swainsonshawk Posted April 7, 2015 Share Posted April 7, 2015 I have a struggling speller and reader. He is 12 and in the 6th grade. He is currently reading on grade level (yay!), but his spelling and writing and mechanics are way behind. I am considering AAS, but I am concerned about the teacher time. I have 3 other kids younger than him who need my time, too. Plus, he would really like to be more independent with his work and rely on me less (I'm usually busy and then he has to wait and gets distracted). What to use for spelling? We have used Spelling Plus (going through the word lists, only practicing words he doesn't know), spelling workout (used only as a workbook--it's useless),Apples and Pears a long time ago--it was good, but it was hard to speed him up when it was stuck on words he knew. AAS would be a good fit, right? How much time will it take me? Becky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeaganS Posted April 8, 2015 Share Posted April 8, 2015 Look at Rod and Staff spelling. It is much more independent and a very similar approach from what I've heard. It is on my radar for my AAS but workbook-loving dd. You might have to start a few grade levels down if you want an equivalent program to AAS. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmasc Posted April 8, 2015 Share Posted April 8, 2015 We are AAS users. My oldest is in AAS 4 and I'm about to begin AAS 1 with the younger, so I've looked at less teacher intensive spelling, but only for the older. I've looked at Phonetic Zoo and think it looks pretty independent and good. Have you checked that one out yet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted April 8, 2015 Share Posted April 8, 2015 I tried posting this last night and must have been posting it just as the site went down. :( Here is the condensed version. I tried using AAS with my severe dyslexic when he was that age. It was a complete bust. Even as horrible of a speller as he was, the words were too easy and it progressed too slowly. The cost was exorbitant for the pace he would have required. We used Apples and Pears through D and then switched to How To Teach Spelling. HTTS's spiral dictation is working for my 9 yr old dyslexic. She is not anywhere as severely impacted as her older brother and moving through HTTS at a slow pace is improving her spelling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FO4UR Posted April 8, 2015 Share Posted April 8, 2015 If he's at a beginner's level in spelling, check the link in my siggie. If he's a bit beyond that, check out the public domain book that I'm using as the foundation of the spelling I'm writing for my boys. Pearson 1919 Have him study the words for 5min independently (*maybe* do 2 days at a time to speed him up, but no more b/c the spiral & repetition is part of what makes this work). Then ask him to spell the words aloud orally without peeking. Any word he struggles with, you are going to discuss the phonograms and morphemes, and then work on visualizing. These missed words need to stay on a list to be reviewed orally for a while. Write the words with a cover/copy. Cover the words up and write, check. Peeking is OK if you need to, but cover again before writing. We want to nudge him along into visualizing the entire word as habit. Then work through the sentence dictations. And, if you start in maybe the 3rd grade book, I would pull sentence dictations from the 2nd grade to do daily. It's those sentence dictations that are the glue for the spellings, and the more of those you do (within reason, ykwim) the better the spelling will stick. If you have a struggling speller, he needs you to focus 15min every.single.school.day on teaching him to spell. What I outlined above will take 15min/day and will get the job done. (Thinking through phonograms/morphemes, visualizing the words, and applying them in sentence dictations...those 3 things need to be in whatever spelling you choose.) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolybear Posted April 8, 2015 Share Posted April 8, 2015 :bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluegoat Posted April 8, 2015 Share Posted April 8, 2015 I tried Sequential Spelling this year, after abandoning a few programs in the past. My daughter was finding her poor spelling was really getting in the way of her writing, and asked for something else. I was looking for something that worked differently because all the spelling I did in school did not improve my bad spelling at all, and I had such bad outcomes with other program with dd. Anyway, we really like it, it is easy, it is less that 10 min a day, and by Christmas it was making a huge improvement in the fluency of her writing and her spelling generally. It's also pretty cheap. It isn't really about learning systematic spelling based on memorizing rules, so that might not appeal to some. It starts at level 1 no matter what the age of the student. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerryAtHope Posted April 8, 2015 Share Posted April 8, 2015 How much time will it take me? Becky 15-20 minutes per day, so it will take your time. I started my oldest when he was 11. I "fast-tracked" through the first few levels (he spent less than a month on level 1, and about 4 months on level 2). How quickly you go through depends on how significant his struggles are. It was very helpful for us, but I know every situation is different. Here's a review I did when we started, and also a follow-up (I should update now that both of my kids have finished!) HTH as you decide what way to go. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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