jtcarter14 Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 Hey, DD (almost 9) and I cannot seem to get through spelling without yelling or crying. Spelling Power is the worst. (Though it's perfect for DS.) We tried doing Spelling City online for awhile, but she didn't like it, and I wasn't confidant that she was really learning, even though we were using the lists from SP. The workbooks we've tried in the past were super easy for her. I'm not opposed to workbooks, but I'd need one with a placement test or something like that. Any suggestions? Jessica Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtcarter14 Posted February 28, 2011 Author Share Posted February 28, 2011 Has anyone else had a bad experience with Spelling Power or had to tweak it? I have only heard good things over the years. I encourage her to study ahead, so I guess I'll just have to really stay on her about that. It's the only thing I can think of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiffanieh Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 Has anyone else had a bad experience with Spelling Power or had to tweak it? I have only heard good things over the years. I encourage her to study ahead, so I guess I'll just have to really stay on her about that. It's the only thing I can think of. What do you think her hang up is? That will probably help quite a bit in making suggestions to you. This year my son has done Sequential Spelling and his spelling has skyrocketed!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtcarter14 Posted February 28, 2011 Author Share Posted February 28, 2011 She's actually a great speller. The main problem is perfectionism; she cannot handle getting anything wrong. :crying: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5LittleMonkeys Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 We started out with SP but ended up dropping it for Megawords. DD11 hated the pre-test because she knew whatever she got wrong she would have to study and she hated being told she got any of them wrong. :glare: I tried to explain that it was better than having to study a whole list of 20-25 words but she didn't buy it. There wasn't enough emphasis placed on the spelling rules either and she got sick of making flashcards for the rules. She doesn't learn well with rote memorization anyway, so she needed something that had lots of practice in context...sentences, puzzles, fill in the blanks, etc. She loves Megawords. She said that the way it breaks down the words into syllables makes more sense to her and is easier for her to remember. She likes that she can do it without me too. There are a few times when I have to dictate words to her but sometimes she gets her sister to do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Embassy Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 I just started using Rod and Staff Spelling. It is a workbook approach that focuses on spelling rules and patterns. The words are on the easy side, but the exercises really make you think. It has been a great fit so far for my ds who found AAS and SS extremely boring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EppieJ Posted March 1, 2011 Share Posted March 1, 2011 Would she handle it better if she found her mistakes herself? We started using Phonetic Zoo this year. It is a bit spendy, but here's what I like about it: 1) it uses components for each learning style (audio cd for receiving the spelling words and corrections, collector & practice cards with visual cue, writing & oral practice for kinetics) 2) it's independent. The cd gives ds the jingle/rule (throughout the quiz) and each spelling word. He writes the words as they are given, then the next track on the cd spells each word correctly. Ds writes each word again as it is spelled. Then HE goes back and checks his first list against the correct spellings and circles those which he got CORRECT. He sees what he still needs to work on without "Mom" standing over his shoulder with a red pen. Great for the ego and the relationship! The idea behind PZ is that when you read a word/use a workbook, your eyes take in the word as a whole rather than sequentially. This can make it more challenging for some to spell correctly. PZ has you practicing/hearing the spellings sequentially so it goes in your brain sequentially making it, theoretically, easier to spell correctly. It works for us anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmericanMom Posted March 1, 2011 Share Posted March 1, 2011 This may be unorthodox, but you might want to ask yourself if you really need a spelling program for a 9 year old who is a great speller. If she is really a natural speller, she might not need that. I use only daily dictation with one of my children who is a natural speller. We go over the passage first, she reads it through, we talk about words that might be tricky or have homophones, then we sit down and I read while she writes. Once a week or so I will do unstudied dictation, where she doesn't see it ahead of time, but I stand over her and watch for mistakes so she doesn't write anything wrong. If she starts to write something wrong I will stop her and say "What is the rule for that" or whatever is appropriate. (I think making mistakes like that only reinforces the bad spelling.) It takes just 10-15 minutes a day. But this is a kid who once she has written a word correctly will never misspell it again. My others are not that way! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtcarter14 Posted March 1, 2011 Author Share Posted March 1, 2011 Those are good ideas. Letting her correct her test would help, but I might have to watch her correct it b/c she is so ashamed of getting something wrong that she might not be honest. Dictation also might work. I will look into the workbooks/curricula that some of you mentioned also. Thanks for the responses. It's good to have some new ideas! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guateangel Posted March 1, 2011 Share Posted March 1, 2011 Boy, can I relate! We'd have melt down after melt down until I started having her find the errors. First I'd have her re-read and sound out each word clearly, 9 times out of 10 she'd find the mistake herself. If not, I'd gently remind her of the spelling rule and have her write it correctly. So far this has worked. I'd also give her the number of correctly spelled words and praise her for those and not emphasize so much on the misspellings. I also have her write on the white board her spelling words, for her this is more fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtcarter14 Posted March 25, 2011 Author Share Posted March 25, 2011 Question: through what grade do most people continue a formal spelling program (workbook, etc)? She's currently in the 3rd grade, and I'd guess she's on at least a 6th grade level for spelling. So I'm wondering if we can just take a long break from it? We could continue with Wordly Wise which of course teaches spelling by default. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cat Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 I haven't tried the program "All About Spelling" but it looks great. It teaches all the spelling rules. I have Spelling Power and it doesn't seem to layout the spelling rules very well. It is a great resource for spelling lists and placement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom@shiloh Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 Question: through what grade do most people continue a formal spelling program (workbook, etc)? She's currently in the 3rd grade, and I'd guess she's on at least a 6th grade level for spelling. So I'm wondering if we can just take a long break from it? We could continue with Wordly Wise which of course teaches spelling by default. I wouldn't continue with a formal program in this situation. In fact, I wouldn't even start a formal spelling program unless I saw a need for it. Some children just don't need it. My 7th child begs to do spelling with me, and I say, "NO, you never misspell anything. Let's find something more fun to do." For my struggling spellers AAS has worked very well along with prepared dictation from Spelling Wisdom. I've had to learn to make sure we had time to study the dictation and identify possible problem areas before they occurred. Sooooo much better to praise success then to correct errors! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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