Catherine Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 My son is 9, and has some processing difficulties that have made certain subjects (spelling, math, writing) challenging. AAS has helped him tremendously, and we are nearing the end of level 4. However, I am still reviewing some topics with him, because he still sometimes forgets them (but not always) in his writing. Mostly, it is dropping the silent e and adding suffixes to words of various kinds. I review these with him DAILY. He's improving, and at first I tried "camping out" at the step he was struggling with until he mastered it, but after several weeks, it was clear he wasn't going to remember it perfectly so I decided to move on. Any thoughts on this? AAS has moved him from not being able to spell CVC words consistently, or his own name, to being a reasonably good speller. Is that the best we can hope for? Shall I move on and let him finish level 4 without having perfectly mastered all that came before? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snickelfritz Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 I thought that, in her writing lectures, SWB talked about it taking age and maturity for children to fully integrate the spelling, grammar, etc.... lessons into their writing. That it's hard work to remember all the rules AND write at the same time. When he's doing spelling and reviewing concepts, does he remember the rules? Or can he go back through his writing, specifically checking his spelling, and see his mistakes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catherine Posted March 23, 2011 Author Share Posted March 23, 2011 When we are doing spelling, he does a bit better than when he is writing. When I prompt him to look at misspelled words again, very often he corrects his errors. Not always though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3lilreds in NC Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 My oldest dd seemed to retain nothing outside of spelling lessons. Marie told me to just keep reminding her as we worked in other subjects. (We've actually switched to Spelling Wisdom from Simply Charlotte Mason and I think it's working really well. Both my girls like AAS, though, so I may go back to it for "fun" because I do want them to learn the spelling rules, too.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerryAtHope Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 There's a difference between mastering the steps and mastering the cards on one hand, and consistently using what he has learned in his writing. At age 9, especially for a struggling speller, I would expect lots of mistakes in first drafts. He's not focusing on spelling at that point, he's just trying to get a thought--words, a sentence, maybe a paragraph--down on paper. Spelling, grammar, punctuation, caps...those things go out the window when they are just trying to form thoughts, turn those thoughts into words and get words from their brain to the paper. Different processes, different parts of the brain used, etc... Here's an article that might help you help him with his writing. Now, if you are saying that he hasn't mastered each step as you go through it--he doesn't show that he understands the concept the step is teaching, he misses tons of words in the dictations--or that he doesn't retain what he learns--he seems to master a card, you put it aside, and then with a mastered review he doesn't know half of the cards--then that's a sign you should slow down and spend more time on the steps, and a lot more time on the review cards. My son is one who does better with more review, so I made the system work for us (the beauty of the cards!). A card starts in daily review, and when he shows mastery I move it to a weekly review. It goes through 3 weeks of review, and if it's still mastered I put it in a monthly review. If he still knows it a month later, then it goes to the "mastered" tab to be reviewed when the book schedules a mastered review. Word cards can get retired after going through all of those reviews. You may not want to ever retire the phonogram, sound, and key cards. I review some of those monthly, and others just with the mastered reviews. If at any point in this review a card is missed, I move it back to daily review and the process starts over. This may sound involved but we still get through more than a level per year, working only 20 minutes per day. Most of the time we only spend 5 minutes or less of that time on review. Occasionally we have a lot to review (like with the mastered reviews) and then I spend more time on review. This work really makes it all STICK though, and is worth it. I tried to get away from this with my son this year & it backfired, so I added it back in. I am seeing significant improvement in his writing (at age 13) now--he's in level 5. So...you can get there but it can take some extra review & work too. Really make use of those parts of the book that are teaching him how to analyze words. In the beginning the book tells kids what strategies to use, then it has them decide but has scripting so you can walk them through choosing, and gradually releases the kids to making more of these decisions. But you may still need to walk him through, just like the scripting shows. Ask, "what's tricky about this word?" and "do we know any rules that would apply?" "Do we have to learn this word visually? Does pronouncing for spelling help?" and etc.... Ask so you can get HIM thinking through the strategies and beginning to take ownership of his spelling. At 9 yo and in level 4 already though, he may need to grow into some of that analysis work--and if that's the case then you may want to spend more time helping him to develop those skills. HTH! Merry :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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