Can I skip the drill in R&S Spelling?

[Hobbes]

I'm reading through R&S Spelling 3 to prepare for next school year, and I'm wondering if it's plenty effective to do the program without the daily "drill" exercises. Between introducing/teaching the lesson as it's laid out in the TM, doing parts A/B/C and two tests, it seems to me that there is a lot of exposure to the words. In addition, the drill suggestions provided seem very bulky and time-consuming. So what about it. Can I skip the drill or will the program really be missing something?

[Lang Syne Boardie]

Option C: Keep the drills but ditch the tests.

 

There's no need to do all of the oral drill problems; there are enough for a classroom full of children. But if you skip some, don't just pick odds or evens. Make sure you're offering problems that address all the skills/objectives.

 

I don't use the tests because I was present every day for the oral drill, and I checked the child's work every day, and then there's also the chapter review. I know whether the student has learned the chapter.

[SilverMoon]

We just do the workbook with a test at the end of the week. Some kids were helped by a practice test between B and C, so that was all of their spelling for that day.

[Lang Syne Boardie]

I have to apologize -- I misread and thought this was about grammar, not spelling!

[Hobbes]

I have to apologize -- I misread and thought this was about grammar, not spelling!

No problem! I was going to go to the book and figure out what you meant about oral drills. ;)

[Hobbes]

We just do the workbook with a test at the end of the week. Some kids were helped by a practice test between B and C, so that was all of their spelling for that day.

That's great to know, thanks. I can see us doing this.

[redsquirrel]

I have R&S spelling 5 in front of me and I can't find any daily drill?  I see sentences for the tests in the teacher's book, but I don't see a daily drill.

 

FWIW, I've never done a spelling test. We work through that weeks worksheets over 4 days, skipping the bible parts, and call it good.

[Hobbes]

I have R&S spelling 5 in front of me and I can't find any daily drill? I see sentences for the tests in the teacher's book, but I don't see a daily drill.

 

FWIW, I've never done a spelling test. We work through that weeks worksheets over 4 days, skipping the bible parts, and call it good.

In the introduction in the teachers manual, they have a two-page list of drills. Then they provide a suggested schedule and they say to do a drill each day, followed by work in the book and the tests. Maybe that's just in the grade 3 book.

 

The drills they list seem very time-consuming to me. It's nice to know that others are using the program without them. Good to have that input about the tests as well, thank you. I can see tests working well for my DD, but I may not do them every time.

[SeaConquest]

I have R&S spelling 5 in front of me and I can't find any daily drill?  I see sentences for the tests in the teacher's book, but I don't see a daily drill.

 

FWIW, I've never done a spelling test. We work through that weeks worksheets over 4 days, skipping the bible parts, and call it good.

 

We did the same -- workbook only, crossing out Bible stuff -- except we did Part A one day and Part B another day. Part C we usually did orally. No tests or crossword puzzles. 

 

I'm sort of coming to the conclusion that spelling is basically busywork for us. We are changing to Megawords next year and, if he breezes through that, we will probably drop the subject altogether. My DS basically has learned to spell from reading and copywork.

[redsquirrel]

In the introduction in the teachers manual, they have a two-page list of drills. Then they provide a suggested schedule and they say to do a drill each day, followed by work in the book and the tests. Maybe that's just in the grade 3 book.

 

The drills they list seem very time-consuming to me. It's nice to know that others are using the program without them. Good to have that input about the tests as well, thank you. I can see tests working well for my DD, but I may not do them every time.

 

There is no mention of drills or schedule of anything at the beginning of the grade 5 teacher's book.  There is a table of contents, then a couple pages of intro to the program. In that intro there are a couple sub-headings with titles like "The importance of spelling in a language" and "The organization of Spelling by Sound and Structure". Drills aren't mentioned at all. Then there is a 4 page word list for the entire year, and then starts the weekly lessons.

 

I rarely use the teacher's book b/c it is just a completed workbook. Every now and again, about twice a year, ds2 and I have a disagreement about an answer so I pull out the teacher's book to settle the question, lol. 

 

But no drills in 5th grade that I can see

 

 

We did the same -- workbook only, crossing out Bible stuff -- except we did Part A one day and Part B another day. Part C we usually did orally. No tests or crossword puzzles. 

 

I'm sort of coming to the conclusion that spelling is basically busywork for us. We are changing to Megawords next year and, if he breezes through that, we will probably drop the subject altogether. My DS basically has learned to spell from reading and copywork.

 

I have done it like that, but the 5th grade book has more work. So there is a lot we skip, aside from the bible questions. There is usually a fill in the blank with the correct spelling word, and while I like that kind of word instruction, it is generally religious, so we skip it. There is also less that we find works orally, but we do when we can. I actually think it is good for ds2 to spell the words out loud.  But I usually get 4 days of work out of the three sections. 

 

I know what you mean about spelling being busy work, and I am tempted to stop after 6th grade. But for grades 7&* R&S becomes more about root word study, with lots of Latin and Greek. So I think we will continue...but that could change.  I've got a next year to decide for sure. I could switch over to something like 'vocabulary from the classical roots' or something like that title. I can't exactly remember, lol. But R&S is so inexpensive compared to other programs. I'm tempted to just stick with it if it is root word study.

[SeaConquest]

I hear ya. We are doing Latin and MCT, so I figure that we have roots pretty well covered. :)

[Soror]

TBH I've never even done tests. I do however plan to do tests this year as I think I need to check retention, my dd1 likes to be more independent than she needs to be at times.

[Hobbes]

There is no mention of drills or schedule of anything at the beginning of the grade 5 teacher's book. There is a table of contents, then a couple pages of intro to the program. In that intro there are a couple sub-headings with titles like "The importance of spelling in a language" and "The organization of Spelling by Sound and Structure". Drills aren't mentioned at all. Then there is a 4 page word list for the entire year, and then starts the weekly lessons.

 

I rarely use the teacher's book b/c it is just a completed workbook. Every now and again, about twice a year, ds2 and I have a disagreement about an answer so I pull out the teacher's book to settle the question, lol.

 

But no drills in 5th grade that I can see

 

 

Thanks. It's good to know that they don't even suggest the drills in later grades.