Sew happily ever after Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 DD 9yo just isn't doing well with All About Spelling. For whatever reason it just isn't her style of learning, although I do feel like it is the best way to learn spelling. Is there any other spelling curriculum that I could switch her to? I really like to avoid workbook based curriculum because that would just frustrate her even more! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 Can you figure out what exactly isn't working about it? That would help people give you recommendations. WRTR/SWR/et al Spelling Power Sequential Spelling Spelling Wisdom/Simply Spelling/et al Those are some non-workbook programs off the top of my head. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teachmejoy Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 I really like Spelling Power! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sew happily ever after Posted March 23, 2011 Author Share Posted March 23, 2011 i think she doesn't do well with the hands-on aspect. I've tried switching it up so there is no hands-on and I've come to the conclusion that she just doesn't like this program. It is frustrating for her. I'm seriously looking into Phonetic Zoo. It seems based on the same concepts but it is pricey. I think she would do well with the dictated words on the discs as long as it wouldn't frustrate her. But I'm wondering if the mastery required would further frustrate her? any advice? thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.... Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 If the hands-on approach isn't working, the workbook approach might be the way to go. There really isn't that much of a selection out there. Just off the top of my head: Spelling Workout (recommended in TWTM) Sequential Spelling BJU Spelling (we've used several years of this one) Spelling Power Megawords Some people use the Webster Speller (? I think that's it). I've downloaded spelling lists off the internet and just had my daughter work through them. You could plug the words into the games on Spellingcity.com and work on them that way, too. My 9 yro uses Megawords, but that's more of a vocab+spelling kinda thing and I think it is written for a 5th-6th grade level. I'm not sure where your student is in spelling or what you need. Do you think AAS is not working because she already knows how to spell? :confused: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sew happily ever after Posted March 23, 2011 Author Share Posted March 23, 2011 Anyone have any thoughts on phonetic zoo? Is the mastery required too frustrating? I showed her snippets of it online last night and she seemed excited to try it. it's just a chunk of change to put out there for something that she potentially could be frustrated with. we have tried the workbook approach and it just doesn't help us. spelling workout was a total flop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom31257 Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 Have you thought about getting the lists out there of the 1200 most frequently used words and just working through it? If you google that, it will bring up several links. I think I remember reading that the 1200 word lists make up about 90% of the English language. There are also lists of the most frequently misspelled words. You could do a pretest of about 20 words at a time, then have her practice the words she doesn't already know (spelling city, making up sentences so she gets vocab, etc.). You could take a list of spelling rules and have her identify the rules for the words she misspelled, so that she can learn the rules at the same time. Just a thought.:001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3lilreds in NC Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 We're using Spelling Wisdom this year, and I think it's going to work really well, especially for my oldest. We've done AAS, and both my girls love it, but I have seen very little retention in my oldest. She does perfectly when we're actually doing the lesson, but doesn't apply anything in other areas of her work. Spelling Wisdom is from Simply Charlotte Mason, and it's spelling learned through studied dictation. It incorporates "6,000 most frequently used words presented in the writings of great men and women of history" (from their website). What I like about it for my oldest is that it forces her to pay attention to how words are spelled. I think the biggest issue she has is a lack of attention to detail. It's a little strange to me to give up a more traditional approach to spelling, but I like it. Another option, less expensive but similar in style, is Simply Spelling from Shoelace books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodland_Mom Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 I used Phonetic Zoo with my 3rd grader. We liked it, but I felt the words were too difficult for him. He didn't need phonic instruction, but he needed to understand spelling rules, homonymns, etc. I couldn't justify tough spelling words when ds didn't understand the difference between there, they're and their. KWIM? I looked at Spelling Power, and like you, felt that it would frustrate on of my kids. So . . . after a good bit of researching programs, I tried Spelling Plus: 1000 Words Towards Spelling Success. I modified the program to fit our needs. Here is a link to my blog explaining what I did. We've been using Spelling Plus with great success. I feel that we are covering words that are used frequently and commonly mispelled. Our program is not time consuming and the activity cards we use make it fun for my kids. The weekly quiz and dictation sentences enable me to verify that my kids are learning. If my boys miss words from dictation OR the quiz, we carry words to the next week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speedmom4 Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 We used Phonetic Zoo and it didn't work for us. For us it was more about memorizing word lists rather than understanding WHY words are spelled a certain way. I think one of the benefits of AAS is the regular dictation based on previous lessons. Maybe you could incorporate that into Phonetic Zoo? HTH, Elise in NC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodland_Mom Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 Just FYI -- A "Spelling Plus Dictation" book is available with the "Spelling Plus" program. It contains sentences for dictation 5 days a week (if you want to do it that often). The sentences contain ONLY words that that have been included in previous lessons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Robyn Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 i think she doesn't do well with the hands-on aspect. I've tried switching it up so there is no hands-on and I've come to the conclusion that she just doesn't like this program. It is frustrating for her. I'm seriously looking into Phonetic Zoo. It seems based on the same concepts but it is pricey. I think she would do well with the dictated words on the discs as long as it wouldn't frustrate her. But I'm wondering if the mastery required would further frustrate her? any advice? thoughts? Phonetic Zoo is only pricey if you get the CDs. If you're willing to read off the words yourself (what we do here) it is only $30 for all three levels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beach Mom Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 (edited) Phonetic Zoo has been a huge hit at our house. I have a DS who is more of an auditory learner. He would do well with a spelling book, but never retained any of the rules so the spelling lessons never transferred to his writing. After using PZ for two years I have seen a huge improvement in his spelling. PZ, if used as directed, does in fact teach spelling rules. If you don't use the CDs, which incorporate the rule by repeating it several times throughout the dictation, you have to be diligent about doing this or the program becomes just another list based program. My son, who is a perfectionist, struggled a little bit at first with the idea of getting so many wrong the first dictation of a lesson. But once he understood that he was in control, and that these weren't traditional spelling tests, he has done well. It only took a few days to get him to not be frustrated. The program has worked well for us, I am a big fan. Edited March 23, 2011 by Beach Mom Spelling suffers when you give up caffeine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rod Everson Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 1. The Writing Road to Reading has the extended Ayres List in it, for starters. If a child worked through the Ayres List as intended in the Spalding Method described in that book, they would end up knowing most English spellings. 2. Reliable spelling rules for one-syllable words are few and far between, although rules for adding suffixes, when to capitalize words, etc., are useful. 3. Kids need to understand that almost every word is made up of sounds that can be represented by single letters or digraphs that they will see used the same way in many other words. Learning to spell by memorizing a sequence of letter names is a virtually impossible task. 4. Visual memory alone isn't sufficient to become a good speller. It's needed, but so is auditory memory. This is done by forming "perfect pronunciations" (not perfect visualizations) in our minds. We then combine the auditory and visual memory to become good spellers. Here's more on that from my website: Spelling Word from Auditory Memory 5. I like the Spalding Method a lot, but the coding is more confusing than is necessary. The folks who wrote Reading Reflex had a better idea on coding, and I combined the two approaches to put together a Spalding Method for Homeschoolers. Take a look at it as a spelling program and see what you think. Everything is free, though you'd have to get a copy of The Writing Road to Reading. This would be a long-term spelling program, incidentally, going over several years, as with any good spelling program. Plus, used as intended, Spalding is an excellent all-around language arts program. Rod Everson OnTrack Reading Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momofabcd Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 (edited) If you are thinking about Phonetic Zoo, you can buy all three levels without the CD's for $25 or so from IEW. I just saw that somebody already mentioned this. Edited March 23, 2011 by momofabcd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aconnolley Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 If you are thinking about Phonetic Zoo, you can buy all three levels without the CD's for $25 or so from IEW. I just saw that somebody already mentioned this. What about using The Phonetic Zoo by entering the words into Spelling City and doing the tests that way instead of using the CDs? I guess that you would just have to go over the spelling rules. Would that work? I am actually thinking of trying it that way myself. Angela Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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