Phonics and Spelling Suggestion Wanted...Please :)

[Soror]

I don't know that I'm looking for a specific curriculum, supplementation/implementation suggestions, training to teach me or what.

 

I'm just not quite satisfied with my own knowledge or the knowledge base of ds and don't feel we are exactly getting where I want us to go.

 

Trying to be brief, what I've done so far with ds8 and his current status:

 

-I See Sam through AR1 or 2 and he was up to a bit past gr1 rl

At this point I felt it was too slow and the rules and phonics were not explicit enough for me

-we then switched to Blend Phonics, which I really, really liked, rules were nice and explicit and he made great progress, was up to about gr 2+rl within 4 mo. time it took to finish program

- we then switched to Webster's which was ok but not explicit enough for me- I think I need more knowledge in syllabication and such as I found I couldn't explain the why's of the schwa's and all that jazz. I didn't feel it was sticking though and we were getting over our heads

 

Since then we've done a hodge podge of various things. I tried AAS but it annoyed me with all the little pieces and how slow it is. I've been doing some work with HTTS but I don't feel we have enough knowledge in phonograms to implement that well.

 

I kind of feel that I'd like to back up and reinforce phonograms but I feel a bit lost on that. I was considering buying some phonogram flash cards and just working on that for a good while. Then I thought of something like Logic of English but it is way expensive and I don't know that I want a whole big program like that. I do love that it is scripted and I love Right Start, which is also scripted, but as I said I hated AAS. It does have games and such as well which would be awesome, if it works as RS does with their games.

 

I just think our foundation is not what I want. He seems to have fallen a bit into guessing and I want a stronger foundation on the phonograms and rules, as my brain has problems teaching otherwise. I do like that LOE is O-G as he has had some dyslexic tendencies and I've been drawn to the method but other programs that are more OG seem to be even more expensive or extremely convoluted to implement. I don't want something really hard to implement or takes a ton of research, I want open and go, like Right Start, that holds my hand through learning/relearning these rules. I'm trying to study but just reading about the rules out of context of learning them is not sinking into my pregnant brain.

 

I do have a 5 yo coming up as well. I was/am using First Start Reading but I don't know that I like it. I was thinking of switching her to I See Sam, but then I still have my reservations as to the lack of explicitness on the phonograms and rules.

 

I feel like I should be able to do this myself but it seems I've been floundering around for several months and I cannot get quite together what I'm wanting on my own. He is progressing on his reading skill but it seems that his knowledge of phonics is not what I want and I think we need to back that up as it is going to bite him in the butt on spelling and progressing further with his reading. He is not decoding large words as well as I'd like at all.

[edeemarie]

Here are a few links to phonogram cards if you just want to supplement with these:

http://www.donpotter.net/pdf/alpha-phonicscursivephon.pdf

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/m.mascioli/assets/PhonogramCards.pdf

http://www.spalding.org/index.php?tname=support&p=cues

 

Here are the spelling rules to go with the Spalding phonograms

http://jensclassonline.com/index_files/Spalding.pdf.

 

 

You can try these and see how that goes. I think a good strong base in phonograms and spelling rules will do wonders for reading!

[Ellie]

Spalding. Just Spalding. It will do everything you're wanting.

[Heidi]

I haven't really looked at Logic of English, so I can't comment on it. However i would suggest the O-G method as well.

 

I used phonics road (not anymore though) but what I took from that program was invaluable to me as a teacher. If you bought level 1 used and sold it back when you were done, it wouldn't cost much at all.. maybe postage.

 

The reason I liked phonics road (compared to SWR & WRTR) is because Mrs. Beers teaches you on video so that the method is easily and quickly understood by you, the teacher. Also, she simplified the spelling rules and put them to tunes so we remember them easily. Now I carry that method over to our new spelling curric. that isn't O-G based.

 

I don't do phonics road because I didn't want the all in one. I started SWR after phonics road, but decided I wanted something a little more independent since my kids are natural spellers anyway. I was tired of dictating long lists of spelling words everyday.

 

Anyway, PR1 is all you need. You don't even need to go to the second level if you don't want to. Your kid will remember all of the sounds of the phonograms, know how to mark their words, and have the spelling rules memorized by the time you are done.

[6wishes]

Could you get the phonograms and make up your own list of spelling words? That's what I didn't like about Phonics Road-trying to apply so many sounds at once. I would have preferred lists to match the sounds. Also, I wanted workbooks to match the sounds to put it into practice more..

[Soror]

Hmmm, I have to say Spalding scares me. I know Ellie thinks it is open and go but it seems many don't agree. I want them to know the phonograms cold, know the spelling rules and then apply those. It seems I should be able to figure that out.

 

 

edeemarie- thanks for those links, I'm going to look over those and see if I think I can do that on my own. I think I want to buy some pre-done cards though but I appreciate the spelling rule list.

 

I've thought PR was a bit very expensive, although some people really seem to love it, although it might not be anymore so than LoE.

[mcmama]

My son really latched on to the phonics road style phonics instruction. He found it a little boring and repetetive, though, at age 7. Actually trying to get enough posts to sell our copy here... haha!