Heather in VA Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 In fact I hate it so much that I didn't even do spelling with my 4th grader this past year. I went through so many options with my oldest and ended up with Phonetic Zoo - which worked well, but doesn't seem to be doing much for my middle dd. So now I feel guilty and really should do spelling next year. She (my rising 5th grader) is a good spelling but makes mistakes with tricky words, homonyms etc. I don't want something that takes hours or takes tons of parent involvement. I'd like a workbook I think. I really didn't care for Spelling Workout. Are there other options that are good? I'm sorry for the whining. Spelling makes me whiny. Heather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nestof3 Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 (edited) I used the Calvert Spelling CD with Nathan last year, but he said he wanted a book form. He got tired of clicking the letters falling down to spell words. So, I ordered Everyday Spelling for both Ben and Nathan. I am actually excited to get them. It's great because Ben can use the CDs if he wants to for extra practice. I remember loving my spelling book growing up. :) You can see the word lists here; I think they are great. http://www.everydayspelling.com/spellinglist/ You can order the workbooks here: http://www.pearsonschool.com/index.cfm?locator=PSZ16i&PMDbSiteId=2781&PMDbSolutionId=6724&PMDbSubSolutionId=6731&PMDbCategoryId=3289&PMDbProgramId=25341&level=4&prognav=pt PS: I think the workbook will help us much better than what I tried at the beginning of the year -- Natural Speller. I still plan to keep a log of commonly misspelled words, though. Edited June 20, 2009 by nestof3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicole M Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 (edited) So, I ordered Everyday Spelling for both Ben and Nathan. I am actually excited to get them. It's great because Ben can use the CDs if he wants to for extra practice. I remember loving my spelling book growing up. :) You can see the word lists here; I think they are great. http://www.everydayspelling.com/spellinglist/ You can order the workbooks here: http://www.pearsonschool.com/index.cfm?locator=PSZ16i&PMDbSiteId=2781&PMDbSolutionId=6724&PMDbSubSolutionId=6731&PMDbCategoryId=3289&PMDbProgramId=25341&level=4&prognav=pt PS: I think the workbook will help us much better than what I tried at the beginning of the year -- Natural Speller. I still plan to keep a log of commonly misspelled words, though. Nest, what did you buy? So many different components! Did you get both the workbooks and the non-consumable book? And I noticed that they also have home-school activities.... I hate deciding, too. Edited June 20, 2009 by Nicole M Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nestof3 Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 I just bought the consumable workbooks -- one 3rd and one for 4th. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicole M Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 I just bought the consumable workbooks -- one 3rd and one for 4th. Oh, good! I was thinkin, wow, she must have a humungo budget! We used Rod & Staff for years, but they don't have workbooks at the higher levels, and for my grumpy speller, a workbook seems to be more do-able. I like the look of the Spelling Wisdom, but I am not sure how well that will go over. I looked at Spelling Power once at an educational store and got a headache. (My hat is off to the moms who can figure that one out!) So if Everyday Spelling can work with just the workbook, that option is looking better and better. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nestof3 Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 Oh, good! I was thinkin, wow, she must have a humungo budget! We used Rod & Staff for years, but they don't have workbooks at the higher levels, and for my grumpy speller, a workbook seems to be more do-able. I like the look of the Spelling Wisdom, but I am not sure how well that will go over. I looked at Spelling Power once at an educational store and got a headache. (My hat is off to the moms who can figure that one out!) So if Everyday Spelling can work with just the workbook, that option is looking better and better. Thanks. I'll update you when I get mine to let you know what I think. So far, I really like the word lists, and I love that you can use the Calvert Spelling CDs to supplement or if you have a child who just loves the computer. Nathan worked through the third grade words this last year, and I was very happy with them. We had a great discussion about the adding of suffixes (which he had a hard time with). It was one of our best homeschooling moments. He didn't really see that finally was just final + ly. I had him imagine that the root words were lego-like pieces or beads and the suffixes were also lego-like pieces or beads. You just connect them. It only gets tricky, I told him, when you see a word like beauty because you change the "y" to "i" and add the suffix (like you do when making a word plural). He went from getting almost every word wrong on the pretest to only missing one. I really appealed to his sense of visual. I kept reminding him to see each root and each suffix as separate blocks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 For a good speller, I like Gayle Graham's "Tricks of the Trade," it uses their own misspelled words so you're not wasting time learning a bunch of words that you already know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snickerdoodle Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 I went through so many options with my oldest Heather, would you mind listing and giving a quick reason why each didn't work? I realize that what works for one family won't work for another, but I'm just curious about which programs you've tried. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunshine State Sue Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 We've used Megawords. It's intended for 4th grade and up. It is workbooks and easy on the teacher. Read my review here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 Spelling Works! by Jim Halverson will do exactly what you want and be fun. You can get it as a download from Currclick I think. (It's oop.) Most of the explanations were clear. My dd needed some help, but I think that was because of her age and personality. With another year on her now (like your dd), she'd probably do it even more independently. The words and applications are quite whitty. Check it out. Oh, if that's too low, then look at it on amazon and see what else pops up in that category as similar. You're right that the nuances of words and tricky rules are different from just overall spelling capacity. I liked Halverson's book because it actually made her THINK and screw up on stuff she already supposedly knew. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather in VA Posted June 20, 2009 Author Share Posted June 20, 2009 Heather, would you mind listing and giving a quick reason why each didn't work? I realize that what works for one family won't work for another, but I'm just curious about which programs you've tried. :001_smile: With my oldest I tried Spelling Workout, SpellWell, Apples and Phonetic Zoo. PZ was the only thing that transfered to her writing. She would just memorize the lists in the workbooks but not pay attention to the actual material. PZ made her pay attention so it seemed to have a bigger effect on her everyday writing. With my rising 5th grader I've done Spelling Workout and PZ. Spelling workout was a complete waste. She memorized the words instantly and was bored the rest of the time. PZ was fine but didn't seem to be concentrating on those words that caused her problems. Heather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather in VA Posted June 20, 2009 Author Share Posted June 20, 2009 We've used Megawords. It's intended for 4th grade and up. It is workbooks and easy on the teacher. Read my review here. Thanks Sue. This looks really good. I love the idea that you can test out of things as well. She hates doing stuff she already knows. Heather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather in VA Posted June 20, 2009 Author Share Posted June 20, 2009 Spelling Works! by Jim Halverson will do exactly what you want and be fun. You can get it as a download from Currclick I think. (It's oop.) Most of the explanations were clear. My dd needed some help, but I think that was because of her age and personality. With another year on her now (like your dd), she'd probably do it even more independently. The words and applications are quite whitty. Check it out. Oh, if that's too low, then look at it on amazon and see what else pops up in that category as similar. You're right that the nuances of words and tricky rules are different from just overall spelling capacity. I liked Halverson's book because it actually made her THINK and screw up on stuff she already supposedly knew. ;) This looks interesting. I'll check it out. Megawords looks good too and has several levels. Heather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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