Thank you both! :) Ug...I *hate* switching curriculum but DS is really struggling with AAR & AAS (retention and application) and we are both frustrated. (He also struggles with tracking, reversals and randomly inserts phonograms in words or leaves them out when reading). I've been reading WRTR (again) as well....but I find myself caring less and less about all of the spelling rules the more that I read. They are more like "guidelines" anyway, LOL. How fast is (US) shipping? Do the flashcards come with Dancing Bears? Will the flashcards be confusing sine they are different than the phonograms we have been using with AAR & AAS? I think the the thing that is holding me back the most is the font....ug. Is it a major problem? We used Spalding for handwriting before starting AAR and AAS. Thanks so much!

I'm still agonizing over curriculum choices...lol. I have Spalding, AAR & AAS, and DB & AP swimming all through my thoughts. If you switched to Dancing Bears and Apples and Pears did you ever regret it? What curriculum did you switch from? Thanks!

Thanks!

DH adds an extra "r" to breakfast..."breakfrest"...lol. Hunter, I want to read your autobiography. :) Your posts always inspire me :)

Hey! You found the thread! :) (I read your other thread today, but I was on my phone). Congratulations on your mad thread-searching skills :) p.s. I don't have any advice...because I'm still reading WRTR...however, I see us rebelling with lots of little 4's marked above our y's and o's to show the 4th sound :p , LOL....Good luck with whatever you decide! p.s.s. I don't think "lamamalocla" will respond :( I just hovered my cursor over her user name and it said that she was last active in March of 2011.

LOL...fun! :)

Got it :) Thanks!

We like this one: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0689854676/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1399133741&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40

Thank you both! :) So if I am dictating a silent e word like "time" . .hold up 4 fingers /t/ /i/ /m/ ? ...lol...what do I *say* for the silent letter?

I'm reading through the WRTR again but I do have a couple of questions that I am impatient to find the answers to. ;) When dictating r. 17 words, do you hold up an extra finger and dictate for the doubled letter? For example, if the word is "will" /w/ /i/ /l/ /l/ ...while pointing to a finger for each sound? I'm also a little confused about when the 5 silent e's bracket is encountered in the A-G list. After going through the words and entering them into the notebook...does that particular bracket (and the associated words) become part of the spelling list for that week? I noticed that the words are repeated later in the word lists. Do you just teach the types, not test them, and then wait for the individual words to come up singularly to dictate, study and test? ETA.... Also "c" vs. "k" at the beginning of the word....does the student just figure it out based on the following vowel sound or do you tell them ..."use the phonogram that says /c/ /s/ " Thanks! :)

The Spalding readers were pretty boring. I sold them. Try "Go Dog Go"....my kids think the picturrs are hilarious, lol.

The students don't mark the words for the tests, right?

Thanks, Ellie! That was helpful :)

Because I'm mean (and paranoid :lol: ). I want to make sure he can remember the concepts over the weekend. Hey Ellie....When and how are contractions taught with Spalding? Thanks for your post CMama :) ...although I do have envy now for "My Wise Grammar Book" :)

Sorry for the confusion! No, Monday's spelling test would be from the previous week's words. A new set of words studied Tuesday-Friday and tested on Monday. :-) Thanks for your help! I'm editing my schedule to clarify! :)

For the record..lol....I was thinking.... Tuesday: introduce/dictate/mark 15 words Wednesday: review (somehow) yesterday's 15 words Thursday: introduce/dictate/mark a new set of 15 words Friday: review (somehow) yesterday's 15 words Monday: test 30 words Feedback? :)

I want to know too :) Did you have them mark the words for review? Dictation two days in a row with markings.....then mix it up for review and test....I like this too :) Thanks :)

After the words are entered into the spelling notebook what else do you do for practice before your quiz/test? What is your schedule like? Thanks!

Thank you all for the perspective and experience...very helpful! :)

Hmmmmm.....good to know :) Thanks!!

I keep thinking that Spelling City would be fun for DS to practice his spelling words on, however he doesn't type yet. How big of a problem would this be? I did buy subscription to talkingfingers for typing instruction a couple of months ago. DS was discouraged and frustrated with the fingering and so I thought I'd wait...but spelling city keeps calling me, LOL. We will eventually do keyboarding...but if I let him "hen-peck" for now I'm wondering if it will cause any problems for keyboarding later? Thanks!

Thanks! I'll check them out :)

This is a good idea...but I'm a little unsure if I can make it work based upon how he learned these sound in AAR. I'm wondering how to have him tell me the vowel sound for the ings and angs? AAR says "when the phonogram ng comes after an a or i the vowels don't say their pure short vowel sound. Instead the sound falls between the short and long vowel sound, as in the words sang and thing" So...I've been trying to just have DS recognize "ing" and "ang" as a chunk because the vowel sounds different than. The problem is that when sounding out left to right he usually uses the short vowel sound first (LOL, except now that we have learned long vowels he randomly throws those sounds in random places in random words whenever it suits his fancy as well).... Hmmmm. Thanks!

We need extra practice with ing ang ong and ung. We have been through the lessons in AAR and Phonics Pathways a couple of times but DS frequently misreads these words. Does anyone know of any readers or games, etc (preferably cheap or free) that we can use to practice? Thanks!!! :)