After Phonics Pathways....spelling?

[Honey Bee]

On the front of the book (8th ed) it says "Clear steps to easy reading and Perfect Spelling" (emphasis added).

 

This would be bliss, do you find that they need spelling after PP or that just simple reminders while working on dictation is sufficient?

 

I was planning on using a spelling curriculum like AAS or maybe CLP's spelling workbook with my upcoming 2nd grader, who is reading beginning chapter books. I plan on going through PP with my upcoming K (not reading) and 1st grader (he's reading CVC plus some).

 

So do you find you need spelling after PP? If you did, which worked well for you?

[coffeegal]

It would be bliss. :001_smile: The 2 who used PP are good spellers but not perfect. I used/am using Calvert's old spelling & vocabulary cd-roms. The cds are very similar in format to Spelling Power. The child is tested on a group of words, and only studies the words that are misspelled.

[JulieD]

I only use PP for reading. The introduction explains how after your child is reading, you can go back and concentrate on the spelling rules. (Basically going through it twice, but likely in a different order and slower pace for spelling.) It is easier for me to just use a spelling program, but if you're on a budget and like to plan, you could certainly use it to study spelling.

 

Julie D.

[twoxcell]

I used PP for my ds for reading, and now we are going to do AAS for Spelling. I could see that you could use PP as a guide for spelling, but you would have to plan it all yourself.

[jenL]

We went from PP, which I supplemented with ETC, to using AAS. It was a great transition and AAS's rules complement the phonics rules learned in PP.

[Honey Bee]

I see now, I think I will go through once for reading and maybe stick with moving on to something like AAS. If I'm moving on to AAS, when should I start? When I finish PP or before? Thanks for helping me sort this out!

[tampamommy]

:)...and I'd recommend you wait and see where each dc is after using Phonics Pathways and then decide. Each one is so different; some children really need a spelling program; others don't; some are in the middle.

 

With both of my dc, PP not only taught them to read, but because they were early and voracious readers, they "absorbed" spelling from their reading. We took a lot longer than normal (3.5 yrs for ds; 2.5 years for dd) to finish PP because they couldn't sit still for more than 1/2-1 page at a time. I was fine with that. As a result, when they did finish, they also knew all the definitions and spellings of the words at the end of the book.

 

After finishing PP, we used Spelling Workout and Natural Speller for a while. Then I made up spelling lists from their other subjects and dictated "silly sentences" to them with multiple spelling words in each. They loved this! But all along I just felt they really didn't need spelling as a separate subject, so we only did it a few times each week.

 

Starting in grade 5 with both, I switched to Vocabulary from the Classical Roots, which we now now use for vocab and spelling. They are in 6th and 8th grades now...and sometimes I still do silly sentences with Vocab from Classical Roots.:)

 

Oh, the other thing I've always done is correct their spelling in any and all written work and then go over that with them. If I saw them misspelling a word real-time, I'd catch it if I was there and show them the proper spelling. I think this has been invaluable.

 

Have fun with those dc!

[nmoira]

I'm using PP for reading, copywork/dictation, and spelling with DD the Younger. She's still on one syllable words, but I'll move her to whichever seems to be the best fit of Megawords or Sequential Spelling when she's finished. I'm guessing that spelling will lag somewhat behind reading, so we'll be using PP for spelling for awhile after the reading component is completed.

 

If you're looking for a smooth phonics and rules based transition, Megawords starts about where PP leaves off.