sea_mommy Posted August 11, 2016 Share Posted August 11, 2016 We just switched from AAR to R&S spelling. Right now I am having my child to A on Monday, B on Tuesday, C on Wednesday, and the test on Thursday. Each day, it is taking him soooo long! Honestly, I don't think that he is used to a "follow the directions" type of curriculum. :closedeyes: Should I have him do everything for a set time limit? Or just keep going the way we have been and maybe it will get better? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hollyhock Posted August 11, 2016 Share Posted August 11, 2016 What level is he doing? I did find that when my kids started R&S spelling, there was somewhat of a learning curve in reading and following the directions. In fact, they had more trouble with that than with the actual spelling work. But they do get used to it, so maybe he just needs some time and practice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sea_mommy Posted August 11, 2016 Author Share Posted August 11, 2016 What level is he doing? I did find that when my kids started R&S spelling, there was somewhat of a learning curve in reading and following the directions. In fact, they had more trouble with that than with the actual spelling work. But they do get used to it, so maybe he just needs some time and practice. He's doing level 4. Yes, I would definitely say that is more the reading and following directions that is the problem. We've only been doing it for about 2 weeks. How long did it take for your kids to figure it out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hollyhock Posted August 11, 2016 Share Posted August 11, 2016 Well my kids usually start in the second grade book, so they are younger, and the last one doesn't work that well independently, so it was a process. I don't exactly remember but it was probably a few months. My older guys were quicker though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hedwigtheowl Posted August 12, 2016 Share Posted August 12, 2016 Maybe you need to give him more time? In third grade school we had a week to learn spellings. It can take a lot of repetition. I worked intensively with my daughter to lean spellings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsquirrel Posted August 12, 2016 Share Posted August 12, 2016 I've used R&S from the beginning. In level 4 it does step it up by quite a LOT. Here is how I make it work for us: I skip some of the stuff. I always skip any bible or scripture stuff. We aren't Christians so that is no loss for us. I've never given a spelling test in my life, and we do spelling 4 times a week. In last years book there was a section where you filled in the sentences, we skipped that as well. My son has excellent vocabulary skills and that seems like it was optional for us. I count out how many blanks there are in the entire lesson, minus the ones I know we can skip. Then I divide by 4. When my son was a 4th grader I only asked him to fill in maybe 12 lines a day. I crossed out some from every exercise to make the skipping evenly distributed. That seemed like plenty for any kid that age. Last year he was a 5th grader and I had him do 15 at the beginning of the year, but he was doing 20 by the end with no complaint. It's really a lot, too much IMO. I don't need a battle over spelling. I also use R&A grammar and, again, there is more than anyone would ever want to use in a lesson. I don't make my kids work just to do what the books say, I make it work for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meadowlark Posted August 12, 2016 Share Posted August 12, 2016 I think just give it some time. I put my 3rd grader in R&S 4 spelling last year, because he is a natural speller. The words were appropriate for him, but he struggled with the exercises. He got considerably better as the year progressed though, and I'm glad we stuck it out. I think it really stretched him. We're doing CLE this year and it's a whole lot easier, but that's okay with me because our focus is getting his other skills (grammar, writing) up to par. He did part A on Monday, part B on Tuesday, etc. We did the test on Friday. He grumbled, but it seemed appropriate to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sea_mommy Posted August 16, 2016 Author Share Posted August 16, 2016 I've used R&S from the beginning. In level 4 it does step it up by quite a LOT. Here is how I make it work for us: I skip some of the stuff. I always skip any bible or scripture stuff. We aren't Christians so that is no loss for us. I've never given a spelling test in my life, and we do spelling 4 times a week. In last years book there was a section where you filled in the sentences, we skipped that as well. My son has excellent vocabulary skills and that seems like it was optional for us. I count out how many blanks there are in the entire lesson, minus the ones I know we can skip. Then I divide by 4. When my son was a 4th grader I only asked him to fill in maybe 12 lines a day. I crossed out some from every exercise to make the skipping evenly distributed. That seemed like plenty for any kid that age. Last year he was a 5th grader and I had him do 15 at the beginning of the year, but he was doing 20 by the end with no complaint. It's really a lot, too much IMO. I don't need a battle over spelling. I also use R&A grammar and, again, there is more than anyone would ever want to use in a lesson. I don't make my kids work just to do what the books say, I make it work for us. It has definitely turned into a battle over spelling and I don't want that. :( I'm going to give him a "time limit" for a few weeks, and then I might look at cutting some things out as well. Thank you for the suggestion! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sea_mommy Posted August 16, 2016 Author Share Posted August 16, 2016 I think just give it some time. I put my 3rd grader in R&S 4 spelling last year, because he is a natural speller. The words were appropriate for him, but he struggled with the exercises. He got considerably better as the year progressed though, and I'm glad we stuck it out. I think it really stretched him. We're doing CLE this year and it's a whole lot easier, but that's okay with me because our focus is getting his other skills (grammar, writing) up to par. He did part A on Monday, part B on Tuesday, etc. We did the test on Friday. He grumbled, but it seemed appropriate to me He's definitely struggling with the exercises and not the spelling words. I'm going to give him a "time limit" for awhile and see if that helps stop the lessons from taking so long. Hopefully he'll figure it out after a few weeks. This is a learning curve for both of us. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsquirrel Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 A timer is good. My younger kid freaks out with a timer, it makes him too anxious. And my older boy would have pushed the limit and done two words in the time allotted just to see what I would do, lol. But start with low expectations and then slowly work to a higher number, IF you think its a good idea. Spelling shouldn't be a battle. There are so many other things that need so much more of your attention. It's not a big deal. Spelling should be when you are able to go make a cup of tea, not deal with tears. I actually usually make lunch for ds2 while he does spelling, lol. One year we forgot to do spelling, lol. It was my older boy and we used spelling workout. I forgot to order it and could only get it from Rainbow and didn't have anything to get to the free shipping and I was damned if I was going to pay whatever to have a spelling book shipped to me. So, we just didn't do spelling that year. I picked up the next year right where we would have been and.... everything was fine. Nothing bad happened. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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