Workbook Type of AAS?

[Paige]

Is there a workbook style spelling program that is similar to AAS but requires less direct parent teaching? I really like the way AAS lays things out and teaches the rules, but my kids hate it. They don't like all the extra stuff. One of them also has a lot of performance anxiety and I've found she does better when she has something that she can take to her room and work on alone. We will go over everything together and she can get me if she needs help, but she does better with written instructions and work. The way AAS has so much oral instruction and back and forth with the parent/teacher stresses her out and makes her feel like she's on the spot. She also has an audio processing problem and we suspect she may be dyslexic and just does not do well with oral instruction or oral answers. She needs to read things herself in order to learn and retain anything. Despite her struggles, she is actually a pretty good reader- especially if she doesn't have to read out loud.

 

I looked at Apples and Pears but the student workbook samples look like it still requires a lot of oral work. I don't want to do a list of the week program with the girls. Logic of English looks like it also requires a lot of back and forth between parent and child and a lot of oral work. Phonetic Zoo looks like it has a lot of on the floor and oral instruction as well. Does anyone have suggestions?

[Leav97]

:lurk5:

[ByGrace3]

Phonetic zoo is very independent but it is very auditory so that may not be a good fit. You might want to look at Rod &Staff spelling or How to Teach Spelling. I have heard both of those compared to AAS.

[naturally]

I don't have personal experience but I often hear R&S Spelling is the workbook comparison of AAS.

[warneral]

How to teach spelling

[PentecostalMom]

Rod and Staff. I own both of these and recently realized I was double-dipping. R&S is much simpler to implement. It starts slowly in 2nd, but progesses quickly.

[J9Mommy]

Rod and Staff. I own both of these and recently realized I was double-dipping. R&S is much simpler to implement. It starts slowly in 2nd, but progesses quickly.

 

Two questions. 1. How religious is R&S ? 2. Is this something the kids can almost do on their own ? Thank you :)

[Paige]

Could we start R&S at 4th grade or would we need to go down a level if we are new to it?

 

Has anyone used How to Teach Spelling? I only see the table of contents on the Rainbow Resource sample and I can't tell what you actually do. My girls really like workbooks and they like to have black and white ones so they can color them when they are done.

 

Also, is there a really inexpensive or free place that has the spelling rules like AAS teaches that I can review? I am a natural speller and I liked how AAS taught me why things are spelled the way they are. I knew many of the rules, but not a lot of the more specific ones. I loved AAS and am not happy about giving up on it and missing out on those details, but the spelling program is for the kids, not me! :laugh:

[nansk]

Has anyone used How to Teach Spelling? I only see the table of contents on the Rainbow Resource sample and I can't tell what you actually do. My girls really like workbooks and they like to have black and white ones so they can color them when they are done.

You can read all the HTTS threads on this forum. One forum member has shared several scans in her blog post.

Another option is the Logic of English. It comes with a workbook (cursive or print options) and the spelling rules are similar to Spalding and AAS.

 

Also, is there a really inexpensive or free place that has the spelling rules like AAS teaches that I can review? I am a natural speller and I liked how AAS taught me why things are spelled the way they are. I knew many of the rules, but not a lot of the more specific ones. I loved AAS and am not happy about giving up on it and missing out on those details, but the spelling program is for the kids, not me! :laugh:

Here is the list of Spalding spelling rules. I think the AAS rules are similar.

 

ETA: Found some spelling rules on the AAS website. I haven't read them fully, but the 29 Spalding rules appear to be more complete.

[stripe]

Has anyone used How to Teach Spelling? I only see the table of contents on the Rainbow Resource sample and I can't tell what you actually do. My girls really like workbooks and they like to have black and white ones so they can color them when they are done.

The workbooks are How to Spell, and the manual is HTTS. HTTS has dictation words and sentences, longer (sometimes the complete) list of words that follow that rule, and covers all the material. The workbooks break it up by level, and do not contain the dictation. The activities are things like writing the rules, learning to spell a list of words that follow that rule, deciding whether a word ends in k or ck (milk, chick,....), and so forth. Nothing "exciting" like crossword puzzles or anything too wild.

 

I am very pleased with this program. I taught my kids to read using Reading Reflex, and feel that this works nicely with what they learned from that, which already directed towards spelling when learning how to read.

 

Here are some threads about it

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/429652-how-to-teach-spelling-how-to-spell-2-rudginsky-i-dont-get-it/

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/368032-about-rudginsky-spelling-tmsworkbooks/ (it was my thread, and we got off track)

Anyway in that thread I posted a link to Boscopup's photos of level four on her blog

http://kinderbauernhofacademy.blogspot.com/2011/11/how-to-spell-book-3-samples.html

And this older thread about it

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?p=3490923

 

Pookie Mama has a lovely post on her blog about how she uses it, that encouraged me to stop thinking and planning and just start in. I don't know what I was so scared of, but the workbooks helped; the TM by itself confused me. Anyway she has a couple photos of each level and the TM.

http://dougcarla.wordpress.com/2012/02/07/how-to-teach-spelling-review/

 

In any case, do not be like me and think you can just buy a higher level and use it. The lower levels cover the material in much more detail, and the upper levels just skim over it. Don't buy the teacher key. There is no way you'll need it. I bought one level and laughed.

[prairiewindmomma]

Can I suggest, gently, that maybe sticking with AAS is what you need to do? Two of mine have auditory processing problems. With my oldest, I accommodated him by switching programs and didn't make him work through the issue. He already was reading several levels above his grade, and so I didn't think it was a big deal. We hit a big roadblock a few years later, and had to remediate the auditory issues.

 

With my current 7 year old, we've really been working on the auditory stuff, and I can already see a huge difference in his ability to hear phenomes and in his ability to process complex oral directions. He hasn't always read on level....but he recently jumped a few grades in his ability to read now that the underlying auditory stuff has been worked on.

 

I think if you switch programs, you're going to have this same issue bump up in other areas of schoolwork.....figure out where you want to attack it. :)

[Paige]

Can I suggest, gently, that maybe sticking with AAS is what you need to do? Two of mine have auditory processing problems. With my oldest, I accommodated him by switching programs and didn't make him work through the issue. He already was reading several levels above his grade, and so I didn't think it was a big deal. We hit a big roadblock a few years later, and had to remediate the auditory issues.

 

With my current 7 year old, we've really been working on the auditory stuff, and I can already see a huge difference in his ability to hear phenomes and in his ability to process complex oral directions. He hasn't always read on level....but he recently jumped a few grades in his ability to read now that the underlying auditory stuff has been worked on.

 

I think if you switch programs, you're going to have this same issue bump up in other areas of schoolwork.....figure out where you want to attack it. :)

 

She already has these issues in other subjects and we've been using AAS for several years. I just don't think it's sticking. Both of them-even the one with no processing problems- are still pretty miserable spellers. DD's audio processing is such that she does not hear what we hear- it gets jumbled- and in oral work, she doesn't say what she thinks she's saying. Or maybe she is saying what she thinks she's saying but it doesn't make sense because she's responding to what she heard which is not what has been said. It's not just a sound discrimination problem. She has so much anxiety about it because she is never sure if she's understanding what's going on correctly and I want to minimize her stress level right now. We are working on her audio processing problems with a separate program but I'm not sure if this is something that can go away.

[twoxcell]

We switched from AAS to R&S Spelling and I plan to stick with R&S.

[prairiewindmomma]

I totally understand....we've btdt.

 

Fwiw, I have some mild capd issues myself. My brain "hears" me saying the right word and I am still shocked when people ask me to clarify what I just said.

 

It can be hard to sort out.