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How do you use Spelling Workout?


momma2three
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Spelling Workout A arrived today, and it's not as heavy as I kind of expected.  There are 35 lessons, each 3 pages long and with about 5 exercises.

 

So if you've had success with this program, how did you do it?  1 lesson a week, with 1 exercise a day?  (That doesn't seem like very much, but maybe?).  2 lessons a week, with 2-3 exercises a day?  3 lessons a week?

 

Did you add anything else into the mix, and do spelling tests at the end of the week?  Pre-tests at the beginning of the week?  (I know many spelling programs have that)  Anything else?

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The Well-Trained Mind has an excellent system for using Spelling Workout in the 5th chapter. That might help. :001_smile:

 

The only child I currently have using SW is a strong speller. He does 1 lesson a week, and I give a post-test on Thursday or Friday. If he misses a word it goes into his word locker, at the back of his grammar notebook. My goal is to simply find the words he is struggling with and fill in any gaps he has. :001_smile:

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I have a girl in SW-a and one in SW-c. I have them do one page a day, and then copy the list words. So they write their words 4x that week. Then we test on Friday. So far they are doing well with this. We read the weeks spelling rule together and discuss. My older DD was a spelling test ace last year in 1st grade (PS) and her little sis seems to be following in her footsteps. Also, the way we do SW, if one girl finishes with her math or WWE or something before the other, I can get them to whip thru the SW and we are able to stay on track timewise.

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Okay, so it seems like 1 lesson a week is the norm.  I thought that seemed so little, but of course level A is easy... I've been looking at the previews of later books and they have much longer lists and harder words.  So we'll start with 1 lesson a week, and ease into things.

 

I also found this blog post that someone made, which includes worksheets she uses!  http://elementalscience.blogspot.com/2010/03/spelling-workout.html  Very helpful.

 

Thank you everyone for your advice.

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Oh yeah, the first 5 or 6 lessons of SW-a are really easy. So easy that I let DD5 blow through them in a week until she got to the first list, then we slowed down. She is doing great and really seems to enjoy it. She would have started K if I had sent her to PS this year.

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Yeah, and even after that it's just 6 word lists until about halfway through the year, and then it goes to 8 word lists.  And they're mostly 3-4 letter words.  I actually hadn't noticed that it turns into 8 word lists when I asked my OP... 2 of those a week seems much too much for a 1st grader, so I probably would have been able to answer my own question!

 

I think I'll do what you did, and let her go through the first few lessons in a couple days... I know she can do that stuff in her sleep.  And then we'll start doing the weekly lessons.  Which should actually work out great, because we're starting a month into the year, and so if we accelerate the first month of Spelling Workout, we should end just on time.

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Exactly, and those first few lessons of "Circle the pic that starts with P" really seemed to be fun for her and got her jazzed about spelling. Of course this kid spent all last year copying her older sister's spelling list while older sis was doing 1st grade home work. I just KNEW she would be bored out of her gourd if I sent her to PS! She is really thriving! Best of luck to you!

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We're in SW-a.  My son completes a lesson three or four days a week and we test on Friday.  I point out potential problem words especially and I ask him to spell them orally several times before we test.  When he starts missing words on the tests, I plan to keep a list and add those words to tests until he knows them.

 

We may slow down when the lessons get harder.

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