The Spalding book says that it takes 3 hours a day. That sounds like way to long for my boys! Plus if I have to give them individual instruction, that's 6 hours on the two kids. That is not going to work for us. I need something that will guide me on giving individual reading instruction, but shouldn't take more than an hour a day per kid.

What is SWR?

OK, I am trying to read this while I have the flu, maybe not a good idea.... I went back and re-read some things, and see that they do start the spelling notebook in 1st grade..... there is just so much information that I am quite confused, and not sure where I'd start this with my 3rd grader. When I originally started teaching my 8yo to read, I did not have the flash cards, but I could remember using the flashcards when I was a kid, so I remembered the phonograms and taught them to him and had him practice reading them but not writing them. Should I just start at the beginning with both my 6yo and my 8yo?

OK, so yes I do have the Spalding book, but I haven't read it- my mom gave it to me along with the flashcards. I figured that if they (my younger 2) were learning the sounds from the flashcards, that was enough to teach them to read. I am reading the book now and can see why it's important to have them write the sounds also.... just yesterday my 6yo was trying to read a new word- I think it was "ray" and he was saying "ar-ee" because although when he sees "ar" on the card and pronounces it correctly, in a word he is not distinguishing between "ra" and "ar".... But I have a lot of questions about how to use Spalding. I can see it working very well for my 8yo, but if I want to do it "right" with my 6yo, is he supposed to be writing the phonograms when we are doing flashcards? It says that the spelling notebook starts in 3rd grade, so what does my first grader do? Is the first grader supposed to memorize the rules, or do I wait till 3rd grade when he starts the spelling notebook? Also, the book says not to have them read any books until they know ALL of the phonograms. It seems to me that it would make more sense to have them read books that contain the phonograms they already know, so that they understand how the phonograms work together in a word...... That is how my oldest learned- he learned the individual letter sounds, then read 3 letter basic words, then I would teach him a phonogram, and then teach him to read words that contained that phonogram. I figured that would work for all my kids, though they are not taking off the way my oldest did. Is Spalding saying that my first grader should not be reading ANY books until he knows ALL of the phonograms? Sorry I have so many questions, but I am getting a little confused reading the book, and would appreciate input from someone experienced with Spalding. Thanks much.

Thanks I was dying to know the answer :001_smile: I use the flashcards from Spalding to teach phonics. He knows almost all of them. Is there more I can do?

Thanks everyone for the encouragement. Ellie, what would you recommend I do specifically with him one-on-one?

:001_rolleyes: Thanks for responding Ellie. I taught him similarly to the way I taught my older son- first taught individual letter sounds, then phonograms, having him read words, passages, and books that he could read with the sounds he had learned. I taught him sight words as he encountered them in books. His main hangup seems to be that he gets frustrated on one word and then just quits reading, just sits there with the book. And maybe forgetting pieces of the story/ not able to tell me what the character's intentions were, or why they did or said something. Also wondering if this stage may be too young for me to be asking him WHY someone did something in the story, and should expect he will be able to answer those questions in the Logic stage....

Thanks for responding :seeya: If he is reading, say, 10 pages of 3rd grade level material, I would say he encounters about 8 words he doesn't know right away, and he can usually sound them out if he just takes his time, but he gets frustrated when he doesn't know it by sight. We use Spalding flashcards for phonics. He knows his phonograms, and can sound out words that make sense phonetically. He can usually tell what happened in the story, but not why a character did something. I have tried making him read books like Curious George and Amelia Bedelia, and he does, but it takes him about 20 minutes to read 8 pages. Part of that is focus, I think, and I'm not sure how to "fix" that either.... Sometimes I feel like I'm failing him as a teacher, sometimes I feel like it is something that will change with maturity.

Have to say I don't agree with teaching the "when two vowels go a walking" rule, as it has SOOOOO many exceptions, I would think it would be very confusing. I teach each phonogram with its potential sounds, and all the sounds at once, with the most common sound first. For example, "ea" can say long e, short e, or long a. "ou" and say long 'ow', long o, long u or short u. We have flashcards from Spalding (writing road to reading) that work well for us. I just introduce one or two new cards at a time, and make sure to review old ones.

I am homeschooling my 3 boys ages 10,8, 6, all with summer/ early fall birthdays, and for all of them I opted to count the fall they were 5 as the beginning of kindergarten, so my now 8 1/2 year old should be in the middle of 3rd grade. He reads fairly well, but gets very frustrated if he can't figure out a word immediately, starts whining, "I don't know!" and quits trying. He is supposed to try to sound it out, then write it down, and then ask for help if he still hasn't figured it out. I have reminded him of the process over and over but he does the same thing 95% of the time. He can answer basic facts at the end of the story but has trouble interpreting motivations of characters and such. He says he hates reading, and when he has choice reading time, where I let him read whatever he chooses, but he has to read for 20 minutes, he chooses very early beginning readers without any plot. He loves science, but not reading about science. I really want to give my kids a well-rounded education, and I don't want to quit doing history and science with him, but wonder if I should take a break from those subjects in order to focus more on reading comprehension. Or should I just call him a 2nd grader and plan on him being in school an extra year? My main reason for not labelling him a 2nd grader is that his brother who is 23 months older is doing great with 5th grade+ level work, and his younger brother who is a little over 2 years younger seems to be on track for 1st grade, and I don't want to make my middle son feel bad by being only one grade ahead of his little brother. Oooooor since I'm homeschooling do I just continue to call him a 3rd grader but work with him on his own pace. My husband is insistent that since our kids are homeschooled, they should all be at or above grade level and doesn't really get that kids are not all alike, and that may not be within the abilities of this child at this time. He is always trying to get him to read books that he is just not ready for....... So many dynamics......I'd love to hear all opinions on this.