AAS vs Spelling workout

[Mariam]

My daughter 6 just finished ETC7 and has started Spelling Workout A and seems to be doing fine. But then everywhere and everyone seems to be using AAS and I dont know much about curriculum yet since its my first year and I'm just following SWB recommendations in the WTM. So since I'm new to this I'm thinking I'm missing out on something good and maybe the right way to learn spelling is to learn the rules. Is that right? should I ditch Spelling workout and switch over to AAS? Will my daughter be somehow behind or at a disadvantage if she continues with spelling workout? How come a lot of you don't follow the WTM recommendations? :confused: It seems that majority just do the SOTW, FLL and WWE but not any of her recommendations. Is it because you've been in this for so long that you just know what works and whats good and whats not?

Thanks for any advice!

[morosophe]

My daughter 6 just finished ETC7 and has started Spelling Workout A and seems to be doing fine. But then everywhere and everyone seems to be using AAS and I dont know much about curriculum yet since its my first year and I'm just following SWB recommendations in the WTM. So since I'm new to this I'm thinking I'm missing out on something good and maybe the right way to learn spelling is to learn the rules. Is that right? should I ditch Spelling workout and switch over to AAS? Will my daughter be somehow behind or at a disadvantage if she continues with spelling workout? How come a lot of you don't follow the WTM recommendations? :confused: It seems that majority just do the SOTW, FLL and WWE but not any of her recommendations. Is it because you've been in this for so long that you just know what works and whats good and whats not?

Thanks for any advice!

 

I'll say this: if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

I did splurge on All About Spelling, 'cause it's so purdy! And also because I didn't actually do that much phonics instruction with my son, and I thought it would be a good way to strengthen his reading skills. But it is very expensive, for a spelling program.

 

In my opinion, some people are just natural spellers, and some are not. I don't know that any spelling (or vocabulary!) program since I was in the second grade has really helped me, because I was such a voracious reader and that was all it took to get me familiar with how many words were spelled. Yes, there were still some tricky ones (like separate, for a while, or hors d'oeuvre) that would or still do trip me up, but I know how to use a dictionary when I need to, and I can usually get close enough to the word's actual spelling that that's all I need. (I just looked up hors d'oeuvre, in fact.)

 

My mother, on the other hand, is a rotten speller. She's always had exceptional grammar, but the way a word (as opposed to a sentence) is put together escapes her. Doing All About Spelling might have helped her immensely, with its rules and strategies for getting the correct spelling of a word, but it would have been a waste of money on me. (Although I think I would have appreciated the purdy! even back then.)

 

YMMV. Just, if your daughter is enjoying it, and it seems to be working... Keep with it until you can say why not, right?

[Mariam]

Thanks a bunch!!! Yes , I will continue with spelling workout till I feel its not working out. :)

[Classically Minded]

How come a lot of you don't follow the WTM recommendations? :confused: It seems that majority just do the SOTW, FLL and WWE but not any of her recommendations. Is it because you've been in this for so long that you just know what works and whats good and whats not?

Thanks for any advice!

 

I stick mostly with the WTM recommendations because I think SWB is very intelligent and I trust her rec's but I did add in AAS. My dd LOVES AAS and so do I, I just don't really like how teacher-involved it is. She does Spelling Workout too though, so we didn't cut it out, we just do both!

[boscopup]

Something to keep in mind is that SWB has recommendations that are examples of things you can do, it is not an exhaustive list. So you're not going against SWB's philosophy of education if you choose a different spelling program. :) She did include a basic workbook style program, and for a lot of kids, that would probably be just fine. Some need more than that, and some want more than that. My son falls into the latter group. He probably would have done fine with SWO. We tried a couple programs before AAS, and he was asking "why" words were spelled like they were. SWO gives a little bit of rules, but not that much, from what I could tell in the samples I've seen (and I flipped through one at a convention). Also, like a PP's child, my son didn't have a strong phonics background since he taught himself to read. So I'm using AAS to double as phonics instruction and spelling. It's working great for that, as it has helped him get over the "4th grade slump" in reading - those multisyllable words that need to be sounded out.

 

Should you get AAS? No, not if SWO is working for you. :) Don't fall prey to grass is greener syndrome. If what you have is working, stick with it. You'll see threads here go in cycles. One week there will be 50 threads on how great AAS is, the next week there will be 50 threads on how great PR is, the next day there will be 50 threads on how great SWO is (ok, I don't think I've seen that :lol:, but a lot of people here DO use it). You'll also see lots of history threads raving about TOG, HOD, SL, etc.... all programs that are NOT SOTW. Yet many of us just use plain old SOTW for history. Again, it goes in cycles. Once you've been here several months, you'll see the cycles. Different programs will get rave after rave after rave for a week or two, then another one will take it's place, and they'll return later.

[Kate in Arabia]

I used SWO with my oldest. He was doing level A at 5 yrs and just finished the series with Level H at 13 yrs. It has been great for him.

 

I started SWO A and B with my second ds, and it did not work. He would take the pre-test and miss every word. We would do the drills, plus additional drills and games I made up, for the whole week. At the end he'd take the post-test and miss every word. It was at that point that I realized it wasn't working and looked for alternatives. He's now in AAS and making steady improvement.

 

I look at the recommendations as just that, recommendations, not requirements. I did find that in my beginning years of homeschooling I was less comfortable searching around for alternatives. That has changed over the years :)

[Dana]

 

Should you get AAS? No, not if SWO is working for you. :) Don't fall prey to grass is greener syndrome. If what you have is working, stick with it.

 

:iagree:

 

SWO didn't work for my son. We used it in first grade and part of second grade. He could spell the words when we studied them, but he'd promptly forget them in later weeks. He's a self-taught reader, so we never did phonics. It was really tough on me to switch completely to AAS but it's been the right program for my son.

 

I think there's a fine line between judging when a program isn't working for you and curriculum-hopping. It'll be different for each family.

[Mariam]

I did find that in my beginning years of homeschooling I was less comfortable searching around for alternatives. That has changed over the years :)

 

Yes I think that's my case, I'm new to homeschooling and also budget wise I do not want to splurge. So I do spend quiet a bit of time reading the forums for what has worked for people and what hasn't and then try to make the decision of what might work for us. :)

[ChrissySC]

The key with the program Spelling Workout, or any other program in its place, is to use one that supports phonics and structure as methods for teaching spelling. With that said, how you do this depends on your child.

 

We use R&S and MW with great success. I did not use SW this time because I was planning on sticking with R&S and not making the switch to AG this time. AG would not be for this child ... so R&S was a one stop shop for both.

 

Evaluate your child - place the child with the curricula/workbook and not vice versa.

[RahRah]

SWO wasn't a good fit with my DS, but overall, I chose it because it was a solid approach - it just wasn't working with DS since he's not a workbook-y kind of kid....AAS is a much better fit for him, so that's what we're now using. If SWO is working well for your child, stick with it - it's good too!

[SnMomof7]

Another thing to keep in mind is that AAS wasn't around when SWB wrote the latest edition of the WTM :). It is a fairly new program. Who knows, maybe in her next edition she will include it! We use it because it is solely Orton-Gillingham based, it's multi-sensory, and it really works for us. That being said, it is the first and only spelling program we've used. I personally do NOT like workbooks, my daughter SORT of does (depends on the workbook design/layout), but she thrives on personal interaction. Because AAS is one-on-one she has just blossomed with it.

 

BUT don't change just for the sake of changing, wait and see how your little one does and go from there.