ksr5377 Posted April 5, 2014 Share Posted April 5, 2014 I have read WRTR 3 times and feel I still need help implementing. I noticed that they offer online courses sometimes and was wondering if it's worth it or not? Or should I just just get started and learn as I go, savng the money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracy Posted April 5, 2014 Share Posted April 5, 2014 I use SWR, which is similar. I just hung out at the SWR Yahoo Group and watched the YouTube videos about how to do dictation. I am sure my learning curve was a lot larger, but by the end of the first year, I felt pretty comfortable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted April 5, 2014 Share Posted April 5, 2014 Which edition did you read? Most of us find the 4th to be MUCH easier to understand. It's the last edition written by the author. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted April 5, 2014 Share Posted April 5, 2014 bump Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksr5377 Posted April 6, 2014 Author Share Posted April 6, 2014 I have the latest edition. Is the 4th able to be found? For some reason I can't link to show it on amazon, but is the 4th edition the one with a solid blue cover and big white letters? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksr5377 Posted April 10, 2014 Author Share Posted April 10, 2014 I just wanted to update. I was able to find the 4th edition used on Amazon and it came yesterday. I am AMAZED at how much easier this is to understand than the 6th. It's just so much more straightforward. Thank you so much for the recommendation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArizonaGirl Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 I actually did take the homeschooling parent online course, first half. I still haven't seen the upper elementary level available. For background, I was taught Spalding as a child, and occasionally, Mrs. Spalding would come and visit our classrooms and observe. My children attended a Spalding school, where I volunteered as a parent in the classroom for several years, until we moved away. I found the online class informative and helpful, but as I was already familiar with the method and Spalding classrooms, it wasn't a lot of new material for me. I do think the videos of actual Spalding classrooms are helpful. They showed my children how to respond to phonogram flashcards and Spalding procedures. I also felt frustrated asking questions, since most answers were pretty canned and straight from the 5th edition, which was current at the time. I own and use the 5th edition with my children. I borrowed my mother's copy of the 2nd edition, from when I was a child, and I found a lot of helpful insights that have been removed from more recent editions. I would love to be able to look through a fourth edition. From my understanding, the current sixth edition expands more examples of how to teach more complicated material to the upper elementary students, though I have not seen it in person. I have the original Teacher's manuals from Spalding Education, International that go with the 5th edition. I know most of those have been revised to match the new sixth edition and incorporate the newer Spalding readers. I prefer the actual decodable books, using good literature, listed in the originals. They are more enjoyable for the children to read. At this point, I just use the guides as a list of concepts to cover. I supplement heavily with other things for practice because of time constraints. I just can't spend 2+ hours per grade level on language arts one-on-one with five kids every day. Spelling is about the only thing I keep as mostly Spalding, though I do incorporate some Orton-Gillingham from a class I took. The earlier Spalding editions are much gentler and less complicated for the student. My grandmother described the current Spalding as very "Oppressive." Although the goal of Spalding Education, International, was to preserve Romalda Spalding's original method, I feel they have changed too much and made it much more rigid. It is easier for the teacher to teach this way, but it is less flexible and diagnostic as well. Originally, you constantly evaluated the students' learning and adapted teaching to focus on what the children (individually or as a class) needed. Now, everything is rigidly grouped with the attitiude that all must be mastered in the specified time, and then we move on, ready or not. I'm rambling. Forgive me. The classes are helpful if you can use them to figure out how to write your own custom plans to suit your own children. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 I have read WRTR 3 times and feel I still need help implementing. I noticed that they offer online courses sometimes and was wondering if it's worth it or not? Or should I just just get started and learn as I go, savng the money. Just get started. It's easy: teach the first 45 phonograms (scripts available). Drill daily (written and oral). When the dc know those phonograms, begin teaching the words in the spelling list (scripts available). Rinse and repeat. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 I just wanted to update. I was able to find the 4th edition used on Amazon and it came yesterday. I am AMAZED at how much easier this is to understand than the 6th. It's just so much more straightforward. Thank you so much for the recommendation. I wish the 4th were not so much better. I hate having to recommend an OOP book. There is no comparison though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.