s/o Barton...

[OneStepAtATime]

In FP's OG thread some questions and comments came up about Barton that I think would work better on a separate thread so we don't derail FPs thread.  I also started thinking that it might help others if we had a thread that included a general rundown on Barton and maybe links to other threads and maybe blogs regarding Barton, including all the pros and cons (this program is not for everyone).  If you know of any old threads with useful info, please link them in this thread and I will move them to the first post for easy reference.  If you have anything you would like to share about Barton, please do so, good or bad.  I know I would have loved to be able to just read through other responses/experiences regarding this program when I was first thinking of buying it, so hopefully this will help others.  

 

I also wanted to ask if anyone has any specific struggles or positives they wanted to share with regard to Barton...

 

Links to other Barton Threads (by no means comprehensive so if you know of one that would be helpful that I didn't post, please add it in this thread and I will move it here:

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/587773-barton-level-4/

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/586544-barton-level-1-lesson-1-were-already-having-a-hard-time/?hl=%2Bbarton&do=findComment&comment=6845121

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/587497-worksheets-for-barton-reading-system/?hl=%2Bbarton&do=findComment&comment=6843075

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/586676-barton-pretest-expectations/?hl=%2Bbarton&do=findComment&comment=6827331

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/582618-barton-level-4-help/?hl=%2Bbarton&do=findComment&comment=6819097

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/585516-barton-ordering-question/?hl=barton&do=findComment&comment=6807865

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/579591-barton-spelling-phrases-sentences/?hl=barton&do=findComment&comment=6736563

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/575082-comprehension-activities-for-barton-tutors/?hl=barton&do=findComment&comment=6692183

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/572021-just-curious-grammar-in-barton-reading-levels/?hl=barton&do=findComment&comment=6646251

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/559932-bringing-over-thread-on-choosing-barton-for-ariel/?hl=barton&do=findComment&comment=6644478

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/13713-wilson-reading-system-vs-barton-reading-spelling/?hl=barton&do=findComment&comment=6644472

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/566047-barton-help/?hl=barton&do=findComment&comment=6615261

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/564648-barton-reading-what-is-grade-level-4/?hl=barton&do=findComment&comment=6597281

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/553957-unhappy-with-barton/?hl=barton&do=findComment&comment=6404869

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/551802-is-barton-hard-to-implement/?hl=barton&do=findComment&comment=6360302

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/551552-lips-barton-and-my-sons-uneven-abilities/?hl=barton&do=findComment&comment=6357222

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/545846-is-barton-really-a-complete-language-arts-program/?hl=barton&do=findComment&comment=6253962

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/545480-differences-btw-barton-wrtr/?hl=barton&do=findComment&comment=6251512

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/543705-thanks-barton/?hl=barton&do=findComment&comment=6214621

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/543369-i-got-a-new-perspective-on-dyslexiadysgraphia-yesterday/?hl=barton&do=findComment&comment=6212455

 

 

Helpful Blogs or threads with links to blogs:

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/583617-would-it-be-at-all-helpful-for-you-to-have-a-blog-with-bartonspecial-ed-game-and-extension-ideas-update-in-post/?hl=barton&do=findComment&comment=6805266

 

Edited February 27, 2016 by OneStepAtATime

[OneStepAtATime]

O.k. I want to first address the frequent concern that Barton starts out way too easy.  I can see how this would be a serious concern.  Does Barton start with really, really basic skills/concepts?  Yes.  Absolutely.  Is that necessary?  Depends on the kid, and what sort of instruction they have had before. I will admit I was really not happy when I got Level 1.  I was going to be tutoring a 6th grader, for crying out loud.  Boy did it look like mostly nothing when I opened that box.  I was thinking I had made a mistake, and a costly one at that.  

 

Was it actually necessary for her?  Yes.  Yes it was.  She had missed key skills at the very beginning of trying to learn to read.  These were skills that most kids just pick up on their own or with a little bit of training.  It seemed silly to go back that far but that is exactly what my daughter needed to finally make solid forward progress in reading and spelling.  I was stunned at how much of a difference Level 1 made in DD's ability to decode.

 

One thing that people sometimes fail to grasp is that each Level is a building block to the next level.  They are not grade levels.  The first level is something that some kids really just need a fast run through so they (and their tutor) can get used to the program, the hand gestures, the terms and concepts before moving on to the more meatier levels.  Kids like that may finish Level 1 in a week or less.  In fact, a neurotypical kid might finish in a couple of hours.  Does it mean it isn't necessary?  For NT kids, no not necessary.  For dyslexic kids?  Some kids maybe not need to go back this far but I was dead wrong with my kid.  And I am not the only one.  After reading a LOT of posts regarding Barton, I have come to the conclusion that there really are a great number of dyslexic kids that are missing this component and their parent/instructor doesn't even know it.  

 

Honestly, I encourage anyone using this program to start with Level 1.  If it isn't necessary, the student will probably get through the material very quickly.  If they finish rapidly then Susan Barton is willing to exchange Level 1 for Level 2 at no additional cost (except maybe shipping?).  Also, even if they didn't need this level, it is easy to finish and they are then ready to go on to Level 2 already understanding the program they are using before they hit harder material.  If the tutor has never used the program before then Level 1 is a very good level to start with so that the tutor can also get used to this program before hitting more challenging material.  If it is necessary for a student to spend time on this level then trying to skip over it is just setting you and your student up for potential failure and more lost time on remediation.

 

For some students (like my son), Level 1 is actually too advanced, regardless of how intelligent they are.  My son is close to gifted range and extremely articulate.  He still needed to go back to even more basic skill sets before being able to move forward in ANY OG based reading program.  For students like this, they really do need to go back another step, and using LiPS or a program like it can be essential for a child to even have a prayer of success in successful learning to read/write.

 

Is Barton the perfect program for dyslexics?  No.  It does not work for everyone.  And even if it does work for a student, that doesn't guarantee there won't be snags.  Helping a dyslexic learn to read/spell/write can be extremely hard, no matter how great the program.  They will have bad days, bad weeks, bad months, even.  Being able to bring in other material/techniques can help with that.  There are several good programs out there.  Having OG training is a great idea and will give a tutor tools to incorporate and background knowledge that can really help.  I will say, though, Barton IMHO is definitely the easiest to implement for a layman with no OG training and even with OG training is helpful for providing a spine and a lot of support.  Tutoring can be challenging.  Tutoring kids with learning challenges is even more challenging.  Having as many tools in your tool box as possible will only help the student and the tutor, IMHO.

[nanette0269]

I had the benefit (or detriment one would say) to pay for a tutor for my son to get through levels 1-3 of Barton in the last 10 months for 4 sessions/week.  So, while I am a new tutor for level 4, I've been listening in for quite some time.  I ordered level 4, and we easily had 4 mini-sessions thus far, with very little effort being required from me. Yes, I'm reading everything through twice before I waste his time on a lesson, but that is for my own comfort level.  Every lesson is scripted out and rather easy to provide.  If they truly have the knowledge to move on, this will be obvious to a parent/tutor.  There is no guesswork about when to expose someone to new knowledge.  I think this was the hardest thing for me to grasp at the beginning of our tutoring adventure.  I want to move fast, but not so fast that he is missing vital pieces of information...and just because I may think he knows them, he may really not!  How awful that would be for him then.  I've been tackling 5-6 pages/session...and we repeat each of those 5-6 pages until he has mastered the answers before moving on to the next pages in the lesson.  Extremely easy to know what to do.

 

So, he has done very well with level 3...completed in fact, but when he was doing the review, it was obvious he could read everything with decent fluency and speed, but still had issues spelling with consistency.  We decided to still go ahead with level 4, while he works on the spelling of level 3 at school (I've made material for him to do this at school during his reading class time).

 

As for price, I just don't understand why the cost is a deterrent.  Its $300 for each level, but that could last a child 3-6 months easily...and you can easily resell each for $200.  We went ahead and purchased games, barton tiles app and the level 4...and its still cheaper than a month of tutoring.  And, given my sons issues, I expect for him to be on this level for a solid 6 months...so the net out of pocket is fairly cheap on a per month basis.

 

What I really appreciate by Barton is the script....you don't need to be an educator.  There are also other various ways to gain support:

 

Barton Tutor Google Groups

Barton Tutor Support Forum

Barton Tutors PDF Listing (for additional resources)

Barton Reading Tools

Barton Tutor Training Videos

Fluency & Spelling Lists

Imagine Games

Spelling Success Games

 

Its a rather complete system, and you can gain the knowledge needed with just a small investment of time.

[OneStepAtATime]

 

 

As for price, I just don't understand why the cost is a deterrent.  Its $300 for each level, but that could last a child 3-6 months easily...and you can easily resell each for $200.  We went ahead and purchased games, barton tiles app and the level 4...and its still cheaper than a month of tutoring.  And, given my sons issues, I expect for him to be on this level for a solid 6 months...so the net out of pocket is fairly cheap on a per month basis.

 

 

Its a rather complete system, and you can gain the knowledge needed with just a small investment of time.

Love your post!

 

 I wanted to address this in particular.  I think a lot of people get sticker shock from Barton if they have never had to pay for specialized tutoring before.  Especially since Level 1-3 can sometimes be completed in under a year, it could cost $800 within just a few months, depending on how rapidly a student moves through the material.  That seems pretty steep to a lot of people, and for some it is simply not financially feasible.  Looking at Level 1 can compound that feeling, thinking it is waaaaay too basic and simple and short for what they paid.  People may also worry that ALL the levels are like Level 1.  I paid hundreds of dollars over a very short period of time for what amounted to absolutely useless "specialized" OG based tutoring sessions for the kids and even I was disappointed in Level 1 and concerned about the cost...until I actually used it.  Thank goodness I didn't send it back, KWIM?  :)  

 

So glad you were able to move in to tutoring Level 4 so smoothly.  That is awesome!  

[OneStepAtATime]

Interesting thing DD has started doing.  She likes the tiles.  There are a LOT of tiles.  The tile app is so much easier for set up and clean up and for having multiple words available at once.  DD and I both like that.  However, she misses the tactile sensation of the tiles.  She started doing a kind of hybrid.  For the regular tiles, she uses the tile app along with the units and vowel teams since she already has those down.  Suffixes and Prefixes she uses the real tiles along with the app.  In other words, she uses the tiles on top of the app, next to the virtual regular tiles, but she only uses the real tiles for the Level that is new.  So far she finds it a good compromise.  Thought I would mention it in case it helped someone.

 

The other thing she has started doing is brainstorming new words with the prefix and suffix tiles but she writes the rest of the letters on paper and just shifts the prefix and suffix tiles around on the paper.

[nanette0269]

I expect to use the tiles at home, but when we are out and about, we can easily do the lesson while driving (while DH drives, of course), away from home etc with just the book and the app.  portability means that we can be more efficient with our time.  if its easy, its doable.

[OneStepAtATime]

I expect to use the tiles at home, but when we are out and about, we can easily do the lesson while driving (while DH drives, of course), away from home etc with just the book and the app.  portability means that we can be more efficient with our time.  if its easy, its doable.

I agree the app is awesome for portability!  So glad Susan invested so much to create it because it really is a huge help.

 

I do understand why DD likes the tiles better, though.  She is a very tactile/kinesthetic learner.  Sometimes while I am reading to her from her Art History book (really advanced, unfamiliar terminology in there that even I have trouble decoding sometimes) DD will play with the Barton tiles, creating the terms she is hearing but not understanding as a kind of calming/focusing effect.  It keeps her from stressing over the words she doesn't get in the Art History book, and gives her something physical to focus on while we dig through and figure out what the terms actually mean.  

[nanette0269]

The thing is....any program that truly is going to change their lives is going to take an investment of time.  Its like my daughter doing workbooks over the summer.  We can either do one workbook that is 100 pages and touches a little on everything, or do the Kumon workbooks that have an 80 page book dedicated to long division, and an 80 page book dedicated to fraction addition/subtraction.  My kids need the intensity...my daughter for math, and my son for decoding/spelling.  But, his dyslexia is rather severe.  So, I appreciate the intensity of each lesson.  I am expecting that we will take 2 weeks for every lesson...and that about 25 minutes/day.  I have found that we are doing 4-5 pages every day, but have to do them three days in a row to move on confidently.  Thats ok...if thats what he needs, so be it.  I can't change his mind all in one day, so I will handle the frustration and anger directed at me because he needs the intensity that Barton provides.

[FairProspects]

Disclaimer: Barton did not work for us.

 

The major con that we ran into is the lack of flexibility. Barton assumes that *every* child needs *every* step in the order listed. That is fabulous for kids who do need it all broken down but terrible and off putting to those who don't. My kids have never worked in a linear fashion. They would intuit one step later in the back, be frustrated that they had to sit through steps they knew, be missing one piece of information in step 12, but already have figured out the 10 in between, etc. My personal experience is that OG is more flexible because I can move around and place them more accurately to fill in the gaps and phonetic weaknesses without having to do a whole language program in a set order. I don't think Barton is a customizable program other than the ability to slow down or speed up, and we needed intensive phonics with the ability design custom lesson plans based on strengths and weaknesses.

Edited February 27, 2016 by FairProspects

[Chanley]

Barton is linear for a good reason. The program NEVER requires the student to do read or spell something that the program has not taught. This is to insure a high level of success for the student. That is why it is called "systematic" Barton starts with teaching the child phonemes and how to encode and decode. While this may seem "easy" at first, there are many dyslexics who really struggle with that skill. Plus the first 2 levels teach the methodology. The hand movements and cues are an integral part of why the program works. 

 

I am a Barton tutor so I have experience with more than just my own child. The "easy" lessons are always a blessing because we can breeze through them and the child feels a great level of success which helps when we get a hard lesson. I have experienced lessons that I thought should have been easy but we struggled for 5 hours (not at once) to complete a lesson. And then there are some that just take 2 tutoring sessions. Those are great for high fives and lots of praise because what is easy for one is not for another. 

 

Every single aspect of the Barton program is well thought out and has a reason. Even the words used during the lesson are scripted to prevent confusion. I am positive that Susan herself would be happy to explain why.  If you skip steps or fail to watch the videos (and yes, I know how boring those can be) you will miss out on kernals of importance that help you and the student. 

[OneStepAtATime]

Disclaimer: Barton did not work for us.

 

The major con that we ran into is the lack of flexibility. Barton assumes that *every* child needs *every* step in the order listed. That is fabulous for kids who do need it all broken down but terrible and off putting to those who don't. My kids have never worked in a linear fashion. They would intuit one step later in the back, be frustrated that they had to sit through steps they knew, be missing one piece of information in step 12, but already have figured out the 10 in between, etc. My personal experience is that OG is more flexible because I can move around and place them more accurately to fill in the gaps and phonetic weaknesses without having to do a whole language program in a set order. I don't think Barton is a customizable program other than the ability to slow down or speed up, and we needed intensive phonics with the ability design custom lesson plans based on strengths and weaknesses.

I understand what you are saying.  Thanks so much for weighing in.  Honestly, even though there are a lot of glowing reviews of Barton, there have also been several other posters who tried Barton and it was a really poor fit for their child(ren).  No program will work for all children.  That is why I think a really good tutor has more than one teaching method available to them.  Every child is different and will have different needs.  

 

FWIW, I applaud you for wanting to get OG training.  As I stated in your thread on OG training, the tutor that actually did the most good for DS was the one that was trained in OG in general, plus Barton and a ton of other programs, some directly related to OG based material and some not.  It helped for her to have a much broader background and training to help DS over snags I just couldn't.  Barton and I just didn't have a wide enough scope to help him  without that extra help/knowledge/experience from the tutor.  

 

As for lack of flexibility in Barton, at first I found Barton to not have much flexibility, either, and actually that worked in our favor for DD.  She and I both needed the systematic, clearly laid out, easily followed and anticipated approach from lesson to lesson.  At times it did feel a bit constraining but after a time,  in reading about and seeing how others have used homeschool based programs here and on the other forums, I realized any program can have flexibility once you know how to use it and have other material/knowledge in your pocket to work with.  OhElizabeth has been able to flex quite a bit with Barton, but she had background knowledge in other areas that helped her (which helped her with ways to blend LiPS and Barton).  

 

Barton, as written, is really helpful for those that don't have much in the way of other material/knowledge in their pocket and need something very clearly laid out to follow.  That is a tremendous help for parents trying to tutor that are not trained in OG or Wilson or something like that.  And the program has been really effective for many, many students.  That very scripted program can become a problem, though, if the student needs flex in the program, or is struggling in ways that Barton does not easily address.  Having a broader range of material to work from is definitely an asset for a tutor/parent.  Lets face it, every kid is different.  What works well for one may be a disaster for another.

 

Best wishes.

Edited March 1, 2016 by OneStepAtATime

[OneStepAtATime]

Barton is linear for a good reason. The program NEVER requires the student to do read or spell something that the program has not taught. This is to insure a high level of success for the student. That is why it is called "systematic" Barton starts with teaching the child phonemes and how to encode and decode. While this may seem "easy" at first, there are many dyslexics who really struggle with that skill. Plus the first 2 levels teach the methodology. The hand movements and cues are an integral part of why the program works. 

 

I am a Barton tutor so I have experience with more than just my own child. The "easy" lessons are always a blessing because we can breeze through them and the child feels a great level of success which helps when we get a hard lesson. I have experienced lessons that I thought should have been easy but we struggled for 5 hours (not at once) to complete a lesson. And then there are some that just take 2 tutoring sessions. Those are great for high fives and lots of praise because what is easy for one is not for another. 

 

Every single aspect of the Barton program is well thought out and has a reason. Even the words used during the lesson are scripted to prevent confusion. I am positive that Susan herself would be happy to explain why.  If you skip steps or fail to watch the videos (and yes, I know how boring those can be) you will miss out on kernals of importance that help you and the student. 

Thanks for weighing in!  

 

Actually, I agree with what you have posted but I also agree that for many students Barton, as scripted, is not always the best option.  DD did great with Barton but even she needed a bit of a different approach woven in while trying to make it through Level 4.  DS grasps the rules of Barton quite quickly but he hit snags with sound that Barton by itself just couldn't address.  Yes, the program is brilliantly laid out.  I am soooooo grateful it exists and that Susan created it.  I love Barton with all my heart (and am really glad I didn't go with my initial instinct upon seeing Level 1 and sending it back).  Barton has turned my daughter's reading/spelling abilities around 180 degrees.  Love Barton.

 

I also have to admit it is not perfect because there IS no perfect program that will fit every child and every situation.  For some that means that Barton will work beautifully as scripted.  For others it may mean that Barton is the best of some not so great choices available to that child but is probably better than a whole language program.  For still others Barton may work really well with some tweaking (but that can be problematic if the tutor doesn't have the knowledge/skills to tweak effectively). For others there will be fits and starts where some levels/lessons work well and others work less well (again requiring some flex on the part of the program/tutor).  And for still others it is simply a no go.  It just doesn't work for them.  I think the hard part is determining what the best course of action is for each child.  Does that make sense?

 

Anyway, thanks again for sharing your experiences.  I hope others will, too.  

[Minerva]

Thank you for starting this thread.

 

I am really struggling with Barton, and since so many people rave about the program, I have been feeling like it is my *fault* it's not going well. We made it through levels one and two. My son was  grasping the information, but boy did he hate it. He didn't like the letter tiles. He didn't like the phrasing work. He didn't like the hand gestures. He didn't like the stories. It was just such a daily battle. Normally I would think it's because the content was too difficult, but honestly, with LOE (which we were using before Barton) the content was moving too fast and was too difficult, but he was engaged. Now we are taking a break from Level 3 and doing Dancing Bears. The work is much harder for him, but he does it willingly. I don't have to stand on my head (quite as much) to get him to do it. It is slow going, and I don't really understand the methodology, but we are not stalled out like we were with Barton. If we get stuck with Dancing Bears (Level B makes a huge leap) we will try Barton again. Maybe with some maturity my son will do better. 

 

 

[OneStepAtATime]

Thank you for starting this thread.

 

I am really struggling with Barton, and since so many people rave about the program, I have been feeling like it is my *fault* it's not going well. We made it through levels one and two. My son was  grasping the information, but boy did he hate it. He didn't like the letter tiles. He didn't like the phrasing work. He didn't like the hand gestures. He didn't like the stories. It was just such a daily battle. Normally I would think it's because the content was too difficult, but honestly, with LOE (which we were using before Barton) the content was moving too fast and was too difficult, but he was engaged. Now we are taking a break from Level 3 and doing Dancing Bears. The work is much harder for him, but he does it willingly. I don't have to stand on my head (quite as much) to get him to do it. It is slow going, and I don't really understand the methodology, but we are not stalled out like we were with Barton. If we get stuck with Dancing Bears (Level B makes a huge leap) we will try Barton again. Maybe with some maturity my son will do better. 

I know that hopping from one system to another can be detrimental to learning, but homeschooling has really opened my eyes to the reality that sometimes a program really is a terrible fit for a particular child or teacher, no matter how great the program.  If you find something else that works better,something that helps your child AND they are engaged with, then goodness use that instead.  So glad you have found something else to switch to that he is willingly working on.  More power to you both!  :lol:   And like you said, if he runs into more struggles later on, you can always try Barton again.

[OneStepAtATime]

Thank you for starting this thread.

 

I am really struggling with Barton, and since so many people rave about the program, I have been feeling like it is my *fault* it's not going well. We made it through levels one and two. My son was  grasping the information, but boy did he hate it. He didn't like the letter tiles. He didn't like the phrasing work. He didn't like the hand gestures. He didn't like the stories. It was just such a daily battle. Normally I would think it's because the content was too difficult, but honestly, with LOE (which we were using before Barton) the content was moving too fast and was too difficult, but he was engaged. Now we are taking a break from Level 3 and doing Dancing Bears. The work is much harder for him, but he does it willingly. I don't have to stand on my head (quite as much) to get him to do it. It is slow going, and I don't really understand the methodology, but we are not stalled out like we were with Barton. If we get stuck with Dancing Bears (Level B makes a huge leap) we will try Barton again. Maybe with some maturity my son will do better. 

Oh, and Minerva I understand that feeling of failure.  There have been several different programs for everything from science to literature to math, etc.  that someone else raved about, I bought and tried, and ended up dumping because it was such a poor fit.  Either I couldn't teach it or the kids couldn't learn from it.  It took a bit to accept that just because something worked really well for somebody else doesn't mean I or my kids are failures or defective if that something doesn't work for us.

 

That is why I am hoping to get more balanced responses on here for Barton.  I would like people to hear the details of the good and the bad so they can make a more informed decision on whether to buy or whether to continue if they have already begun.  Thanks so much for sharing.

[scoutingmom]

Well, I tried Barton with my kids this year.... and it ended up being a no-go. I did level 1 and part of level 2. My son in particular hated it. There were a few things even in level 1 that he struggled with... but he reads at a level (darned if I know what level) and I think that makes it harder in some ways to remediate....

 

I backed off.... and now he is reading Oliver Twist and The Hobbit. He seems to get what is happening. But we tried playing Trivial Pursuit, and he was reading the cards to me..... and I couldn't understand the questions from him reading them.... so I have no idea how much he misses....

 

I wish Barton worked for us. Maybe if I had pressed on. He can read, but he can't read.... you know?

 

Sent from my SM-T530NU using Tapatalk

[OneStepAtATime]

Well, I tried Barton with my kids this year.... and it ended up being a no-go. I did level 1 and part of level 2. My son in particular hated it. There were a few things even in level 1 that he struggled with... but he reads at a level (darned if I know what level) and I think that makes it harder in some ways to remediate....

 

I backed off.... and now he is reading Oliver Twist and The Hobbit. He seems to get what is happening. But we tried playing Trivial Pursuit, and he was reading the cards to me..... and I couldn't understand the questions from him reading them.... so I have no idea how much he misses....

 

I wish Barton worked for us. Maybe if I had pressed on. He can read, but he can't read.... you know?

 

Sent from my SM-T530NU using Tapatalk

Have you had any evaluations?

[scoutingmom]

Have you had any evaluations?

No. We are in Canada so can't get them free from P.S. as homeschoolers - at least in my province. Can't afford evals. We only had Barton because another homeschooler provided it. He has a half-sister diagnosed at 17, an uncle who struggled with reading, and many symptoms. I taught him to read with a phonics program - but then had him read Dick and Jane for practice. He was reading roughly at a grade 3 level from grades 1 to 5.... then seemed like he might have jumped to about a grade 6 level last year... and I think his level jumped again this year. Spelling is horrible... originally he would have failed inventive spelling. He is partway through AAS2 now and his spelling is mostly decodable now. Handwriting is a mess unless copying from a model with the same font (and he will still make mistakes.) Writing, even on computer, is avoided.

 

But it is hard to tell what level he reads at, as it depends. One time I gave 2 tests from different places. One said about grade 11. That one just had lists of words. The other said "will struggle with grade 1 work". That one had nonsense words. I think another said grade 3.2 that one they would read a paragraph, and fill in some missing words.

 

He misses small words.... 'can', 'the', 'is', 'not', and generally suffixes like ing or ed. He will come up with similar words. Domination instead of Dominion is the example I can remember.

 

He can't seem to memorize the math facts even though he is good with math ideas.

 

We have used audiobooks with him reading along for a few years. He decided to read the books I mentioned without audio on his own.

 

And I always seem to focus on him, but his one younger sister has something going on - but harder to figure out. Mixed Brain Dominance is part of it, but there is more. She is 10 and writes numbers backwards... it had improved after focusing on it, but ot is getting worse again. Mixes p and q, and b and d when writing. Mind you when she was 3 or 4 and would write her name (without me asking her to...), it was mirror writing from right to left. She had the same reading instruction and was reading a grade 3 level in grade 1.... and still was last year (her grade 4). Not the same type of errors though....

 

Btw, I'm using different programs with my next 2!

 

Long answer for a short question....

 

 

 

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[Chanley]

How did he do with nonsense words in Barton? 

[OneStepAtATime]

No. We are in Canada so can't get them free from P.S. as homeschoolers - at least in my province. Can't afford evals. We only had Barton because another homeschooler provided it. He has a half-sister diagnosed at 17, an uncle who struggled with reading, and many symptoms. I taught him to read with a phonics program - but then had him read Dick and Jane for practice. He was reading roughly at a grade 3 level from grades 1 to 5.... then seemed like he might have jumped to about a grade 6 level last year... and I think his level jumped again this year. Spelling is horrible... originally he would have failed inventive spelling. He is partway through AAS2 now and his spelling is mostly decodable now. Handwriting is a mess unless copying from a model with the same font (and he will still make mistakes.) Writing, even on computer, is avoided.

 

But it is hard to tell what level he reads at, as it depends. One time I gave 2 tests from different places. One said about grade 11. That one just had lists of words. The other said "will struggle with grade 1 work". That one had nonsense words. I think another said grade 3.2 that one they would read a paragraph, and fill in some missing words.

 

He misses small words.... 'can', 'the', 'is', 'not', and generally suffixes like ing or ed. He will come up with similar words. Domination instead of Dominion is the example I can remember.

 

He can't seem to memorize the math facts even though he is good with math ideas.

 

We have used audiobooks with him reading along for a few years. He decided to read the books I mentioned without audio on his own.

 

And I always seem to focus on him, but his one younger sister has something going on - but harder to figure out. Mixed Brain Dominance is part of it, but there is more. She is 10 and writes numbers backwards... it had improved after focusing on it, but ot is getting worse again. Mixes p and q, and b and d when writing. Mind you when she was 3 or 4 and would write her name (without me asking her to...), it was mirror writing from right to left. She had the same reading instruction and was reading a grade 3 level in grade 1.... and still was last year (her grade 4). Not the same type of errors though....

 

Btw, I'm using different programs with my next 2!

 

Long answer for a short question....

 

 

 

Sent from my SM-T530NU using Tapatalk

Agree with Chanley, how were the nonsense words?  

[OneStepAtATime]

Buy In.   I had a hard time with buy in for DD when we first started Barton.  For those that really want to use Barton but are having trouble with buy-in or are afraid this will be an issue and are on the fence about even trying Barton, I will say that it can be challenging.

 

Honestly, it was so frustrating trying to work with DD on nonsense words in particular.  Why?  Because they were hard for her.  Why?  Because she actually was far worse at decoding than we had realized.  Reading silently she was bright enough to figure out a lot of the content of her assigned reading at school from the few words she could actually decode.  She wasn't actually reading with any fluency, though, and her decoding skills were super weak.  This was painfully apparent when she tried decoding nonsense words through Barton but I didn't immediately understand what I was seeing.  It just seemed like the nonsense words were a waste of time.  Turns out we needed the nonsense words to work out where the real issues were...and there were a lot of issues.  

 

In other words, she hated the nonsense words because they were really, really hard for her to decode.  They were really, really hard for her to decode because she was sooooo weak in decoding skills.  Naturally, something that is exceedingly hard to do is something that many kids resist trying to do because they hate to set themselves up for another failure (which many dyslexics have already dealt with many times) and the work is really hard.

 

DD hated Barton for the first two and a half levels.  She hated how hard she had to work and she hated the tiles and the hand gestures.  I had to keep lessons really short and do them first thing, with something a lot more fun planned right afterwards.  She didn't buy in until she hit mid Level 3 and realized her spelling and her reading and even her writing were actually improving with this program.  She also took 2 criterion referenced independent spelling tests administered by a tutoring friend in another state (who had never heard of Barton) and got a 100 on one and  a 99 on the other...having never studied for either test.  That meant the world to both of us.

 

Now she sometimes still gets a bit frustrated but she KNOWS the program is working for her so sometimes she is the one reminding me we need to do a lesson.  I still have to keep lessons sort of short (20-30 minutes) or her brain wears out and she doesn't retain anything but she definitely believes in this program, now.  Her willingness has made a huge difference in the pleasantness of our lessons.   :)

Edited February 8, 2017 by OneStepAtATime

[OneStepAtATime]

I am going to post some ideas for how to help kids stay engaged with something as potentially challenging and exhausting as reading remediation:

 

1.  Keep lessons short.  If you need to do two lessons a day but keep them both shorter, then do so.  This is exhausting work for a lot of kids.  Their brain goes into overload.  Go at the pace that your child can successfully make it through.

2.  Do something more physical before and after.  

3.  Do something afterwards that they look forward to so they know when you are done they can take a mental break.

4.  Recognize that this truly is hard work.  If your child is sick or had an exhausting day the day before then maybe just play a Barton game for the day instead of setting them up for a potentially failed and frustrating lesson.  

5.  Do your prep.  If you aren't sure yourself what is happening in the lessons you may confuse your child terribly.  Undoing that confusion can be really, really hard.

6.  Maybe let them have a small, healthy snack and a glass of water during lessons.  Sometimes just taking a sip of water and eating a grape or a whole grain cracker with cheese helped DD to stay focused.

7.  Be willing to go off on small tangents with the words and to keep things lighter.  DD made a lot of connections when we would sometimes talk about the words, make up funny sentences, create our own games with the tiles, etc. and it kept her attitude better.

8.  Use the suggestions in the TMs and on the website for some really helpful ideas when you hit snags.

9.  Accept that there are going to be good days and bad days because reading remediation is hard, but having a bad day doesn't mean that you are a bad teacher, the program is a failure or your child is impossible to teach.  

10.  Build in time to go back and review previous lessons.  This has helped us so much here.  I find a logical place to stop moving forward and we go back and do Extra Practice pages, play Barton games, Spelling Success games, etc. to solidify what came before, then move forward again.

11.  If you have tried and tried but Barton (or any other reading remediation program) just is not working, don't be afraid to put it aside and take a break or even walk away for good.

 

Anyway, hope that helps some.

[Lecka]

I remember when your daughter read Divergent, OneStep.  It was exciting :)

[OneStepAtATime]

I remember when your daughter read Divergent, OneStep.  It was exciting :)

Yeah, I still get chills.  :)

 

I kind of wish it had been a better book for me to feel all mushy about but hey, I'm not complaining.   :lol: 

 

Wasn't it you that mentioned the words in Divergent seemed easier to decode?  I thought it was you that brought that book to my attention in the first place, but maybe I am misremembering...

[Lecka]

It was me :)

[OneStepAtATime]

It was me :)

Hip, hip, hurray for Lecka!  Sending you a high five, babe.   :hurray:  :hurray:  :hurray:  :laugh:

[Crimson Wife]

Barton is not for students with any kind of expressive language disorder. Susan Barton warns about this on her website but it is worth repeating on this thread.

 

I am considering purchasing at least the first level of Barton for my own self-education as a (hopeful) future Speech & Language Pathologist since Barton 1 is supposed to deal with phonological awareness. But I suspect the program would not be a great fit for my child due to the language delay.

[Crimson Wife]

dp

Edited March 2, 2016 by Crimson Wife

[OneStepAtATime]

Good points regarding expressive language disorder, CW. Is there any place you could just borrow Barton from, and hopefully more than just level one (which is really a poor representation of Barton as a whole)? Just to look over the program before committing to purchase?

[scoutingmom]

Agree with Chanley, how were the nonsense words?

It has been a while, but I do think he has a harder time with the nonsense words. Certainly a couple of years ago doing some reading test with nonsense words he had a hard time.

 

 

I can't remember which sections of Barton level 1 took a little longer.... nothing took a really long time, but he didn't breeze right through it.

 

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[scoutingmom]

Agree with Chanley, how were the nonsense words?

Also one other note.... dh isn't fond of labels.... and has felt that he would read when he had enough desire (dh's brother started reading to play D&D) - and so when my son decided to read the hobbit on his own my dh's comment was along the lines that I had worried for no reason.

 

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[OneStepAtATime]

Also one other note.... dh isn't fond of labels.... and has felt that he would read when he had enough desire (dh's brother started reading to play D&D) - and so when my son decided to read the hobbit on his own my dh's comment was along the lines that I had worried for no reason.

 

Sent from my SM-T530NU using Tapatalk

FWIW, my DH is the same.  

 

You might look up stealth dyslexia.  Some dyslexics learn to read silently by being able to decode enough words to get the gist of what is happening but their decoding skills are not efficient.  Is he reading The Hobbit silently?  How well does he do if he has to read it aloud?  

 

Also, labels aren't really why I would suggest evaluations (if those are even remotely possible).  Evals give the details that a layman doesn't have the expertise to tweak out.  It can help find not only the weaknesses and how to address those but also the hidden strengths that the weaknesses may be masking.  For instance, until we had evaluations I had no idea that my son's comprehension dropped like a stone if he was using black and white material instead of things in color.  Or that his narrative memory was off the charts, way better than his visual memory.  Or that my daughter's 3D spatial relations were like that of a 35 year old so letting her construct things in clay worked 10000 times better than having her read a worksheet and answer a bunch of questions.  I also had no idea just how poor my kids' phonemic awareness was or that my son had a funky kind of dysgraphia.

 

Evals are not always possible, though.  I realize that.  Just working with your children one on one can be a tremendous help vs. the only instruction coming from being in a classroom of 25+ kids.

Edited March 2, 2016 by OneStepAtATime

[scoutingmom]

FWIW, my DH is the same.

 

You might look up stealth dyslexia. Some dyslexics learn to read silently by being able to decode enough words to get the gist of what is happening but their decoding skills are not efficient. Is he reading The Hobbit silently? How well does he do if he has to read it aloud?

 

Also, labels aren't really why I would suggest evaluations (if those are even remotely possible). Evals give the details that a layman doesn't have the expertise to tweak out. It can help find not only the weaknesses and how to address those but also the hidden strengths that the weaknesses may be masking. For instance, until we had evaluations I had no idea that my son's comprehension dropped like a stone if he was using black and white material instead of things in color. Or that his narrative memory was off the charts, way better than his visual memory. Or that my daughter's 3D spatial relations were like that of a 35 year old so letting her construct things in clay worked 10000 times better than having her read a worksheet and answer a bunch of questions. I also had no idea just how poor my kids' phonemic awareness was or that my son had a funky kind of dysgraphia.

 

Evals are not always possible, though. I realize that. Just working with your children one on one can be a tremendous help vs. the only instruction coming from being in a classroom of 25+ kids.

Yes, I have heard of stealth dyslexia. And yes, I am concerned that he is probably missing a lot. Yes, he us reading those books silently. I haven't had him read outloud to me in a while (4 kids), and I just don't know what to do anymore.

 

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[OneStepAtATime]

Yes, I have heard of stealth dyslexia. And yes, I am concerned that he is probably missing a lot. Yes, he us reading those books silently. I haven't had him read outloud to me in a while (4 kids), and I just don't know what to do anymore.

 

Sent from my SM-T530NU using Tapatalk

:grouphug:  :grouphug:  :grouphug:

 

Maybe start a separate thread with the things you have posted here.  Others may have useful suggestions that could help you, but I'm afraid your posts will not get out there to those that could help you if they only exist on this thread.  State up front that evals are not an option at this time.  My suggestion would have been Barton but since Barton was a no go for you, I really encourage you to start a thread regarding your specific situation.  LOTS of great people here that might have useful suggestions.  Also, have you looked at the stuff ElizabethB has?  Try finding her posts and see if there is a link.  

[imagine.more]

Barton is not for students with any kind of expressive language disorder. Susan Barton warns about this on her website but it is worth repeating on this thread.

 

I am considering purchasing at least the first level of Barton for my own self-education as a (hopeful) future Speech & Language Pathologist since Barton 1 is supposed to deal with phonological awareness. But I suspect the program would not be a great fit for my child due to the language delay.

 

I'm not sure what the expressive language disorder guidelines are but DD14 is WAY behind in language skills because of deafness and it's been interesting using Barton with her. I would say that it can work for any child who can speak at the 5-year-old-level or higher. Ana speaks at a 6 year old level. So yes we have issues with her not understanding a lot of the words she reads however it's still been beneficial to go through the program. I have to keep in mind that though she can decode on a 4th grade level, she can only actually comprehend on a 2nd grade level still so I adjust expectations accordingly. Ana also has a lower IQ than Susan Barton says is required to do the program because we didn't realize she was intellectually disabled when we began.

 

I think it's good that Susan Barton puts that sort of warning on things but I don't think it should be a firm limit. I'd say that Barton can be extremely useful for anyone struggling with reading and that *if* your student has a language delay or low IQ that you simply need to understand that they may never get up to the same mid-9th-grade level that other kids do, or at least not at the same rate. But they can still be 100% remediated in decoding which can hopefully increase vocabulary over time. 

 

Our experience with Barton has been overwhelmingly positive but I am OG trained and so I bring in other aspects of OG to the program and do not hesitate to alter it as needed. I've used it with Ana, 14, in spite of her hearing loss and intellectual disability with amazing success. This kid had made zero progress in 5 years of school and now she can decode on a 4th grade level and comprehend on a solid upper-2nd grade level. She reads now. It's as simple as that. Before Barton she didn't realize signs said meaningful things...she couldn't read birthday cards or baby board books. Now, she not only does all those things but she also picks up simple chapter books for fun voluntarily! She asks questions about words she reads. She can understand television shows because though she can't hear them well she can now read the subtitles! When she misspeaks a word I'm able to say "oh, no spinach ends in a CH not an SH" and she gets it in a way she couldn't by me simply repeating the word louder in the hopes she'd hear the sound correctly. 

 

I'm also using Barton and OG in general with several other students, all of whom are making progress. 

 

Student 1 was "barely on level" but dyslexic at the end of last year, then slid all the way back to a reading level E over the summer! The kid didn't have the solid base to build his reading upon so new skills were learned and lost easily. Now he's back up 6 levels to a K after 5 months of tutoring. His teacher re-checked his test because she thought she must have made a mistake because there's no way he made that much progress in half a school year.

 

Student 2 is homeschooled and had been taken through part of AAR but then they hit a wall and were unable to get consistent progress  or lasting results. It was very frustrating and she was starting to think she was a bad student :( She failed the Barton pre-test and we had our answer! That's why of course AAR wasn't going to work, she wasn't ready for it. So I did LiPS with her and now we're in Barton 1 and it's hard but it's working. She wasn't even able to correctly identify 3 sounds in a row before and now she does that with 95% accuracy. 

 

Student 3 was 12 and very behind in reading, about 3 grade levels. She struggled with consistency in reading and spelling and had been diagnosed as dyslexic. This in spite of being homeschooled with very conscientious and educated parents and being a smart kid herself. She did not read unless required to. Two months ago her grandma told me she had started reading chapter books for fun on her own! She's reading middle school books and enjoying them for the first time. 

[Chanley]

To add to this list, if the student is having a bad day and is reluctant, sometimes I start the session with a game. Normally we take the last 10 minutes to play a Spelling Success game, it is usually a reward for getting our work done for the day. But every so often, we inevitably hit a snag and are having a bad day from the start. On those days, it is important to me that the student leaves the hour feeling successful. So we start with a game. Sometimes that is enough to get on track, but sometimes it is not. If the game does not get the student ready to work, then I will just review previous lessons as suggested. 

 

I also have a student who is very athletic and loves to move. I will have him get up and do some jumping jacks when sitting is too much. This is never used as punishment but more of a "hey lets jump the wiggles out" exercise. 

 

 

I am going to post some ideas for how to help kids stay engaged with something as potentially challenging and exhausting as reading remediation:

 

1.  Keep lessons short.  If you need to do two lessons a day but keep them both shorter, then do so.  This is exhausting work for a lot of kids.  Their brain goes into overload.  Go at the pace that your child can successfully make it through.

2.  Do something more physical before and after.  

3.  Do something afterwards that they look forward to so they know when you are done they can take a mental break.

4.  Recognize that this truly is hard work.  If your child is sick or had an exhausting day the day before then maybe just play a Barton game for the day instead of setting them up for a potentially failed and frustrating lesson.  

5.  Do your prep.  If you aren't sure yourself what is happening in the lessons you may confuse your child terribly.  Undoing that confusion can be really, really hard.

6.  Maybe let them have a small, healthy snack and a glass of water during lessons.  Sometimes just taking a sip of water and eating a grape or a whole grain cracker with cheese helped DD to stay focused.

7.  Be willing to go off on small tangents with the words and to keep things lighter.  DD made a lot of connections when we would sometimes talk about the words, make up funny sentences, create our own games with the tiles, etc. and it kept her attitude better.

8.  Use the suggestions in the TMs and on the website for some really helpful ideas when you hit snags.

9.  Accept that there are going to be good days and bad days because reading remediation is hard, but having a bad day doesn't mean that you are a bad teacher, the program is a failure or your child is impossible to teach.  

10.  Build in time to go back and review previous lessons.  This has helped us so much here.  I find a logical place to stop moving forward and we go back and do Extra Practice pages, play Barton games, Spelling Success games, etc. to solidify what came before, then move forward again.

11.  If you have tried and tried but Barton (or any other reading remediation program) just is not working, don't be afraid to put it aside and take a break or even walk away for good.

 

Anyway, hope that helps some.

 

[mamamoose]

Buy In.   I had a hard time with buy in for DD when we first started Barton.  For those that really want to use Barton but are having trouble with buy-in or are afraid this will be an issue and are on the fence about even trying Barton, I will say that it can be challenging.

 

Honestly, it was so frustrating trying to work with DD on nonsense words in particular.  Why?  Because they were hard for her.  Why?  Because she actually was far worse at decoding than we had realized.  Reading silently she was bright enough to figure out a lot of the content of her assigned reading at school from the few words she could actually decode.  She wasn't actually reading with any fluency, though, and her decoding skills were super weak.  This was painfully apparent when she tried decoding nonsense words through Barton but I didn't immediately understand what I was seeing.  It just seemed like the nonsense words were a waste of time.  Turns out we needed the nonsense words to work out where the real issues were...and there were a lot of issues.  

 

In other words, she hated the nonsense words because they were really, really hard for her to decode.  They were really, really hard for her to decode because she was sooooo weak in decoding skills.  Naturally, something that is exceedingly hard to do is something that many kids resist trying to do because they hate to set themselves up for another failure (which many dyslexics have already dealt with many times) and the work is really hard.

 

DD hated Barton for the first two and a half levels.  She hated how hard she had to work and she hated the tiles and the hand gestures.  I had to keep lessons really short and do them first thing, with something a lot more fun planned right afterwards.  She didn't buy in until she hit mid Level 3 and realized her spelling and her reading and even her writing were actually improving with this program.  She also took 2 criterion referenced independent spelling tests administered by a tutoring friend in another state (who had never heard of Barton) and got a 100 on one and  a 99 on the other...having never studied for either test.  That meant the world to both of us.

 

Now she sometimes still gets a bit frustrated but she KNOWS the program is working for her so sometimes she is the one reminding me we need to do a lesson.  I still have to keep lessons sort of short (35-45 minutes) or her brain wears out and she doesn't retain anything but she definitely believes in this program, now.  Her willingness has made a huge difference in the pleasantness of our lessons.   :)

This is exactly the scenario for us! My son was reading at a 3rd grade level (he was in first) according to AR but when it came down to it, he missed basic words and was reading from memorization. This summer we let our reading slip a little and he forgot EVERYTHING!!!! I am not even joking. The teacher at the school said he just wasn't trying, they refused to test him, such a disaster, but in the end, we ended up pulling him out of school and my mom is tutoring him in Barton and he hated it! 

 

Fast forward to now and he is reading again, albeit slow, but we haven't had him reading anything until just recently. He is now in level 3 and his writing is improved so much. He has never one time written the word "was" correctly and today he wrote a story and spelled all the site words he has learned correctly and he even enjoyed writing! 

 

I was so disappointed that we had to step back to the beginning, and start all over but wow, was it worth it. I can't even believe how much difference it has made. He hated the program, hated the tiles, and generally hated all of it but I think he was just tired of failing and it being so hard. He still hates it but he's a pretty negative person, and I think he's finally starting to see actual results.

[OneStepAtATime]

Hey, that's great! So glad things are working better! (And was was a big bugaboo word for us, too. :) ).

[OneStepAtATime]

Thought I would share this in case it is helpful to someone.

 

DS has decided he likes rewriting the stories at the end of each lesson.  He gets irritated at some of the word choices or arrangement.  This is inspiring him to want to get to the end of the lesson since he likes doing this, so I am letting him make the changes then he reads the story.  We discuss why he chose to change whatever he changed and he has started asking more questions about grammar and sentence structure.  I have been surprised at this since he normally HATES writing and grammar.

Edited March 12, 2016 by OneStepAtATime

[OneStepAtATime]

Thought I would bump this thread since it might help someone who is considering Barton.  If others who are using or have used the program would like to update with their experiences (good and bad), please, please post.

[imagine.more]

Barton is not for students with any kind of expressive language disorder. Susan Barton warns about this on her website but it is worth repeating on this thread.

 

I am considering purchasing at least the first level of Barton for my own self-education as a (hopeful) future Speech & Language Pathologist since Barton 1 is supposed to deal with phonological awareness. But I suspect the program would not be a great fit for my child due to the language delay.

This is what we are running into. Now when we started I didn't know Ana had a language disorder...it was always chalked up to her hearing issues and growing up in a Spanish-speaking home. So now we're stuck in level 5 and she's doing okay but doesn't understand any of the meaning of the words. It's tough, it's like half of the words are nonsense words to her :P

 

On the other hand, Barton has been ahmmmaazzing for Ana! She was totally illiterate 3 years ago and now she reads real books. She can spell soooo much better. Her confidence is way up in reading. In my 8th grade homeschool co-op class Ana reads the assignments to her classmate, a very bright but dyslexic girl who has had non-OG tutoring for 2 years with no progress. That is incredible if you know all the struggles Ana has.

 

So for now we keep going and I tweak tons. I've taken to writing my own lists of words for each lesson and I'm making some different stories. But at what point do I just decide it's easier to but Wilson materials, coerce DH into making me some wooden tiles (love those things!) and do it on my own? The only thing holding me back honestly is that I wonder if Wilson has as good of explanations of the "why" to some of the rules. Because Barton's explanations are top notch and just click with my daughter especially, but also with my other students.

 

Oh, I have to brag on my tutoring student though! She's about to finish Level 6 and she's just rocking it! Her fluency is picking up and she's able to read and spell SUCH complex words now and can explain why it's spelled the way it is or read the way it is. All that progress in just 18 months! :) Barton has been great for her.

[OneStepAtATime]

This is what we are running into. Now when we started I didn't know Ana had a language disorder...it was always chalked up to her hearing issues and growing up in a Spanish-speaking home. So now we're stuck in level 5 and she's doing okay but doesn't understand any of the meaning of the words. It's tough, it's like half of the words are nonsense words to her :P

 

On the other hand, Barton has been ahmmmaazzing for Ana! She was totally illiterate 3 years ago and now she reads real books. She can spell soooo much better. Her confidence is way up in reading. In my 8th grade homeschool co-op class Ana reads the assignments to her classmate, a very bright but dyslexic girl who has had non-OG tutoring for 2 years with no progress. That is incredible if you know all the struggles Ana has.

 

So for now we keep going and I tweak tons. I've taken to writing my own lists of words for each lesson and I'm making some different stories. But at what point do I just decide it's easier to but Wilson materials, coerce DH into making me some wooden tiles (love those things!) and do it on my own? The only thing holding me back honestly is that I wonder if Wilson has as good of explanations of the "why" to some of the rules. Because Barton's explanations are top notch and just click with my daughter especially, but also with my other students.

 

Oh, I have to brag on my tutoring student though! She's about to finish Level 6 and she's just rocking it! Her fluency is picking up and she's able to read and spell SUCH complex words now and can explain why it's spelled the way it is or read the way it is. All that progress in just 18 months! :) Barton has been great for her.

Do you still have your blog? I thought you could post a link here if you were willing.

[imagine.more]

Yes, I do. I'm on my phone but I'll link it later. It's sorely neglected ever since I took this job, but I'm hoping to post some more this summer when things die down. I'm currently teaching 12 hours a week plus tutoring in OG 6 hours a week and of course homeschooling :) It's crazy!

[imagine.more]

http://readingtherightway.blogspot.com

[zarabellesmom]

http://readingtherightway.blogspot.com

How funny, I just visited your blog yesterday! Great stuff.