Is there a way to make AAS work for my daughter?

[TheAttachedMama]

Hi Everyone,

 

UGH....can I talk through my spelling woes with you?  ;)

 

I have two children who are a little more than a year apart in age.  (8 and 7).  They are in 3rd and 2nd grade if I went by the PS calendar---but they tend to work pretty closely academically.   Both kids struggled with learning to read when compared to their peers.   Because of that, our course load tends to be very teacher intensive and full as I try to catch-them-up.   To add to the stress of the year, we have a two year old who makes it really difficult to get through any of these "teacher intensive" programs.

 

Because of our schedule, I am trying to combine them both in spelling using AAS.  (One of those teacher intensive programs I was talking about!)    I have them combined because I honestly don't know how in the world I would be able to fit in two separate teacher intensive spelling lessons with both kids every day. 

 

We work on spelling everyday.   My oldest son seems to be thriving with AAS.   However, my daughter is not doing well.    I am trying to go slow and just review, review, review---but her spelling is just terrible.   It is like she just puts random letters in words for no reason.   When she makes a mistake, I try to look at it as an opportunity for teaching and learning:   We analyze the word and discuss why it is spelled the way it is, what each letter is doing in the word, etc.

 

Here is an example of what things look like with AAS:

Lately, we have been talking about consonant suffixes in AAS 3.   I taught the lesson as scripted in the guide.   She seems to understand everything.   I had her spell all the words with letter tiles.   Again, she seems to understand things.   Then the next day, I show her the list of words.  (Same words she spelled previously with the letter tiles.)   She is given time to read through the list of words and study them.   Then, I dictate out some words.   She spell all but two words incorrectly.   So I give her back the list and suggest that she do more than just read through the words.  I say, "Perhaps we should analyze the words more deeply.   Lets divide them into syllables and underline all of the vowel teams.   Lets look at how the individual suffixes are spelled, etc. etc."   So we do that and she is given even more time to study the same words after we talked about them.   Again, she misses all but 1 word this time.  (Worse.)

So then I say---OK---that didn't work.   Lets pull out the letter tiles.   We spell all the words together, etc.   (To my daughters credit she still has a good attitude and is not complaining at all about all of this work.)    I dictate the same words again and she spells all but 3 wrong.  

 

This is typical with how she does with AAS.   I usually just hang out on a step for awhile and practice it over and over and over again until she can spell the words correctly.   But part of me thinks that this approach is not working with her.

 

These are some examples of some of the mistakes she made.   (Although, she is not consistently spelling them the same wrong way.) 

 

1)  roads is spelled "rodes"

2)  useful is spelled "yusfull"

3)  forgetful is spelled "fogitfull"

4)  forgiveness is spelled "forgevnes"

5)  harmful is spelled "hermful"

6)  boldly is spelled "budly"

7)  helpful is spelled "helpeful"

etc. etc.  

 

I am sitting here today pondering.....

1)  Is it time to jump ship?   If so, what do I jump ship to??   I know some people will probably suggest Apples and Pears spelling.   But that leads me to my next thought....

2)  HOW in the world am I going to find the time to teach A&P spelling to one kid and AAS to the other each day on top of everything else?   

3)  Do I need to re-prioritize my day or schedule?    What do I cut in order to put in TWO spelling lessons?  (See schedule below.) 
4)  Is there a way to make AAS work for both kids?  Or will I just be holding my 8 year old behind?  

 

-----------------------------

FULL Current Schedule (in case you are interested)

8AM-9PM:   Read Bible than Singapore Math until 9AM (hard stopping point at 9AM no matter where we are.)  Toddler tags along with us.  Once I teach the new stuff in math, kids work happily semi-independently.  

9AM-10:30AM:   Each kid takes turn reading out loud to me while the other one plays in the play room toddler

10:30AM-11:00AM:   Independent Work while I play with toddler and prep-lunch

11AM-12:00PM:   Lunch, Read Aloud, Clean Up

12:00PM-12:30PM:   I put toddler down for his nap while the other kids finish up their independent work

12:30PM-1:00PM:   All About Spelling (Either new lesson with tiles -OR- 4 sentences dictation -OR- Writing Station)

1:00PM-1:30PM:   Treasured Conversations part 1

1:30PM-2:00PM:  Latin.  We use SSL which is really below their level.  But they love it.   They do this semi-independetly while I help cranky toddler transition to the waking-world.  :)   They dance around to the songs or watch the videos, etc.  

----  Some days we quit at this point, but on longer days we also add....

2:00PM-3:00PM:   History / Science.   Usually we all eat a snack while I read from some type of history or science book or we go outside and do some nature study or project, etc.  

3:00PM-3:30PM:  Tutoring Time.   I check their independent work and 'quiz them' on their individual word lists from AAS.   These are previously misspelled words from dictation that I think they need to work on -or- new words from current lesson. 

 

Independent Work List:

1)  Typing lesson on computer

2)  Sheperd Software geography practice

3)  Math facts practice on computer

4)  Copywork for handwriting practice (from Treasured conversations)

5)  Read any book they want for 20 minutes  (trying to build in as much reading practice as possible this year) 

 

 

[FairProspects]

Can you hire a mother's helper or tutor so you can double some teaching time and free yourself up?

 

Some of those errors show she doesn't have phonetic awareness down sound by sound yet (especially r controlled vowels) and there isn't really much to do but keep remediating it, which takes time no matter what program you are using. I don't think I would jump ship, but I'd be working on solutions to give yourself more time or her more reading/phonics tutoring.

 

I'm sorry, that is probably not what you wanted to hear, but in tough learning situations there are no shortcuts or perfect programs. I'm not convinced that a switch to a different program would resolve the hearing sound/phonics/spelling issues here.

[TheAttachedMama]

No.   I do not have it in the budget to hire a mother's helper.   :(  

My husband leaves for work around 7 and gets home at 6:15ish.   So he is not really home at 'good hours' either to help out with the toddler.   I've considered even waking the kids up really early to make homeschooling work.   But it is hard to get them up even for an 8AM start...so I am not sure how realistic that solution would be. 

 

And I would agree with you and how you assessed her mistakes.  She has always had some subtle speech problems when it comes to the "r" sound.  AND---  I think that she has a hard time hearing the difference between sounds like "ar" in car and "er" in her.   BUT we have taken her in for testing several times at the local speech and hearing center and children's hospital, and each times she has scored within the normal range.  So she has never qualified for therapy.    SO---that means it is left to me to remediate at home I guess. 

[pitterpatter]

Is she saying the words correctly before she spells them? Many times, my DD does not pronounce words correctly because people around here often mispronounce them due to Midwest drawls/accents. I make sure she repeats the word she's spelling clearly aloud right before she spells it so I can hear whether she says it correctly. Or, I might have to remind her to pronounce for spelling.

 

Also, does she whisper the sounds as she spells? Doing so distorts the sounds. DD tries to do this a lot. It's fine on her good days, doesn't work at all on her bad days. I'm also wondering about whether you need to work on segmentation with her...or force her to do it. My DD can segment, but she often doesn't like to take the time to do. When I see her headed the wrong direction with a word, I stop her and ask for the syllables. If that is correct, I ask her for the first sound, she writes it down. I say, next sound...next sound...and so on as she writes. Then I say, next syllable (if there are multiple ones), then ask for each sound as she writes. This is the AAS method...what the kids are supposed to be doing when they spell an unknown/difficult word, but DD H.A.T.E.S. taking the time to do it.

 

I'm also wondering whether your DD is keeping her sounds short and separate or dragging them out and distorting them. DD also does this. I have to keep on her to make them short and separate.

 

I also see dyslexic tendencies in how your DD is spelling. DD really struggles with e and i when spelling. She knows their sounds no problem, but when spelling, all bets are off. She does the y/u thing too. And recently, a and u. Most of the time, she doesn't see the problem when she reads/checks what she's spelled. I have to make her segment what she's written to realize that it's not right.

 

So, nothing real helpful here, just some things to check with lots of persistence and patience. Some days, DD's dyslexia flares something horrible and they are just total washes (I call them backwards days), but there's the good ones too, when's she clicking. They give me hope.

[8filltheheart]

1) roads is spelled "rodes"

2) useful is spelled "yusfull"

3) forgetful is spelled "fogitfull"

4) forgiveness is spelled "forgevnes"

5) harmful is spelled "hermful"

6) boldly is spelled "budly"

7) helpful is spelled "helpeful"

etc. etc.

 

I want to make sure I am understanding this correctly. These are the spelling words that your beginning 2nd grader is misspelling? Is she also a struggling reader? I ask bc it is completely normal for spelling to lag quite a bit behind reading level. I would not expect a struggling reader to spell those words correctly as a brand new 2nd grader, even with instruction. Spelling is really hard work for dyslexics. I would actually focus on simpler rules for a 2nd grader.

 

I can't link right now, but if you can search for Apples and Pears spelling by Sound Foundations and look inside of book A (the entire program is viewable online) that would give you an idea of words that a struggling reader might be working on even in 3rd grade. (My ds didn't place out the entire A book in 5th grade!!)

[cintinative]

This is only my opinion, so please don't think I am getting down on you!

 

If those words (e.g. forgetful) are covered in the AAS level you are in, I believe you need to back up because she is not ready to cover suffixes ("ful") until she gets the other parts down. Those should be solid before doing suffixes.

 

AAS is supposed to be cumulative. Also the levels are not true to grade level. You could have a 2nd grader in AAS 1 or 4 depending on ability.  The best bet is to start in AAS1 and reestablish all the rules. Figure out what she is missing. It sounds like there may be an issue with some learning gaps. Maybe you switched in from another curriculum??  Anyway, the way AAS is supposed to work is that you don't proceed until you get the words, rules, and phonograms/sounds for that level down. No matter how long that takes.  So the errors you are showing are telling me that she was either promoted too soon or she was put in AAS3 simply because she is in 3rd grade which is not correct.

 

That said, I never spend more than 10-15 minutes four days a week on AAS.  I think you are spending too much time. Once you figure out the right level, then do that, and set a timer and stop when it goes off.  

 

I have two that are a year apart in school and I do teach them separately for spelling. At 10 minutes a day it is easy to do it separately and it is honestly really really hard to toggle. They are very different spellers.  One is much slower to pick up on it than the other.  So I suggest you do split them, but spend less time per kid.

 

 

[FairProspects]

8 makes a good point. I missed that she is only 7 and a 2nd grader. Fwiw, my almost 9 y.o. third grader is still finishing up AAS 2. Yes, he is dyslexic. I think you could go either way - back up in AAS and move more slowly or switch (but I don't necessarily think that will solve your problems unless you also back up with material). I'm not sure that either of these fix your time crunch though.

[FairProspects]

Cross posted with Cintinative. Totally agree. :)

[SparrowsNest]

We are also in AAS 3 with my young 3rd grader, actually we just did the lesson on suffixes last week. :)

 

How many days are you working on a lesson?  I ask because, especially since we got into level 3, we are spending probably 4-6 days per lesson.  Day 1, I teach the lesson, sometimes reteach on day 2.  Days 3-? I give the spelling words and sentences by dictation usually 8-10 words and 3-4 sentences. 

 

If dd misspells something, that word is reinforced by 1: discussing what went wrong, 2: rewriting it 3x on the spot, and 2: including it in the dictation the next day.  

 

I think if I were you, I'd let the older child move on and go back to where your younger child is confident.  Then, I'd continue on, slowly, spending more time than is probably necessary building the foundation.  

 

One thing about AAS/AAR is, sometimes the lesson is over before the dc has mastered the material.  In those cases, I just park there for a few days and practice, practice, practice until the material is mastered. I'm not sure if that's The Official Way, but it's the way that's working best for us! :)

 

ETA:  One other thing, if it makes you feel any better, we finished AAS 2 last year for 2nd grade.  Her ITBS test scores were fantastic for spelling.  You won't be 'behind' at all if you drop back with your 2nd grader!

[TheAttachedMama]

Is she saying the words correctly before she spells them? Many times, my DD does not pronounce words correctly because people around here often mispronounce them due to Midwest drawls/accents. I make sure she repeats the word she's spelling clearly aloud right before she spells it so I can hear whether she says it correctly. Or, I might have to remind her to pronounce for spelling.

 

Also, does she whisper the sounds as she spells? Doing so distorts the sounds. DD tries to do this a lot. It's fine on her good days, doesn't work at all on her bad days. I'm also wondering about whether you need to work on segmentation with her...or force her to do it. My DD can segment, but she often doesn't like to take the time to do. When I see her headed the wrong direction with a word, I stop her and ask for the syllables. If that is correct, I ask her for the first sound, she writes it down. I say, next sound...next sound...and so on as she writes. Then I say, next syllable (if there are multiple ones), then ask for each sound as she writes. This is the AAS method...what the kids are supposed to be doing when they spell an unknown/difficult word, but DD H.A.T.E.S. taking the time to do it.

 

I'm also wondering whether your DD is keeping her sounds short and separate or dragging them out and distorting them. DD also does this. I have to keep on her to make them short and separate.

 

I also see dyslexic tendencies in how your DD is spelling. DD really struggles with e and i when spelling. She knows their sounds no problem, but when spelling, all bets are off. She does the y/u thing too. And recently, a and u. Most of the time, she doesn't see the problem when she reads/checks what she's spelled. I have to make her segment what she's written to realize that it's not right.

 

So, nothing real helpful here, just some things to check with lots of persistence and patience. Some days, DD's dyslexia flares something horrible and they are just total washes (I call them backwards days), but there's the good ones too, when's she clicking. They give me hope.

Yes, she says the words correctly before she spells them, and I do not notice her whispering when she spells them.   However, I *do* think that she is being 'lazy' with segmenting.   She never likes to do it.  And I do think that she doesn't really see the point of spelling correctly?   Maybe I will add a step where she has to verbally segment the word before she spells it?   Or breaks it into syllables?  OR--like other suggested, you write the word 3 times if it is misspelled?  

 

My son (who is also probably dyslexic) always segments when he spells.  So he does much better with the program. And you wouldn't even know that he has dyslexic tendencies by looking at his spelling.   I credit AAS / AAR for that. 

 

I want to make sure I am understanding this correctly. These are the spelling words that your beginning 2nd grader is misspelling? Is she also a struggling reader? I ask bc it is completely normal for spelling to lag quite a bit behind reading level. I would not expect a struggling reader to spell those words correctly as a brand new 2nd grader, even with instruction. Spelling is really hard work for dyslexics. I would actually focus on simpler rules for a 2nd grader.

 

I can't link right now, but if you can search for Apples and Pears spelling by Sound Foundations and look inside of book A (the entire program is viewable online) that would give you an idea of words that a struggling reader might be working on even in 3rd grade. (My ds didn't place out the entire A book in 5th grade!!)

No, she is not a struggling reader.  They both struggle in the language based subjects....in very different ways!  My son struggled with learning to read, but he is doing well with spelling.   You wouldn't even know he was dyslexic based on how he spells!  My daughter learned to read like a typical kid and is reading at (or above) grade level (depending on what you go by).   However, she struggles with spelling.   It is like she just throws random letters in the word like she doesn't care.  I started making her touch her pencil point to each letter she has written and say the sounds---when I do that she catches her mistakes.   But it is getting her to do that on her own that is my struggle.

 

Another issue is visual memory.   My son seems to have a good visual memory--so he knows when a word looks wrong.  My daughter doesn't seem to do this.

 

Maybe you are right and I am expected too much from her in spelling!   It is hard when you combine kids because my son could be moving faster---but maybe my daughter is being asked to go too fast.

 

We are also in AAS 3 with my young 3rd grader, actually we just did the lesson on suffixes last week. :)

 

How many days are you working on a lesson?  I ask because, especially since we got into level 3, we are spending probably 4-6 days per lesson.  Day 1, I teach the lesson, sometimes reteach on day 2.  Days 3-? I give the spelling words and sentences by dictation usually 8-10 words and 3-4 sentences. 

 

If dd misspells something, that word is reinforced by 1: discussing what went wrong, 2: rewriting it 3x on the spot, and 2: including it in the dictation the next day.  

 

I think if I were you, I'd let the older child move on and go back to where your younger child is confident.  Then, I'd continue on, slowly, spending more time than is probably necessary building the foundation.  

 

One thing about AAS/AAR is, sometimes the lesson is over before the dc has mastered the material.  In those cases, I just park there for a few days and practice, practice, practice until the material is mastered. I'm not sure if that's The Official Way, but it's the way that's working best for us! :)

 

ETA:  One other thing, if it makes you feel any better, we finished AAS 2 last year for 2nd grade.  Her ITBS test scores were fantastic for spelling.  You won't be 'behind' at all if you drop back with your 2nd grader!

We work on AAS everyday we do school.   (Bible, Math, Reading, and Spelling are our 'everyday' subjects.)  

We hang out on an AAS lesson for as long as it takes to truly master the words.   We do not move ahead until their is true mastery.   I do like you describe when she misses a word.   We analyze it and use it as a learning opportunity.  

 

As far as "testing" is concerned....both of my kids scored below grade level in spelling and we had just finished up AAS 2 before going into the test.   However, they spelled every word they had been taught correctly.   It is just that the standardized tests asked for a lot of words they hadn't yet learned.

[TheAttachedMama]

Another question:

 

Backing my daughter up to a previous step sounds good in theory.   But how will I know what step I need to back up to?  Repeat all of AAS 3?   Go back to 2?  Like I said, when we were on those steps she demonstrated mastery of all of those steps before we moved on.   So it isn't like I can just narrow down a particular area she is struggling with. 

[8filltheheart]

I would go through and call out a couple of sentences from the earlier dictation exercises (I'd go back to book 2) and see where she starts misspelling. Where she misspells, that is where I would start.

 

Fwiw, even for a non-struggling beginning 2nd grader, I wouldn't think anything major about those misspellings. Misspelling words that are more regular are the ones which would cause me wonder. Only helpful was a fairly simple word.

 

Another fwiw, some kids do not do well with rule-based spelling. Rules apply far more consistently for reading than spelling. Kids who rely on rules and hearing the sounds to spell and are not imprinting the correct spelling are not going to spell well. It may take finding a different method for her to imprint the correct spelling. But, if she were my dd, I wouldn't think twice about those misspellings for a 7 yr old.

[FairProspects]

I would go through and call out a couple of sentences from the earlier dictation exercises (I'd go back to book 2) and see where she starts misspelling. Where she misspells, that is where I would start.

 

Fwiw, even for a non-struggling beginning 2nd grader, I wouldn't think anything major about those misspellings. Misspelling words that are more regular are the ones which would cause me wonder. Only helpful was a fairly simple word.

 

Another fwiw, some kids do not do well with rule-based spelling. Rules apply far more consistently for reading than spelling. Kids who rely on rules and hearing the sounds to spell and are not imprinting the correct spelling are not going to spell well. It may take finding a different method for her to imprint the correct spelling. But, if she were my dd, I wouldn't think twice about those misspellings for a 7 yr old.

 

What other ways to imprint spelling do you mean? Writing it out and seeing it? Working with it kinesthetically or something else entirely?

[8filltheheart]

Approaches like Spelling Mastery, Spelling through Morphographs, and A&P combine phonemic, morphemic, whole word, and visual discrimination exercises which are all different pathways for helping correct spelling being retained in their long term memories. My worst spellers did not do well with strictly OG type programs. They tried to rely too much on rules and not enough on retaining the correct spelling.

[BusyMom5]

Just wanted to say that I am doing A&P w/ one, and AAS2 w/ another in one day :)  No problems!  I think your 7 year old should back up, my 7 year old 2nd graders wouldn't be able to spell those words either. 

[Farrar]

If you want to keep using the AAS approach, but back up, you might try getting How to Teach Spelling to review the rules you've already done and get a huge bank of more dictation sentences using them. You could spend more time with that, keep reviewing with the AAS cards, and then eventually back into AAS4 and start it over.

 

That said... that's exactly what I tried with my ds who hit a wall in AAS5 and seemed to similarly regress with his spelling. And it did not work for him. He's older though, and we agreed to just drop spelling for awhile.

 

I think some of those aren't that bad... I really feel for you though. Errors like roads and rodes are exactly the sort of thing my bad spelling ds makes all the time. He just doesn't have a memory for the "right" choices when it comes to words on a page. He reads pretty well too.

[dragonflyer]

Something to try for the "just doesn't care" attitude.  My kiddo is motivated by money, so I give him something like 10 pennies.  For every mistake he makes, I take away a coin.  He makes an effort to keep his money.  This also could work with bits of candy.

 

Are you using the dictation sentences?  These are the major way we review previous words.  Is she doing well spelling review words?  You mention making her copy words she spelled incorrectly, what about an auditory approach?  Have her spell the words out loud multiple times.

What about a kinesthetic approach where she does a jumping jack for each letter of the word?

 

I will also agree that combining your children in AAS is not really working.

[eternallytired]

On a totally different note--  You said she seems not to really care.  Could she be purposely "phoning it in" to some extent because she has noticed that her brother is a strong speller, and if she's not putting forth effort she doesn't have to feel bad about not getting it right away?  The only reason I ask is because my older two--son and daughter--are 14 mos apart, and I've ended up separating them for almost every subject (except science, history, art--things that I'm not aiming for any particular mastery or correct answers yet) because DD absolutely shuts down if she thinks her brother might possibly be doing better than she.  It's a nuisance, but I work with them both individually.  I've taken to having one kid work on a cleaning task (part of our daily work anyhow) while I have the other at the whiteboard, and then they switch.  I try to keep it to about 15 minutes.  They COULD do more, but I feel like their concentration is at its best for about that long, so those are my prime moments for retention.  Then I make some excuse early on for getting them on different schedules ("I spent too long talking about __ with you, so we didn't get quite as far.  That's okay, it doesn't matter--we'll get to the rest eventually.") and erase the board between lessons so they can't compare pacing or ability.  It's made my daughter significantly calmer, and it allows me to focus the attention on her attitude and thought processes in a way that's more helpful for her long-term development.  Not sure if that's at all applicable to your situation, but thought I'd pitch in FWIW.

[Jess4879]

How does she do on her review words?  If she's still able to correctly spell previous words, I'd stick with AAS, but split the teaching between both kids and back up to the last point your daughter is able to master.  Could you teach one in the 12:30 slot and one in the 3:00 slot?  Because she's only 7, you could also consider setting spelling aside for a season and then picking it up next year.  This way it gives you some time to sort through the schedule and find a slot to put in a second spelling lesson.  Your son will probably be able to handle a little extra solo work by next year too, so hopefully you won't feel the press of two lessons quite as badly.  You could continue to give your daughter copywork and other sources of review with the words she's already mastered so that nothing is forgotten. 

[Squawky Acres]

I agree with the others about backing way up in AAS for your daughter, and using the earlier levels to remediate.  AAS3 is quite far along for a 7-year-old beginning 2nd grader, so backing up will not put her behind at all.  I might spend a few weeks reviewing the rules and phonograms for level 1, then jump back into level 2 as if approaching it for the first time -- speeding up if she is spelling everything perfectly.  

 

To provide some perspective, my 7-year-old son had just completed AAS1 in his first grade year, and got a perfect score in spelling on his standardized test.  The bar for 7-year-olds is just not very high.  He is in the beginning steps of AAS2 this fall as a second grader, and I feel he spells quite well for his age.  I do not think he could spell most of those AAS3 words in your example, but I am not concerned as I do not expect that of a beginning 2nd grader.  We work on spelling steadily for about 10 minutes 4-5 times a week.

[PeterPan]

She's spelling like a dyslexic.  You might make faster progress with a program meant for dyslexics.  You might get evals and get it sorted out.  This is the age when you switch over from thinking oh it's a little weakness to this is something I need to get figured out.  

 

Student Screening  This is not a dyslexia test, but it is a pretest for Barton, to see if she has the basic phonemic awareness and working memory adequate to do Barton (or any program).  It would be interesting to see what happens if you give it.  It's free.  If you do it, you might then give Barton a call (yes literally, on the phone) and talk with her and see what she says.

[TheAttachedMama]

To answer some of the questions....she does pretty well with the review words and dictation sentences.   Instead of doing the dictation sentences for the AAS lesson we are on, I have been doing 4 random sentences from previous AAS lessons every day with both kids.  This way I build in more review and can really see if the previously learned words have really been mastered.    She isn't doing too bad on these dictation sentences.   She would probably get about 85% correct most days.   Her brother usually gets a 100% though. 

 

I also have been keeping an individualized spelling list for each kid.  This is how I handle review and new words.  I quiz them on their word list each day at a different time as another form of review.  (About 12 words per day.  If they have more than 12 words, they go on the list for the next day.)    Any of the "new words" or the "more words" from our current lesson go on that list.   Any words missed during dictation go on that list.   And any words they miss on their 'word test' go on that list.   So we just review previously miss-spelled words everyday over and over again until they have them down.   We don't move on to the next AAS rule until both kids have "run out of words"---and we need new words to fill our list.   At that point, we don't do the sentence dictation (above)--and we teach a new lesson on the white board.     (Is that clear as mud?)

 

-----------------

I also had an idea of how I could try to find more of "me" to go around.

 

WHAT IF---I recorded myself reading each dictation sentence in the computer and made a playlist?   Then I could have each kid play the recording and attempt to write the sentence as part of their independent work.    Then we could go over the sentences together at the end of the day.     I think this is sort of how IEW's spelling program works.   Right?   

 

 

[MerryAtHope]

My vote would be to split them. Your son is ready to move ahead more quickly, and I would guess your daughter needs to go back to level 2 and solidify her foundation there. They both need to move at their own pace, and hers is going to be slower than his.

 

I'd spend 15-20 minutes with each of them (so 30-40 minutes total). I think you'll find that individual lessons go faster with each than together lessons--I definitely found that with my kids. Not many 7 yo's have solid concentration for 30 minutes anyway, which probably leads to some of the gaps she has. A shorter time with more focused attention will lead to better retention, and shorter lesson times might mean more time per lesson for her--which she needs as well.

 

I would not hand her the stack of cards to analyze on her own (maybe that's not how you're doing it, but it sounded like you were having her read the words each day and then try to spell them). Instead I would do things like a 2nd or 3rd tile day, until she can demonstrate the word back to you with tiles and explain why it is spelled that way. When she can explain the concept to you with the tiles, then have her try writing them. If she struggles to teach it back, walk her through again. This way, you may be analyzing fewer words together, but you get to hear exactly what she is thinking and fill in the gaps. Many of her errors are not visual in nature, so emphasizing a visual method isn't really what she needs for those. 

 

You're doing a great job by helping her analyze the mistakes she does make though, and I would continue that. Ask questions like, "can you think of a rule that applies?" or "read *exactly* what you wrote" when she makes a phonetic error. In addition to breaking things into syllables, when she gets back to words with suffixes, really have her focus on thinking about the root word first and spelling that first--then adding the suffix. She seems to be really struggling with root words (which is perfectly understandable given her age/grade.) 

 

Hang in there! I know this is a tough stage with their learning struggles and your toddler. But remember, AAS 7 has highschool level words, so there's no hurry to get there--and they'll get it as they're ready.