found for $5 and a set of foam letters from the Dollar Tree. Simple, easy, and it worked. Both kids were reading well in Kindergarten, and we finished the book in 1st grade along with some Explode the Code workbooks for more practice. I'm now looking for input on where to go from there in language arts. For my oldest, we tried going to Abeka in 2nd grade because it's always held as the phonics gold standard in my homeschool community. I was taught Abeka in private school, so it's familiar to me. But to be honest, the teacher's manual made me want to hurl myself off a building. It just wasn't a good fit for me, and we struggled with getting through all the different pieces...the lessons, the charts, the workbooks, and the fact that spelling and reading and phonics and grammar were all separated. It was cumbersome and time consuming, and we started to skip things just to get through it. And even though I acknowledge that it's a great program, it's only great if I can teach it. So I'm on the hunt for something new for my (now) 2nd grader who just finished Alpha-Phonics.
My question for Hunter is - as someone familiar with Alpha-Phonics, do you have any recommendations on where to go after that? I really feel like a strong phonics foundation is important. Was Alpha-Phonics enough? Something that goes over the phonogram rules and the "why" behind phonics does sound appealing to me, but I don't want to bog them down since they're both reading well for their ages. I'm also realizing that spelling and spelling rules are probably going to need a bit more attention with both my kids. Ideally, I'd love a program that covers phonics, spelling and grammar all in one without being overwhelming. Does such a magic unicorn program exist? I've been considering LOE Foundations for my youngest, but it's expensive and the teacher's manual looks a little busy. I've wondered if I could still teach him the phonograms by just using the flashcards and the games and skip all of the other pricey stuff? I've also looked into AAR/AAS, but I've heard that they move slowly, and I'm not crazy about it being 2 separate programs. I also just stumbled on Reading Lessons Through Literature (now Reading and Spelling Through Literature), which looks interesting and a bit more straightforward. I like simple, but I also want to make sure I'm giving them a good foundation. Open to ideas! Thanks for reading my ramblings :)
AAR, LOE and spelling
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted
Just came across this older thread. Question for Hunter - I taught both of my kids to read with an Alpha-Phonics book that I found for $5 and a set of foam letters from the Dollar Tree. Simple, easy, and it worked. Both kids were reading well in Kindergarten, and we finished the book in 1st grade along with some Explode the Code workbooks for more practice. I'm now looking for input on where to go from there in language arts. For my oldest, we tried going to Abeka in 2nd grade because it's always held as the phonics gold standard in my homeschool community. I was taught Abeka in private school, so it's familiar to me. But to be honest, the teacher's manual made me want to hurl myself off a building. It just wasn't a good fit for me, and we struggled with getting through all the different pieces...the lessons, the charts, the workbooks, and the fact that spelling and reading and phonics and grammar were all separated. It was cumbersome and time consuming, and we started to skip things just to get through it. And even though I acknowledge that it's a great program, it's only great if I can teach it. So I'm on the hunt for something new for my (now) 2nd grader who just finished Alpha-Phonics.
My question for Hunter is - as someone familiar with Alpha-Phonics, do you have any recommendations on where to go after that? I really feel like a strong phonics foundation is important. Was Alpha-Phonics enough? Something that goes over the phonogram rules and the "why" behind phonics does sound appealing to me, but I don't want to bog them down since they're both reading well for their ages. I'm also realizing that spelling and spelling rules are probably going to need a bit more attention with both my kids. Ideally, I'd love a program that covers phonics, spelling and grammar all in one without being overwhelming. Does such a magic unicorn program exist? I've been considering LOE Foundations for my youngest, but it's expensive and the teacher's manual looks a little busy. I've wondered if I could still teach him the phonograms by just using the flashcards and the games and skip all of the other pricey stuff? I've also looked into AAR/AAS, but I've heard that they move slowly, and I'm not crazy about it being 2 separate programs. I also just stumbled on Reading Lessons Through Literature (now Reading and Spelling Through Literature), which looks interesting and a bit more straightforward. I like simple, but I also want to make sure I'm giving them a good foundation. Open to ideas! Thanks for reading my ramblings :)