Spelling Curriculum - help please!

[themayflies]

My son is going into 2nd grade and we will be starting spelling.  We did not do spelling in 1st.  I really do not want to spend the money for AAS.  After that, I really don't know what curriculum to get.  Spelling Workout seems ok but then I have read reviews where people say it is a lot of busywork.  That would not be a good fit for my son.  I haven't actually had any spelling curriculum in my hands to look over, so I just don't know what to look for.  I'm tempted to just print off grade level lists and review those with him without a curriculum.  Can anyone provide some guidance on choosing a curriculum or chime in on what curriculum you use and what you like/dislike about it?  Thanks so much! 

[kirstenhill]

I think an important decision to make upfront is what philosophy are you looking for in a spelling program.  We use Logic of English, which bears some similarities to AAS in that it teaches spelling use phonograms and rules.  Other programs are just memorization of random lists, some are pattern-based, and some may have a combination of a variety of approaches.  It was really eye opening for me to read Uncovering the Logic of English by Denise Eide.   My daughter was already a struggling speller when I first read it, but it really sold me personally on using a phonogram/rule based approach for spelling.  There is a thread recently called something like "Is Spalding worth the time"  (something like that, if you scroll back I think you'll see it).  It's a great approach, but like most things, it's not what clicks for every student, and some natural spellers may hardly need a spelling curriculum at all (I don't think we have any of those in my family so far!).  Good luck with your decision.

 

ETA:  I had the thread title totally off originally...here it is.  The OP was deleted in that thread, but I think it's still interesting, and I think there have been other similar threads if you search around.  A search for spelling curriculum on this board will lead you to many, many threads discussing the pros and cons of various spelling approaches. :-)

[Elfknitter.#]

What is it about AAS that turns you off?

[MotherOfBoys]

I have not used Spelling Workout yet. In one week we will be starting school. I have A and B in front of me. A starts out very basic with "write each letter of the alphabet" but by lesson 5 or so it starts with the lists. It does have a rule, it looks like, with most lists. In the back of the book is a Spelling Notebook section. I think, I don't have the teachers manual to know for sure, that is where the student is to write the rule and then the list of words like a journal. I will have my son do this in a separate cheap spiral notebook (1C right now at staples). I think Spelling Workout could be busy work in the beginning till you get to a list your child doesn't know. I am going to do a pretest and if he passes with 100% then we move to the next list. If he gets a couple wrong then he can choose either to write the list in his notebook or do the quick 4 activities in the workbook. If he doesn't pass then he does both with a retest later. I think we will get through the first book pretty quickly because he's a good speller (credit to Saxon phonics for that). Book B is review with harder lists and some extras. Book C is written in cursive and print. It looks like the books cover some of the same topics each year just with harder words each year for a nice confidence building subject. There are some lessons new though with every 6 lessons being a review. 36 lessons per book. I like it because it is cheap. $9.95. Looks like he can practice reading at the same time and some parts can be independent. Hope this helps.

[merylvdm]

I used Spelling Power with all my kids - mercifully we are done with spelling now. It works on the principle that you give the word list and see what they get wrong and get them to work on the ones they struggled with. You buy it once and you have all the words you need to teach them. They all finished it between 7th and 8th grade (the girls were faster than the boys). I am not sure what it costs now, but it is a once off cost and you re-use it. Mine has lasted through 4 kids - not sure it is in saleable condition any more - but it lasted and it worked and they can all spell the words they need to!

[dbmamaz]

I started with spelling power - i bought a really old copy, cheap on amazon, but the newer copies come with a cd of printable spelling forms.  It is good in that you can pretest out of words you already know, but it didnt work for my late reader and struggling speller.  By the first review list, he'd forgotten a lot of words.  

 

Now we are using Logic of English as well, and its improving MY spelling - i keep having ah-ha moments when we go over new spelling rules.  I love it so much!! It makes my son cry, but so did spelling power, and i feel he is learning a LOT more from LOE.  

 

for a natural speller, i'd do spelling power.  I might at some point go back to spelling power after we've learned all the rules.  But I promised him a year off from spelling after we finish LOE.  

[shmily]

You could look at How to Teach Spelling and the student workbooks How to Spell.  It's rule-based, and not too workbook-y. :-)

[momto2blessings]

Spelling Wisdom by Simply Charlotte Mason if you want dictation-based in great literature:)

[stayathomelibrarian]

I bought Spelling Workout B and C- because Susan told me to.  Seriously, I have traditionally stuck pretty close to her recommendations.  We did AAS pretty quickly last year, and I didn't go ahead and get level 2 because I couldn't justify spending that much money on one year of spelling.  I couldn't find it used anywhere.  In looking at Spelling workout B and C, I've decided to put it aside for the next used curriculum sale, and I got AAS 2 again.  I like the lack of workbook approach. My daughter did well with the tiles and the dictation.  

[FO4UR]

I've heard good things about R&S Sound and Structure.

 

I use and like Apples & Pears.  A plus side to Apples & Pears is that it covers dictation very well so you can eliminate that aspect from your writing curric.  A possible downside might be that a 2nd grader might not be ready for that much dictation.  It depends on the kid.  My oldest couldn't handle it.  My 2nd excels with it, and is plowing through with ease.  My 3rd is not far enough into it to really make a judgement call, but seems to be doing OK.  He's 2nd grade now and in the first half of Book A.

 

 

[Black-eyed Suzan]

We use Spell to Write and Read. It is an Orton-Gillingham program. I like that I only had to buy one reusable package for all the levels and there are no grade levels so the child just goes at his/her own pace. It does seem complicated at first, but after I followed her steps to create my own log and figured out the system, it is open and go. My son uses a whiteboard instead of the log.

[Classically Minded]

I couldn't recommend any other besides All About Spelling because it really is that good.  I did buy all the levels and it did cost a LOT - BUT....it is non-consumable, so you can use it for all your children and/or sell it.  It has a high re-sale value.  My dd9 loves it and so do I!

[Um_2_4]

I tried the sample of Sequential spelling and am going with that for DS9. AAS did not work for him. He needs to see it in action and "see" the pattern. I got the PDF file so $10 each level and a notebook. I plan to do it 2x a day, 1x in the am and 1x after lunch.

[twoxcell]

I like Rod and Staff Spelling By Sound and Structure. We also use dictation. I have used the first 3 levels of AAS as well and plan to sell them. ;)

[boscopup]

If you want the rules/phonograms of AAS at a cheaper price, I'd go with either HTTS (How to Teach Spelling - TM is K-12, and this is an O-G method like AAS at a MUCH cheaper price) or Spalding (Writing Road to Reading is also K-12). Spalding and it's spinoffs (SWR, PR, etc.) are setup differently from the more straight O-G type programs in that you learn many of the phonograms up front and apply the phonograms/rules to all sorts of words, whereas an O-G program teaches one phonogram/rule at a time and works with just that phonogram/rule and previously learned phonograms/rules. Both methods are good, but they're very different philosophies.

 

For easy to get done workbook program that's heavily phonics based, I really like R&S Spelling (though it is VERY Christian, if that's a problem). It teaches roughly the same phonograms/rules that AAS does. We went from AAS 3 to R&S Spelling 3, and it was a good change for us. The 2nd grade book is not very phonics-based, but grades 3 and up are.

 

When I looked at Spelling Workout at a conference, I wasn't impressed. R&S is cheaper and I think it teaches spelling more. The exercises in R&S really get the kid thinking about the spelling of the word, rather than just playing games to write the words.

 

[Chelli]

I second Apples and Pears Spelling. It's a very different approach, but it's what finally clicked for my oldest.

[SewingMom2many]

Another vote for Logic of English. I have a son that is beginning second grade as well and he's using it for about a month now. I've learned a lot already by reading the book and watching her free training videos and so far my son loves this program.  We've used AAS and also Spelling Workout and LoE has been the best fit for us by far. I feel like my son is learning the spelling rules, not just memorizing a list of words as he was in SW. I thought AAS was a good program but I like LoE because there aren't a ton of pieces to contend with like there were in AAS and all of my kids really like the games in LoE.