Ellie- A Spalding question

[BearWallowSchool]

Ellie,

I've been reading your Spalding posts for a while now. You persuaded me enough to buy a copy of The Writing Road to Reading. :) I just started reading yesterday, so I'm not that far yet. So far I like what I see. My children are still little so I have plenty of time to learn the method and see if I would like to use it. My children are 15 months apart. If in public school they would be only one grade level apart. Since Spalding is so "teacher intensive" should I consider teaching them together or should I keep them a grade level apart? I have a few years before I have to decide...considering they are only 1 and 2. :lol: Reading the book just got me to wondering. I know you really like Rod and Staff English and Spelling. When would be a good time to transition into that?

 

Off to read more of The Writing Road to Reading... :auto:

Edited February 8, 2010 by tiffkeeton

[Colleen in NS]

My children are 15 months apart.

 

should I consider teaching them together or should I keep them a grade level apart?

 

Not Ellie, but hopefully she will see this. You can PM her, too, if she doesn't see this here.

 

I'm a WRTR user, too. I'd probably say teach them apart, because when they first start learning the phonogram sounds (age 3-6 ish, in my experience), at that age group, 15 months can be a big gap in understanding. One child might be ready at 3, the other might be ready at 5...you just won't know until they get to those ages. On the other hand, your older one might be ready at 5, and your younger one might be ready at 4, so you could teach them the phonograms together. You'll probably be able to figure it out more when they are older.

 

hth

[BearWallowSchool]

Colleen,

Thanks for your response. I figured it would be one of those "wait and see if they are ready" things. I was just wondering if *ideally* it would work better if they were ready together. Or is it was doable at separate levels so close together. And I did PM Ellie, after I saw the post get lost so quickly... :001_smile:

 

Thanks!

Tiffany

[Ellie]

I PM'd you.:)

[Colleen in NS]

I was just wondering if *ideally* it would work better if they were ready together. Or is it was doable at separate levels so close together.

 

It would work fine either way. It was designed for classroom use, so you can use it with more than one. But it's definitely doable with individuals. Once you know what you're doing, you can whiz right on through a reading or spelling lesson each day, individually or with both. Just get familiar yourself first, with how it all works. Memorize the phonograms, make your own spelling notebook, and take yourself through the spelling list.

[BearWallowSchool]

It would work fine either way. It was designed for classroom use, so you can use it with more than one. But it's definitely doable with individuals. Once you know what you're doing, you can whiz right on through a reading or spelling lesson each day, individually or with both. Just get familiar yourself first, with how it all works. Memorize the phonograms, make your own spelling notebook, and take yourself through the spelling list.

 

 

The more I read the more interested I get in the method. It really does make sense! :) However, I do think I need to learn the phonograms myself and make a notebook. I'm from the south and I know I DO NOT speak proper. :001_huh:

[Miss Sherry]

The more I read the more interested I get in the method. It really does make sense! :) However, I do think I need to learn the phonograms myself and make a notebook. I'm from the south and I know I DO NOT speak proper. :001_huh:

A southern accent should not be a problem for you and is a special gift because it has it's own beauty. I lived in the South for awhile with my dh, because he is from Alabama but we are back in WA now. But I miss the Southern accent they all had because it sounded warm and friendly.

Of course there is a universal way to spell now, but that does not make the differences in accents incorrect. For a few words, you could just say to think of it as being pronounced X way (if the emphasis of your accent makes the word sound different than the spelling ) ( you may want to listen to the audio of some words on Merriamwebster.com ) in order to make spelling it easier, but tell your children to just go ahead and say it with your accent any other time. I think of the phonograms and other spelling helps as tools, not as dictator's or as more "correct" than someone's accent.

Edited February 9, 2010 by Miss Sherry

[BearWallowSchool]

I can let you know about my experiene with Spalding. If you are interested I will let you know but I didn't want to just hijack your thread.

By the way, I am wondering how long it has been since Ellie used the program. Aren't her children in their 30's ? Maybe she's done some tutoring or other teaching since her children became adults ?

 

 

Anyone can respond to my thread, I don't mind! :bigear:

[Colleen in NS]

The more I read the more interested I get in the method. It really does make sense! :) However, I do think I need to learn the phonograms myself and make a notebook. I'm from the south and I know I DO NOT speak proper. :001_huh:

 

I'm from the north, and I didn't know how to speak proper, either! :D But I'm learning. And I can tackle/read new words now - before, I just didn't know how.

 

One more thing I want to add - I just use WRTR to teach how to read, how to spell, and how to print/do cursive. The grammar and writing parts of the 5th edition just bogged me down. I use other things for grammar and writing.

 

Hope you enjoy!

[BearWallowSchool]

One more thing I want to add - I just use WRTR to teach how to read, how to spell, and how to print/do cursive. The grammar and writing parts of the 5th edition just bogged me down. I use other things for grammar and writing.

 

Hope you enjoy!

 

I think I'm agreeing with this. I really liked what I saw until I got to the writing section. It is a little over my head. Do you just do the spelling lessons and skip the writing and reading? I noticed in your signature that you use Rod and Staff English. How did you make that jive with WRTR.

[Colleen in NS]

Do you just do the spelling lessons and skip the writing and reading?

 

Yes. Generally, I teach the phonogram sounds, then how to draw them (or sometimes do it together - it depends on the child), and somewhere in there, I start teaching the words in the notebook. I think I get through the first 54 phonograms before starting the notebook. The rest of the phonograms can come later, as part of the notebook process.

 

I noticed in your signature that you use Rod and Staff English. How did you make that jive with WRTR.

 

I don't. I think of teaching how to read, teaching how to spell, teaching how to draw letters/do cursive, teaching grammar, and teaching writing (as in composition - copywork/dictation and narration - NOT how to draw the letters/do cursive) skills as separate skills. I just figured out, from WRTR, how to teach reading/spelling/printing, and did that. And also taught grammar and composition.

 

And actually, I didn't use R&S while teaching my kids reading/spelling/printing. I used FLL (another grammar program). But I used it separately. All separate skills, that started to come together later, as my kids learned composition skills.

 

Some people are really good at integrating all these things into writing lessons; I am not. I think that is part of what WRTR aims to do, but that part of it was not for me, so I extracted what I needed.

 

If you don't get excited about the writing/grammar part of WRTR, I'd suggest looking at FLL for grammar for grades 1-4, and R&S for grammar after that, and WWE for writing skills for grades 1-4. Of course, there are tons of other grammar and writing courses out there, but these are my favourites. (If FLL 3 and 4 had been out when ds was in grades 3 and 4, I probably would have used it instead of R&S, because we liked FLL 1 and 2 - but R&S is good, too and dd is using R&S 3, because we already had it and I'm familiar with it). Hope that's not too much info. for you at this stage! :)