Tracy Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 SWO, SP, SRW or Spelling Plus Dictation? I thought I had all my curricula for next year! But now I am fretting about spelling. First, my dd5 is reading at 3rd grade level. We finished up SWO A a few weeks ago, and we have done a few lessons in SWO B. We spend about 20 minutes per week on lessons plus whatever time it takes her to take the test. She usually gets 100% on her tests. But I don't like SWO, because it is a lot of busy work, and I don't see dd really getting very much out of it. But I was going to continue with SWO until I exhausted the materials that I have and worry about what to do next--later. But then . . . I was interested in Spelling Power for two reasons. First, it was recommended for natural spellers. (It seems so nice to just work on words she doesn't know.) Second, I only ever would need to buy one book. And if I only ever needed one book, then why wait until I was finished with SWO, KWIM? But then I needed to do some research to make sure that SP was really what I wanted. And then . . . I began reading about Charlotte Mason techniques for teaching spelling, specifically, dictation. And I discovered that there are spelling programs out there that utilize dictation. I have specifically looked at SRW and Spelling Plus Dictation. I really love the approach of SRW. Dd is very rule-oriented and very interested in language and how it is put together. So I think she would prefer more rules and less sight words. (However, she has a fabulous memory, so I can see her excelling with more sight words.) Here are my questions and concerns about SRW: I understand SRW to be a means to teach reading. Would SRW be good for a child that is already reading well? While I love the approach, I wonder if this is overkill for a child that spells well and seems to be becoming a natural speller. It is teacher-intensive, and I have chosen a whole lineup of teacher-intensive programs for next year (TOG, BFSU, CSMP). Once again, even though I think dd will really thrive on learning all these rules (and so would both I and dh), I wonder if this is overkill. Spelling Plus Dictation is the one I know the least about. But it seems more of a compromise between SP and SRW in terms of workload. WWYD? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dinsfamily Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 I really love the approach of SRW. Dd is very rule-oriented and very interested in language and how it is put together. So I think she would prefer more rules and less sight words. (However, she has a fabulous memory, so I can see her excelling with more sight words.) Here are my questions and concerns about SRW: I understand SRW to be a means to teach reading. Would SRW be good for a child that is already reading well? While I love the approach, I wonder if this is overkill for a child that spells well and seems to be becoming a natural speller. It is teacher-intensive, and I have chosen a whole lineup of teacher-intensive programs for next year (TOG, BFSU, CSMP). Once again, even though I think dd will really thrive on learning all these rules (and so would both I and dh), I wonder if this is overkill. WWYD? Well, I'd use SWR (surprising, I know ;)). It is great for a child who's already reading because it doesn't include explicit reading instruction and you can move as quickly as needed. I plan on using it with my early reading 4yo when he gets to K. If she loves rules, it's right up her alley. I don't think it will be overkill, but will provide a good foundation for spelling in the future and goes up to college level words. It is teacher-intensive, but what program wouldn't be for a 5yo? We also use SL and Noeo which are both teacher intensive and it hasn't been a problem. I've just decided that I want to invest the time now since it's an important subject. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracy Posted June 5, 2010 Author Share Posted June 5, 2010 Thanks Taira! I neglected to mention that I have a 2yo that will be lurking. I see you also have a toddler running around, so maybe this is doable. (I don't suppose you ever have time to clean your house! :lol:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuovonne Posted June 5, 2010 Share Posted June 5, 2010 (edited) I think I posted to your other thread. Here's a bit more about my experience using SWR and Spelling Plus Dictation. My DD is a natural speller, but I didn't know it until after I did spelling with her for a while. And I like your phrase "becoming a natural speller." I started with SWR and then moved to Spelling Plus Dictation. I started SWR with DD when she was in kindergarten and already reading well. It took me a while to figure out SWR, but eventually it was open and go, except for coming up with dication sentences. SWR gave DD a great foundation with the phonograms and spelling rules. I also threw in syllable types from AAS. I still refer to the phonograms / spelling rules / syllable types when DD wants to know how to spell a word or when sounding out an unfamiliar word. I have absolutely no regrets starting DD off with SWR. However, eventually I got burned out creating with dictation sentences and as we advanced in the lists there were too many words that I didn't feel were worth teaching to DD. So, I switched to Spelling Plus Dictation. Edited June 5, 2010 by Kuovonne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracy Posted June 5, 2010 Author Share Posted June 5, 2010 However, eventually I got burned out creating with dictation sentences and as we advanced in the lists there were too many words that I didn't feel were worth teaching to DD. So, I switched to Spelling Plus Dictation. Thanks so much! Your response if very helpful. Can you please elaborate on why you switched? Why did you not want to teach certain words? Were they too advanced? Or were they just not that common? And why did you have to create dictation sentences? I thought they came with the program? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuovonne Posted June 5, 2010 Share Posted June 5, 2010 Why did you not want to teach certain words? Were they too advanced? Or were they just not that common? After a certain point in SWR there were too many words that were too easy for DD and the few that were difficult weren't useful at her age. Spelling Plus Dictation has only 1000 words, versus SWR's 2000, and I find the difficulty and pacing of the list a better fit for DD. And why did you have to create dictation sentences? I thought they came with the program? SWR provides a sentence for each word, but these sentences are for demonstrating the word in a sentence, and they use words that have not been previously taught. Thus, these sentences are not useful for sentence dictation for young students. SWR does provide a few sentences in the "enrichment" section for some lists, but not nearly as many sentences as I wanted. In comparision, Spelling Plus Dictation provides 16 sentences and one paragraph for each list of 15 words. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephanieZ Posted June 5, 2010 Share Posted June 5, 2010 SP was the first spelling program I tried, with my then maybe 6 or 7 yo (reading at a 4th grade level or above.) We struggled for at least a year before I realized it was a serious mistake. My dd (and actually all my dc) HATE to be WRONG at that age. The premise of SP -- having to pretest to find words to work on. . . Well, it just drove her to tears. There was no explaining it! Eventually, after a second try a year or two later (thinking maturity would fix our problem). . . I realized that SP was too mom-intensive and complicated for us. I love the idea, but had trouble devoting those few minutes to it! So, we went to SWO and it has been a perfect fit for our family. I think SP is totally cool, and could be awesome for the right family, but I would not recommend starting it too soon. I'd think 3rd grade or older would be possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dinsfamily Posted June 5, 2010 Share Posted June 5, 2010 (edited) Thanks Taira! I neglected to mention that I have a 2yo that will be lurking. I see you also have a toddler running around, so maybe this is doable. (I don't suppose you ever have time to clean your house! :lol:) Am I supposed to clean my house too? :confused: My toddler does make things challenging, but we make do. If it's a particularly difficult day with the little guy, we'll spill school over to his naptime or give him the jar of pattern blocks. Yoghurt, a bib, and a highchair became my best friend during school. It'll be nice when he can sit a little better for read-alouds or choose to play on command in the playroom. Right now, he just wants to crawl all over me and practice his growing vocabulary while I'm reading. My 6yo is getting pretty good at ignoring his brother to finish schoolwork which is probably a good life lesson. On the other hand my 4yo (then-3yo) was easy to have around this last schoolyear. He learned so much by osmosis and knew that if he didn't want to be involved he could go play quietly with his toys. So...it gets better. ETA: One thing that helped me implement SWR was to come up with a schedule at the beginning of each year. My K and 1st grade schedules are posted on my blog. It made it open-and-go for me and saved me a lot of time in the long run. It also made it easy to stop and resume a lesson later if the other kids needed me. Edited June 5, 2010 by Dinsfamily Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracy Posted June 5, 2010 Author Share Posted June 5, 2010 SP was the first spelling program I tried, with my then maybe 6 or 7 yo (reading at a 4th grade level or above.) We struggled for at least a year before I realized it was a serious mistake. My dd (and actually all my dc) HATE to be WRONG at that age. The premise of SP -- having to pretest to find words to work on. . . Well, it just drove her to tears. There was no explaining it! Ooh, I hadn't thought about this aspect. My dd is the same way! Even when she gets 9 out of 10 right on a test, she wants to do it over. Thank you for bringing this up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracy Posted June 5, 2010 Author Share Posted June 5, 2010 I was also wondering . . . How much time per week do you spend on SWR? And is your dc a natural speller? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.