Cirriculum check for next year...ideas please?

[Mission-Driven-Mom]

Looking at cirriculum for next year and I need to tweek things!!! Right now I am researching language arts...more specifically spelling, handwriting, grammer. :bigear: If you have any insight...please share!!! I find 3rd party input very valuable!

 

Here is my observation...

 

ds10 has not made much improvement this year using what we have been using (it is mnemonic in nature and just didn't seem to give him enough structure). I gave him a pretest today and noticed that he missed 8 out of 20 on a 3rd grade spelling list from A Reason For Spelling (which puts him in that book if I chose it). The 8 that were wrong were all spelled somewhat phonetically here are some examples: able: abell, sudden: suden, north: nouth, began: begain...didn't use correct phonegram rule, most he should know). He also answers quickly and his strategy was clear as he sounded out by syllable as he was writing. I would place him also reading at a grade 3 level~slow, laborous though. He also has dysgraphic type qualities to his print so handwriting instruction is valuable but he'll baulk at anything too labor intensive.

 

I am transitioning ds9 from school to homeschool next year. He is currently in 2nd grade and was retained in Kinder. He has done Abeka Spelling this year, performing at a mid-low B grade. I have noticed with him that he is strong visually but bombs (totally) the auditory phonics exams that he gets from his teacher. I gave him the same pretest and he missed 5 out of 20...those he got wrong did not seem to follow a pattern...here are his examples...sudden: subenlye, open: oopen, busy: disey, hello: hellow (he did flip b-d in both sudden and busy...ooh...just saw it...I think he was visualizing suddenly to try and help...:glare:). I found his errors to be rather random in nature. He was slow and laborous as he wrote his answers (erasing alot until he was happy with his answer and I think he tends to error on the side of a perfectionist/ocd type). I questioned him about his strategy and he said that he relies on visual elimination to determine the spelling (not his exact wording :001_smile:). He is reading well 3 grade level, fluency has progressed throughout the school year at a steady pace.

 

They are so very different and oh so interesting :tongue_smilie:, I really want to use the same program with them as to make my life easier and interestingly they seem to be working in this area at the same level but at different degrees.

 

I am looking for something that isn't too teacher intensive (if it doesn't have to be) as I also have a pair of younger generation to teach who needs mostly 1-1 instruction, and I like how ARS integrates the words into handwriting and reading selections...so this approach is appealing to me. I have noticed that rote spelling instruction is benign in real life application of spelling for the boys so a program that integrates all is appealing to me. Lastly, something with structure will keep us all on track.

 

Any suggestions????

 

THANK YOU!!!

[virtual_twins_mom]

My dd10 and ds10 are behind in grade level. We're doing 3rd grade this year. We've been doing an all-in-one curriculum this year; however, they need more focused spelling and grammar skills. I've chosen to try Spelling Power, with AAS waiting in the wings if SP doesn't work out for either of them. For grammar, we going to do Easy Grammar - starting with grade 2 materials. Also decided to add a vocabulary program when I ran across Dynamic Literacy's Word Builder curriculum. We are starting at the very beginning in that, too. We work best with a very structured curriculum to keep us on task. We use MUS for math, but due to fight-to-the-death competition between the two of them, and because ds needed to memorize his addition and subtraction facts rather than continue counting on his fingers and toes (LOL), I've moved him to CLE math grade 2. It's working really well, too. No more competition, and he is memorizing his facts. dd may continue in MUS (going into Delta). A friend has offered to loan us TT4. I think we're going to try it our this summer and see what she thinks. If it isn't a good fit, then she'll just continue in MUS. Reading is going well for us. Last year we used Rocket Phonics. It really lives up to its claims. Oh, yes. We've always used Handwriting without Tears. Made the mistake of trying to use Abeka handwriting for cursive. Major amounts of tears when I had never seen any angst over handwriting before. Went quickly back to HWT!

 

Good luck!

[Mission-Driven-Mom]

Thanks Babette! You gave some new things to look into for some good reasons :)!

 

I am also looking into teaching textbooks for the independence of it and they liked working the demo. How did CLE aid in him memorizng his facts? My second guy does need help w/ that too! He stuggles in his classroom on the speed drill tests via Abeka. I have looked into CLE since he also seems to like the structure of traditional textbook ( and he did not like mus).

 

Thanks again!

[PeterPan]

I don't know what Stevenson's LA art is, so I don't know exactly what's not working for you right now. However I notice a couple things. First, you have two or three kids very close in age who are all remedial in spelling. You need to teach them together. You can do this with SWR. I really like AAS and consider it a bit more powerful tool for it's clear explanations, use of manipulatives, and wonderful file box method for organizing review. The ease of AAS (open and go) might negate the easier combining of SWR. In any case, I'd do some thinking in that direction.

 

Two, you're going to get out of it what you put into it. I would encourage you to look for multiple ways you can work spelling practice into your day. For instance, when I was really working on spelling with my dd, we did a spelling workbook (nothing hard, usually it was something fun like Spelling Works!) and daily dictation (a page a day handwritten) and the Calvert spelling software. Yes it was a lot, but my dd needed a lot of use in context to make things stick. She needed to see the words over and over again correctly, hence the computer software. With dictation, we turned it into a team effort, encouraging her to ask when she doesn't know (the opposite of testing), and I had her read the sentences back when she was done to AGAIN let her see the words correctly. There's a huge difference between understanding a rule in the moment and having it in their visual memory so that it comes out later correctly. We needed lots and lots and lots of use to get over that hump.

 

In our house, her problems with spelling were connected to the dyslexia as well as her eyes. When we did vision therapy, it was like she started seeing letters and spelling afresh. If the eyes aren't seeing correctly, they can't process correctly. And of course spelling is visual, unless you work around that by doing it totally auditorily the way Pudewa (of IEW) describes. http://www.covd.org is where you go to find a developmental optometrist who can check their eyes for the things that affect school work.

[Mission-Driven-Mom]

OhElizabeth...

 

on the website for Excellence in Spelling, they recommend AAS if your student isn't ready for EIS...

 

This is confusing to me?

 

I can see how EIS would be extremely beneficial for atleast my first ds for many reasons but primarily because I do think he is highly auditory and does have visual challenges.

 

However, I am not familiar enough with either program to see how they compliment eachother...either back to back or simultaneously...

 

It has been recommended that DS #1 have VT but we got sketchy feedback that led us to not feel comfortable with the office and pursuing therapy. There is another office 2 hrs away, and I know many drive the distance...we just haven't been a position to do so or justify the massive involved expenses (~5k...maybe more if he needs more then 3 sessions). He did get glasses for mild farsighted vision. I feel our options are limited.

[PeterPan]

When you say 3 sessions, you mean 3 months??? Our cost wasn't nearly that high. Clearly you want feedback indicating you've found a good VT place. For us, a LOT started clicking once we did the VT. If you can make it happen, I'd consider it. Do you have a relative (grandma, whatever) who lives near a good VT doc so that he could stay for the summer, do VT there, and then come home? Seriously, I would bend over backwards like that. Or talk with whatever VT doc you do trust in your area and work out some compromises about frequency. Maybe they can work out something for you.

[Mission-Driven-Mom]

three months=one session...she said he would need 3 sessions...each session was $1300...plus cost of gas for 4 hr commute once a week...and the cost of care for other children. It's overwhelming. The home software cost $150 but I just don't see how home software would help...if it did/does then that totally disqualifies or devalues the cost of in-house therapy imo. And why insurance companies don't get their act together and help with this need is irritating!

 

He clearly has visual processing issues with text but not graphic/pictorial images/information. He also has binocular vision issues...focus, eye teaming. Why or how this relates to the big picture of his issues I really don't have a clear understanding of this based on his overall assessment report.

 

I just know that I had visiual processing problems as a child w/o VT (don't know the specific issues but I feel that he may be alot like me) and that they were certainly developmental in nature. Although I had to work hard for good grades, was a terrible tester, and I am still a very auditory reader which quatifies me as a slow reader, the issues seemed to clear up by 7th grade. I suppose I error on the side of what's familiar so I started looking into ways to teach despite the developmental lag. This just poses challenges in making my choices.

Edited April 16, 2011 by Mission-Driven-Mom

[PeterPan]

Ahh, that makes more sense! Ok, I'll throw something out at you. What if you did *one* session? Seriously. Or do it at half pace (every other week) for one session but have them give you extra homework to cover the 2nd week? Our experience was that they could cover in one 1-hour session as much ground as we did in a week. In one month we were starting to see changes, and at 2 months we had DRAMATIC changes. I'm saying that you're overwhelmed by the cost because you're looking at the whole thing, the whole enchilada. A month or two would be a start.

 

It's not developmental in the sense of it being a delay that improves by waiting. When the eyes don't work together correctly, the brain doesn't get good input to process, making anything it does that builds on that foundation all muddled. With us 2-3 months of VT totally turned around her reading, her ability to connect sound to written, etc. It was HUGE. They worked on convergence, focusing, etc. for the first 3 months and then shifted to working on processing. My guess is your place would be doing something similar. ANY progress you make will be helpful. HUGE.

 

Hopefully someone else will come along and say something consoling about what to do when you really can't do VT. For us, I had tried everything else. We had done 3-4 spelling programs at a time and done dictation till we were blue in the face and she was dying. We had tried the handwriting methods, etc.

 

I know it's awful. Gas is high, lives are busy, etc. We did no fun groups or classes this year. We barely even got math done. But you know what? It was WORTH it. The changes were HUGE.

[Joyofsixreboot]

Mission Driven Mom~ we just got on this whole vision therapy train. I was breathless at the cost. Dh put it in perspective for me. If they had told me my ds needed eye surgery would I have hesitated? Our dd had scoliosis surgery that was hugely expensive but we did it. I don't know if that makes any sense but :grouphug: