jhockley Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 My thought was originally to use Spelling Power after we'd completed the AAS series. Of course now they keep adding new ones. We're working on level 3 right now and I've noticed we're doing a lot less with the magnetic letter board and she's usually getting the review cards down by the 2nd day. I know Spelling Power has an placement test in the beginning. Has anyone switched over? What level? And was it a smooth transition? Is there a list of when rules are introduced so I can make sure we don't skip over anything? I think AAS was absolutely the best way to start and plan to use it with ds too, but now I'm wondering if something with just rules and examples would work just as well for her. She totally digs the writers workshop at the end of the lesson, but that's pretty simple to come up with on our own Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerryAtHope Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 The "rules" in Spelling Power are things like, "The long A sound can be spelled ai, ay, eigh, or a_e" without really explaining if there are times to choose one or the other, and without having a student master one pattern at a time. (That's not an exact wording, just me remembering from when we tried it several years ago!). That's not to say that SP wouldn't work for you, just wanted you to know that the structure/set-up is very different. Merry :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocketgirl Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 We've used Spelling Power for 2 years now (for our current 6th and 2nd graders) & love it!! But when my newest 1st grader started home schooling (at age 7) it just didn't seem to fit her, although the placement test showed that she would be ready for Group A (which seems so easy now)l. Instead we've been working on word families, phonics, reading a lot & not worrying about it, but next school year I'll retest her & begin Spelling Power with her then because we like the way it works :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhockley Posted January 14, 2012 Author Share Posted January 14, 2012 That's very good to know about how the rules are presented. It doesn't sound nearly as easy to remember when it's all thrown out at once like that. I tried searching for a sample page so I could see how things were worded and couldn't find anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalanamak Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 The "rules" in Spelling Power are things like, "The long A sound can be spelled ai, ay, eigh, or a_e" without really explaining if there are times to choose one or the other, and without having a student master one pattern at a time. (That's not an exact wording, just me remembering from when we tried it several years ago!). I've just started it, and it seems to spiral. I'm trying it because I found it cheap and was intrigued about her description of her daughter who kept making the same spelling errors over, and over. For us, it is "exceptions". We've done SWR, SWO, and AAS over the years, and he keeps making the same mistakes (sealing vs. ceiling). So far, kiddo is liking it. He likes the notebook, the fact the lines are about the width of wide rule, but has that barely visible dotted line, the fact the paper is easier to erase than printer paper. We haven't done it long enough to know, but I'm hoping the 10 step memorizing trick will be the trick for US. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monalisa Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 We switched in 3rd grade, part way through AAS 3. I have mixed feelings about SP. DD9 likes it (what she likes most is writing her spelling words in sand, which we could do with any curr.), but I don't see that she is retaining very much. It really isn't rules based like AAS. It mentions the rules, but it doesn't really have you teach them,imo. And what is problematic (at least for my dd) is that words with the same sound but spelled differently are in the same list. I am thinking of switching to WRTR (which I own) or Phonetic Zoo, either this year or for 4th. DD didn't like AAS very much, and I found all the pieces and parts cumbersome, but I do think it is a good curriculum. If I hadn't given it to my friend, I'd probably try to make it work for us again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monalisa Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 The "rules" in Spelling Power are things like, "The long A sound can be spelled ai, ay, eigh, or a_e" without really explaining if there are times to choose one or the other, and without having a student master one pattern at a time. (That's not an exact wording, just me remembering from when we tried it several years ago!). That's not to say that SP wouldn't work for you, just wanted you to know that the structure/set-up is very different. Merry :-) I should have quoted this in my first post...this is the main problem for my dd. No explanation of when to use what rule. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 If AAS is working, I would not move to Spelling Power. Even though I've used it for a few years with my natural speller, I really don't think much of it. The "rules" are a total joke and there is no logical progression. In fact, I don't even read the rules to my son because I don't want to confuse him! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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