KathyBC Posted September 7, 2013 Share Posted September 7, 2013 I gave ds a wide-range reading test to start this grade 8 school year. It's a brief, one-page assessment from donpotter.net; someone posted a link to it several years ago, though I can't locate the link now. I was happy to see him test at just below grade-level (7.5). He was able to sound out words like predilection, peculiarity, rudimentary, pugilist, mitosis, anomaly and deteriorate. He was stumped by words like unanimous, intrigue, audacious, and irascible. We are working through the Megawords series, working on spelling (his is terrible) and multisyllablic word-attack skills. It's an 8-book series, though, and we are only halfway through book 2. I worry that we won't get through them all. At this point, he's hoping to attend ps in grade 10 to access electives like shop. When he struggled learning to read at all, we used the Scaredy Cat Reading System along with his sister, who is two years younger. She is more of a natural reader and probably would have decoded just fine no matter what we used. But it made the games more fun, and I figured it didn't hurt her at all to be a bit over-taught, and to have a really solid foundation. So now I'm wondering if we could find something similar to address higher-level reading. (She was recently stumped by the word picturesque.) I've seen REWARDS Secondary recommended elsewhere. DS used REWARDS Intermediate after Scaredy Cat and it was great, I'm just not sure the next book is what I'm looking for. I hope this all makes sense. :) Any suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted September 8, 2013 Share Posted September 8, 2013 Hmm, no suggestions, but I will ask around... By the way, you probably wouldn't want go back now since your son is already reading near grade level, but I thought I would mention that Barton Reading and Spelling turned my daughter's spelling around from totally abysmal to really good in a year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted September 8, 2013 Share Posted September 8, 2013 She is in 7th grade now and we started using it last year, by the way. I realized you might need some context. Sorry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathyBC Posted September 8, 2013 Author Share Posted September 8, 2013 Thanks for your responses. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted September 8, 2013 Share Posted September 8, 2013 Welcome! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
houseofkids&pets Posted September 8, 2013 Share Posted September 8, 2013 I thought that I read on this board that REWARDS Intermediate & Secondary were both pretty similar, but Intermediate was just a slower pace. Hopefully, someone with experience will chime in and let you know. Have you looked at ABeCeDarian? Some people use this program after REWARDS Intermediate. They have a yahoo group with lots of info!! Here is a link: http://www.abcdrp.com They also just published a spelling program, but I am not familiar with it. We are using Spelling Through Morphographs (STM), and it has slowly been helping my ds learn to spell in "chunks". Others on this board have successfully used Apples and Pears for spelling which I heard is similar to STM, but is more user-friendly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geodob Posted September 8, 2013 Share Posted September 8, 2013 With those words that your DS was stumped on. I wonder how many grade 8's have heard those words used in conversations? Where perhaps higher level discussions could be used? That also provide a context for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathyBC Posted September 8, 2013 Author Share Posted September 8, 2013 Yes, once I helped him out with unanimous and intrigue he knew those words, but he was not familiar with audacious and irascible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathyBC Posted September 8, 2013 Author Share Posted September 8, 2013 I thought that I read on this board that REWARDS Intermediate & Secondary were both pretty similar, but Intermediate was just a slower pace. Hopefully, someone with experience will chime in and let you know. Have you looked at ABeCeDarian? Some people use this program after REWARDS Intermediate. They have a yahoo group with lots of info!! Here is a link: http://www.abcdrp.com They also just published a spelling program, but I am not familiar with it. We are using Spelling Through Morphographs (STM), and it has slowly been helping my ds learn to spell in "chunks". Others on this board have successfully used Apples and Pears for spelling which I heard is similar to STM, but is more user-friendly. That's what I thought about REWARDS, too! I've heard positive results from STM and Apples and Pears. I'll have to look into them and see if they might get us through decoding/encoding multisyllable words at a bit faster pace than Megawords does. That was the great thing about REWARDS - the huge jump in reading level after a relatively short program. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1shortmomto4 Posted September 8, 2013 Share Posted September 8, 2013 What you might try is something like BJU - and use the online version - I'd use at a grade level below - even though your ds is almost grade level. I've used the BJU online for 3 years with my dyslexic/dysgraphic child (entering 8th this year) and it really helped him with more reading skills, including vocabulary than anything I could have done. The teachers are wonderful at those levels. My older ds, now a sophomore in college, used the 7th and 8th grade levels and he was working on vocab, a bit of essay writing (which you don't have to do) and just thinking more deeply about the literature. Best part was the full production play of Shakespeare - explained fully and enjoyably. I know, not the popular norm (versus Rewards/Int. and Barton) but we found it a great tool here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lecka Posted September 8, 2013 Share Posted September 8, 2013 I have looked at using Rewards and have not used it (yet). It looks to me like it is really good for what it is, but fairly limited in scope if you want more than what it offers. I think it might be more for kids at a lower level than this. I think the words given I would think of as vocabulary words, and they don't strike me as words where studying roots and prefixes and suffixes would be really good. Personally I would lean towards looking at ways to increase vocabulary. From looking at it, Rewards Int. can be used with someone who has a 2nd grade reading level but has trouble with multisyllable words. Does not seem quite right at this stage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathyBC Posted September 8, 2013 Author Share Posted September 8, 2013 Yes, REWARDS was reading intervention only and did a bang-up job at that. Spelling, vocabulary and word study weren't really addressed in Intermediate and I can't imagine they would be part of Secondary, either. Thanks for helping me reassure myself I wasn't robbing ds of something he needed, Lecka and houseofkids&pets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathyBC Posted September 8, 2013 Author Share Posted September 8, 2013 What you might try is something like BJU - and use the online version - I'd use at a grade level below - even though your ds is almost grade level. I've used the BJU online for 3 years with my dyslexic/dysgraphic child (entering 8th this year) and it really helped him with more reading skills, including vocabulary than anything I could have done. The teachers are wonderful at those levels. My older ds, now a sophomore in college, used the 7th and 8th grade levels and he was working on vocab, a bit of essay writing (which you don't have to do) and just thinking more deeply about the literature. Best part was the full production play of Shakespeare - explained fully and enjoyably. I know, not the popular norm (versus Rewards/Int. and Barton) but we found it a great tool here. Okay, now that's interesting. I love hearing how people use resources that work for their kids. It sounds really good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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