bnwhitaker Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 My friend just introduced me to this idea or curriculum but Im unsure if it where we would want to be. I have a little that I may use it with when we begin school. But my question is with my older two. I have a 8 & 9 yr old, birthdays in Nov. We are a little behind in Lang Arts but slowly catching up I think. I just found out about WRTR and am wondering if it would be something I could switch to or not. This is where we are now: Spelling - AAS 1 just finishing & it’s a little too easy but they are memorizing the “rulesâ€, we school in the summer so hoping to be moving on to AAS 3 in the fall. Reading - ETC Level 4 Reading - PAL Just finished (We spent 1st grade in R&S until I realized it was not working “great†for us) so we tried PAL. So it put us behind a bit but I skipped all the games which now Im thinking was NOT such a great idea but they were really too old for a lot of them. The phonics farm was great and I think they got a good chunk of it. But Im just not sure its solid? Reading seems to still be pretty “toughâ€. But I feel unsure. Wish I had someone to listen to them to see what Im seeing is accurate or not? I have no way of knowing? Writing - PAL taking a break, made it to the end of section 2. Handwriting - PT (Pentime) Book 2 – Their handwriting has been so hard to get turned around although it is getting a little better. But it has been sloppy and short. I thought they weren’t ready for a long time because it seemed so hard for them and they only ever wanted to do “just a littleâ€. But now I see I probably made a mistake somewhere back in the earlier elementary. Is this all the subjects that would be included in WRTR? We are also doing MCT and Shurley in the fall. I feel like Im unsure because they are coming along but I wonder if we could be doing “betterâ€. I want them to have a very good foundation so they will be able to go further later. I do understand we can still do good going other routes. But I do want our “route†to be very thorough. We did not learn the phonetic rules and are just beginning to learn some spelling rules. Well I guess we did learn a few just not thoroughly. I just wish I felt they were solid with Lang Arts. My older is going to be 10 this fall and is reading at I think about a second grade level. My younger is about the same. Does anyone have input or ideas, thoughts on this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 Spalding (Spalding is the method; WRTR is the manual) teaches children to read by teaching them to spell; penmanship, capitalization and punctuation, and simple writing are integral parts of the method. Spalding can also be a more comprehensive writing and reading as well as grammar, but using other things is a nice break. :-) Both of your children would benefit from doing Spalding. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Governess Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 My dd8 did AAS through level 3 before we switched her to Spalding. We use it exclusively for phonics/spelling and some vocabulary work (prefix and suffix study) and use other programs for the rest of language arts. She is a natural speller but Spalding has been great. When she misspells a word in her writing, I can now just tell her the rule number she should have used and she can self-correct. Her handwriting is officially prettier than mine. ;) Learning all of the phonograms and segmenting sounds in the spelling words will be great for your students' reading fluency. I highly recommend the program! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bnwhitaker Posted May 22, 2013 Author Share Posted May 22, 2013 So I got confused. My friend was telling me about SRW & I somehow after all my WTM forum digging switched in my brain that it was WRTR. Although now I am open to both of them. They are similar correct? Which would you recommend for my situation? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 So I got confused. My friend was telling me about SRW & I somehow after all my WTM forum digging switched in my brain that it was WRTR. Although now I am open to both of them. They are similar correct? Which would you recommend for my situation? SWR is a Spalding spin-off. Either would be good. I recommend Spalding because, well, it is the original. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bnwhitaker Posted May 22, 2013 Author Share Posted May 22, 2013 Spalding (Spalding is the method; WRTR is the manual) teaches children to read by teaching them to spell; penmanship, capitalization and punctuation, and simple writing are integral parts of the method. Spalding can also be a more comprehensive writing and reading as well as grammar, but using other things is a nice break. :-) Both of your children would benefit from doing Spalding. :-) Ellie I see you know A LOT about this method! Can I ask some questions? Here they are if you answer YES :) Would I drop the AAS, PT, ETC? What does WRTR take the place of I guess is my question? I couldn’t imagine people would do all of these curriculums together right? Would I just start at the beginning of WRTR and it would not be “to young†my 8 & 9 yr olds? Also would SWR be a better fit for my situation with my older two? When I begin my little one (who’s too young to start right now) I’m thinking you would still recommend WRTR over the SWR right? Does one have less writing than the other? How long do these programs take? I think they need to get a firmer foundation in Lang Arts but it’s a huge step for me right now to switch because I was just thinking I finished PAL J To start over again……… Back to the research for me, sounds like I will need to learn another curriculum JOHHH and I thought ETC they would do on their own(mostly). But if we could finish a program and feel like we actually KNOW what we are doing that would be wonderful!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 Would I drop the AAS, PT, ETC? What does WRTR take the place of I guess is my question? I couldn’t imagine people would do all of these curriculums together right? Yes. Spalding would cover the same things in one fell swoop. Would I just start at the beginning of WRTR and it would not be “to young†my 8 & 9 yr olds? You'd start at the beginning. Spalding might or might not seem "young" to them, but I've done Spalding with high school-aged kids, so there you go. :-) Also would SWR be a better fit for my situation with my older two? Spalding is good for all ages. There would be no advantage to doing SWR. When I begin my little one (who’s too young to start right now) I’m thinking you would still recommend WRTR over the SWR right? Does one have less writing than the other? Spalding for everyone (Spalding is the method itself; WRTR is the manual for teaching the Spalding Method). Spalding and SWR have equal writing (remember that SWR is a Spalding spin-off). How long do these programs take? You can expect to spend upwards of an hour a day--IOW, about the same amount of time, give or take, that you spent doing spelling, penmanship, and whatnot using several different products. In practice, it will vary, probably even from day to day. I think they need to get a firmer foundation in Lang Arts but it’s a huge step for me right now to switch because I was just thinking I finished PAL J To start over again……… Back to the research for me, sounds like I will need to learn another curriculum JOHHH and I thought ETC they would do on their own(mostly). But if we could finish a program and feel like we actually KNOW what we are doing that would be wonderful!! What exactly do you mean by "language arts"? It means different things to different people. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bnwhitaker Posted May 22, 2013 Author Share Posted May 22, 2013 [/font][/color][/size] What exactly do you mean by "language arts"? It means different things to different people. :-) That's a good question :) I guess Im not exactly sure what I mean. But maybe some of the "English stuff :)" Reading, Spelling, Handwriting. I will probably still do IEW for writing and MCT/Shurley for Grammar? But who knows know. :) Thanks for all your help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bnwhitaker Posted May 22, 2013 Author Share Posted May 22, 2013 More questions keep coming! How many years does this take? What spelling would you use after this program? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 That's a good question :) I guess Im not exactly sure what I mean. But maybe some of the "English stuff :)" Reading, Spelling, Handwriting. I will probably still do IEW for writing and MCT/Shurley for Grammar? But who knows know. :) Thanks for all your help! Ah: "English" stuff. You're exactly right. And if you ask about specific components such as spelling, phonics, handwriting, etc., you get better answers. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 More questions keep coming! How many years does this take? What spelling would you use after this program? How many years do you want to do it? :D It would be good to do it for at least one year, when the dc are old enough to do the spelling notebook (8yo/3rd grade and up), but if you do 30 spelling words a week, you'll get through most of the spelling list, and that might be all you'd need to do. Many classroom-based schools which use the Spalding Method do it every year through elementary; children of any age who come into the school without having done Spalding will do a Spalding class. No spelling after Spalding, other than something that will help with dictionary skills and vocabulary and whatnot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bnwhitaker Posted May 22, 2013 Author Share Posted May 22, 2013 Ah: "English" stuff. You're exactly right. And if you ask about specific components such as spelling, phonics, handwriting, etc., you get better answers. :-) How many years does this take? What spelling would you use after this program? Would it be a possibility to teach just the phonogram cards (rules) and keep going with what Im already doing ETC, AAS? Or is teaching the phono cards not something that makes sense with out using Spaulding? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wehave8 Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 That's a good question :) I guess Im not exactly sure what I mean. But maybe some of the "English stuff :)" Reading, Spelling, Handwriting. I will probably still do IEW for writing and MCT/Shurley for Grammar? But who knows know. :) Thanks for all your help! English (Grammar)- continue with your MCT/Shurley Reading- read real books Phonics, Spelling, Handwriting- WRTR Writing (not HANDwriting)- IEW Looks good! :) Pam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 English (Grammar)- continue with your MCT/Shurley Reading- read real books Phonics, Spelling, Handwriting- WRTR Writing (not HANDwriting)- IEW Looks good! :) Pam Yes, except it would be this: Phonics, Spelling, Handwriting--Spalding Spalding is the Method; WRTR is the manual for the Spalding Method. :D ..and you could add in "Capitalization and Punctuation" :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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