Awesome, thanks!

I've decided to try Phonetic Zoo for spelling with my rising 4th grade dd. She has some vision issues (strabismus, amblyopia, and a congenital cataract in her left eye that is hopefully getting removed in the next few months). Her spelling is OK, not great, and she seems to get letters switched a fair amount (right letters, wrong order). We've used HTTS 1 and 2, and she's done fine with them. I just wonder if she would benefit from something that relies less on visual learning. Thus, the switch to PZ. If anyone has a dc with similar vision issues and has used PZ, I'd be curious to hear how it's gone. I don't think she's dyslexic or anything like that. Anyway, we don't have a CD player that would be convenient for her to use. Would it be possible to rip the CDs to an MP3 player and have her use that? I hate to spend money on a device that would only be used for PZ.

I have a fairly extensive review of HTTS (including page samples) at http://dougcarla.wordpress.com/2012/02/07/how-to-teach-spelling-review/ Carla

We use Math Mammoth with Math Minutes as well. Definitely a winning combination. Occasionally a topic will come up in the Math Minutes that they haven't covered in MM yet, but I tell them to just skip it and we do a quick discussion about it when they've finished everything else. My 3 that I am teaching (11yo, 9yo, 7yo) all do the Math Minutes w/o complaint. They do complain about MM sometimes; it makes them think! :) Math Minutes can be found as a PDF at http://www.creativeteaching.com/products/math-minutes-1st-grade (for first grade). I have six children so I wanted a PDF instead of a workbook.

I just ordered it from CBD. It says it is in stock.

Hi, I have a big write-up on HTTS on my blog, including spreadsheets I use to help guide me. I basically rely on the workbooks for direction, and use the TM for dictation sentences. I have not bothered with going over the phonograms; I just dove right in with the workbook pages. Oh, and I usually point out any spelling errors after they have finished writing the whole sentence/phrase, first asking them to see if they can find the error, then telling them which word if they can't figure it out. http://dougcarla.wordpress.com/2012/02/07/how-to-teach-spelling-review/

Sorry, I keep forgetting I can't just copy and paste links. :tongue_smilie: Fixed it in my original post, and here it is again: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/showthread.php?t=423348

For info on how some of us use How to Spell/How to Teach Spelling, take a look at this thread: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/showthread.php?t=423348 I wrote a lengthy blog post about how we use HTTS that includes a planning spreadsheet. It is linked in the thread above. Genevieve gives a nice, concise description of how they use it which is helpful, I think.

For info on How to Spell/How to Teach Spelling, take a look at this thread: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/showthread.php?t=423348 I wrote a lengthy blog post about HTTS that includes page samples and a planning spreadsheet. It is linked in the thread above. Genevieve gives a nice, concise description of how they use it which is helpful, I think.

:iagree: If my child has a particular sentence or more that she wants to write, such as, "Happy birthday, Grandpa! I love you!" I will usually write the whole thing on a small whiteboard for her to copy. Makes things easier for both of us. I also purchased a small beginning writer's dictionary that has many of the words she would want to use, plus room to write in other words that are not included. You could easily make one. I think the one I bought only cost $2 or $3 on CBD.

This thread will probably be very helpful. I wrote a lengthy blog post about HTTS, which is linked in this thread, but Genevieve gives a nice, concise description of how they use it. http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/showthread.php?t=423348

We are in WWE 3 and my almost 10yo ds (starting 4th grade on Monday) hated the dictations, too. I noticed he did a lot better with dictations from his own narrations of the story, so we are only doing narration days and dictations from his narrations. He is still not crazy about WWE, but doing it this way gets the job done and with a lot less heartache. We are just going to finish WWE 3 and then do a couple of short writing books (Igniting Your Writing is one of them) before we start WWS in 5th grade.

I went there last night to find something and had trouble as well...

Did you say you actually have AAS? If so, definitely try that. There is a rule to help her know when to use k vs. ck. I am wondering if the teacher is explaining any rules or just expecting the children to figure them out from the spelling lists. We use How to Teach Spelling (rules-based with workbooks and dictation), but I might consider AAS if we were doing afterschooling. It might be a fun bonding time for you and your dd.

I did something similar with my dd7 for K. (I did Saxon 1 for my oldest's K year.) Since I was only schooling 2 at the time, I felt comfortable winging it. The downside was that because it wasn't all laid out for me (open and go), that was the first thing we skipped if the day got a little hectic. She ended up doing OK with MM1 in 1st, but I feel like she would have done better if I had had something laid out for me because it would have gotten done more consistently. That's why I am trying Singapore EM for dd5. I'll be schooling 3 with a 3yo and 1yo roaming the house (as well as being pg w/ #6). She is a bright but wiggly girl so between SM and Miquon/LoF (combining her with dd7 on Miquon/LoF) I'm hoping this will keep her engaged. Anyway, all that to say that making up your own K program is totally doable if you think you can be consistent about it.

I am going to be doing Singapore Essential Math A and B with my K dd5 this year, as well as some Miquon and LoF for fun. I think this will lay a great foundation for MM 1, which I will start whenever she finishes with SM.

The workbooks are definitely open and go. I don't usually have to help the child at all unless it's something they've never seen before and they just don't get it from reading the rule. Then I just explain the rule (using the workbook page), work a few of the problems with them to make sure they get it, then let them go to town. On dictation days, I have to work with them, of course. If you are starting on Level 2, you could do spelling 3x/week and get done in a year pretty easily. I broke up a few of the pages in Level 1 into 2 days for my dd. Next year in Level 3 I will break many of the pages into 2 days worth of work because there's a lot more writing. If we do 3x/week, I think we could probably get 2 years out of Level 3.

Sorry, I meant to add that I never teach anything out of the TM. All the instruction is found in the workbook. I just use the TM for dictation and if I want to see if there are exceptions to the rule or something like that. I also jot down my own dictation sentences in the TM in the appropriate section. Stripe is right about the later books briefly reviewing rules that were covered in the earlier ones. Sometimes they do add some additional info that wasn't mentioned the first time around. After reviewing the earlier rules, they go on to new, harder stuff.

Yes, I would definitely get the workbooks. I would not know what to do with just the TM. You could download the spreadsheets I have linked on my blog and tweak them to fit your family so that you have a basic idea of the order things are taught and what days you'll be needed for dictation. You could use the sound sheets at the beginning of the workbooks/TM to make your own cards. I've never really done much with those but if I had a child that was struggling, that would be the first thing I would try.

I was just thinking this. My 7yo dd was not getting the whole 3 + __ = 5 thing. C-rods were suggested and that cleared it up really quick. :)

We love Stack the States and Countries as well. Another one that really helped for state shapes and placement on the map is Wood Puzzle USA. Because of these apps, my 4 oldest children (9, 7, 5, and 3) like to try and bite their food into the shapes of different states. I had a piece of lettuce that looked like NC the other day and my 3yo recognized it. :lol: The 3yo doesn't know his capitals or all the state names/shapes, but my older 3 do now. Oh, they like the states and capitals songs, too. We actually got those before the iPad, and I think that gave them a head start on learning them with the apps.

You could take a look at How to Teach Spelling, maybe starting in Level 2 (for 2nd-3rd grade) if you think he is spelling at a 4th grade level. It starts out fairly simple but gets pretty meaty. He might be able to go thru it quickly (a semester?) and then start on Level 3, which is for 4th-6th grade. There are 3 sight word lists in Level 2, and 5 sight word lists in Level 3 (the first 3 are reviews of the lists in Level 2 and the 4th and 5th are additional lists). The workbooks don't have grade levels listed on them so he wouldn't know that Level 2 is supposedly for 2nd-3rd graders. I have a lot more info on my blog at http://dougcarla.wordpress.com/2012/02/07/how-to-teach-spelling-review/ This program uses dictation instead of "tests" to see if the student is getting the concepts presented. My dc don't know what spelling tests are. :) I have a spreadsheet (linked on my blog) that lists all the topics covered in Levels 1-3 (I haven't purchased Level 4 yet). You can see that each level reviews the previous level and adds a little more detail. IMO, there is a bigger jump between Levels 2 and 3 than between 1 and 2, which is why I would suggest starting at Level 2 to have a more gentle start. HTTS has a goodly amount of syllabication at the beginning of Levels 2 and 3, but you could get additional syllable instruction thru Megawords 1 if you think he needs that.

I don't feel like it's a building-on-skills-as-you-go-thru-the-book thing, it's just topical to me. And there is really no need to get 2 sets. It's non-consumable. Just let the 2 dc share. If you go to CBD.com and look at the Table of Contents, you'll be able to see what is in each book. Here is Book 1, for example: http://www.christianbook.com/write-farm-kids-critters-storybook-characters/marie-hablitzel/9780963930712/pd/30710?item_code=WW&netp_id=128058&event=ESRCG&view=details

We are How to Teach Spelling fans here.

We have all 8 books but I don't schedule it at all. I just have it available at all times for the children to use for drawing help. If we are studying a particular topic for history or science (like Lewis and Clark, for example), I simply let them draw the picture from DWN and then do their own narration below it on notebooking paper I print out myself. These go in their notebook for history or science.