AAR worked for my son, AAS not so much...

[3 ladybugs]

My son is soon to be 8. He struggled with reading till AAR. Now he LOVES reading (he is at the end of the third book). I went to AAS (currently at the end of book 2) at the same time as AAR but I don't think it is working for him. He may get the words right the day of the lesson, or even that week, but forgets them all by the time it is time to review them. I test him everyday and then make him write the words that he gets wrong 5 times each in an effort to get them to stick, and they are not. I thought maybe I was pushing him too hard. So I stopped Spelling for a month+ and went back to it and it is even worse now. 

 

What should we go to now? The only spelling he has had is AAS and LLATL. I like the thought of him learning the rules to spelling, but I don't think AAS is a perfect fit for him.

 

I was looking at the online version of Sequential Spelling. There isn't much about it though. I don't think it teaches the rules either. LOE I know teaches the rules, but can you get it without the reading and writing aspects?? Is there something else I should be looking for or at? I really just want to tweak this one area for him. Everything else when it comes to language arts I think is working well for him (AAR, WOL, W&R, ZB2C). 

 

Thank you for the help!

[Jess4879]

How are you using AAS?  For my oldest I found we had to take a week to do each lesson.  She needed that repetition.  So Monday we teach the new lesson and then she writes the words every day.  Thursday and Friday we add in dictation and writing station.  We also do several review words daily from both the review & the mastered piles.  Another help for her has been adding in Spelling City.  Giving her another way to play with her spelling words has definitely helped. 

[Goldilocks]

My oldest didn't learn to read fluently until almost 9.  I didn't start him with spelling until about 10 years old.  We quickly were able to go through the early AAS books.  He is not the greatest speller, but he does ok.

 

I tell you that story because I want you to know that it is ok to wait with spelling. The first spelling words in any spelling program are all very similar and should be very easy for a child to spell  - that is if the child is developmentally ready.  If your son is struggling with it in AAS, I think he will struggle with any program.  It is ok to wait. 

[Tenaj]

My 8yods is the same way.  He loves, loves, loves AAR and is advancing steadily using it but when I started AAS with him last spring it was a disaster.  It may have been developmental but this year I've chosen to use studied dictation (Dictation Day by Day) and R&S Spelling.  He seems to be very visual in his learning style and needs to see the words rather than "hear" them.  For some reason the tiles weren't giving him enough of a visual but seeing the words, writing the words and then hearing them seems to be working rather well.  I've kept my AAS books, though, just in case.

Edited August 15, 2016 by JanOH

[MerryAtHope]

My son is soon to be 8. He struggled with reading till AAR. Now he LOVES reading (he is at the end of the third book). I went to AAS (currently at the end of book 2) at the same time as AAR but I don't think it is working for him. He may get the words right the day of the lesson, or even that week, but forgets them all by the time it is time to review them. I test him everyday and then make him write the words that he gets wrong 5 times each in an effort to get them to stick, and they are not. I thought maybe I was pushing him too hard. So I stopped Spelling for a month+ and went back to it and it is even worse now. 

 

I would try a different approach with it. I think writing a word multiple times in one day can lead some kids to kind of shut off their thinking about the word and just go on auto-pilot. In other words--it really isn't helping you accomplish the goal of helping your son remember how the word is spelled. Instead, you want him to engage his mind with the word--why did he spell it incorrectly? Did he leave a sound out of the word (auditory and phonetic strategies)? Did he forget to apply a rule? Does he need to focus on a visual or morphemic strategy? This article on the effective spelling methods helps you see more what AAS is teaching the student (and in the upcoming levels, the student starts to learn to do this analysis on his own gradually, so that he can take ownership of his spelling more and more.) Instead, try this:

 

First, the time to review the spelling words is daily after he has completed the lesson. Keep the words in daily review and have him practice them each day (he can use a hand-held white-board, can use kinesthetic methods, or he might like some of these review ideas.)

 

Unlike the reading word cards, you don't want spelling word cards to stack up. You want him to master them. If there are more than 20 or so word cards in daily review, stop new lessons and just do review activities for awhile. 

 

I always kept a word card in daily review until the following Monday. If my kids could spell it easily that next Monday (no second-guessing or self-correcting), then I moved it to mastered. If not, I kept that word in daily review. Waiting until a Monday so that they remembered over the weekend helped me weed out which words they "sort-of knew" and which ones were truly mastered. If he can't spell it easily at any time, it's not mastered yet--so you want a good way of checking that. Waiting until a Monday was a good way for us.

 

Mix in the new words with some older ones--either others in daily review, or some that were recently mastered. You don't want to review a list of 10 matching words at once because again, some kids will just go on auto pilot and not think about each word. And you really want engaged thinking each time. Shuffle the cards or mix them in some way. If the words are super-easy, what I did was review about 3 new ones with several older ones mixed in for the rest of the week. This kept the new concept fresh in mind, usually for another full week after completing a lesson (so, if we finished a lesson on Thursday or Friday, we had those word cards in daily review the whole next week). Then we would try the whole new list the following Monday. This is not a test--this is seeing what still needs review, and what is mastered. Keep related key cards, phonogram, and sound cards in daily review as needed too.

 

If he gets a word wrong later (like in a dictation), then see if he can easily fix it if you say something like "There's one mistake. See if you can find it." If he can identify the word and what's wrong, great! If not, help him and put the word back in daily review for a longer time. This article on automaticity has more info on this.

 

One of my kids needed a lot of review. After a word moved out of daily review, I reviewed it once a week for 3 more weeks before I moved it to mastered. This helped to solidify the words more for him. 

 

If you want to see examples of how you might work through various words, post some misspellings and I'd be glad to talk through how I'd address those with my kids. Basically, it's just learning to use the tools that the program is giving you more as you review.

[3 ladybugs]

I went to Barnes and Noble yesterday and picked up a 2nd grade "10 Minutes a Day Spelling". It was less then $10 and even less with the educator card. I think I am going to use this for a week and see how he does. I am NOT expecting it to teach him spelling, but I need time to regroup and figure out what I am going to do with him next. 

 

My thought is, I should start over with level 2. One of my biggest problems with him I believe is he wasn't doing any writing (not penmanship but something like creative writing) prior to this school year that started 2 weeks ago. So even if he did master a word well, he never really got to use that skill in any of his work. Therefore I don't think it was completely cemented. I don't think this was as much an issue for level one, but definitely for level 2. I want to make this fun for him again. 

 

I guess I didn't realize that spelling is a developmental thing as well. I see it with physical things like writing (penmanship), but not with things like spelling. 

 

Is there some sort of test that AAS has that I would be able to use to see if he should go back into level 1? Or should I just ask him the key cards and a few of the word cards?

[3 ladybugs]

I downloaded that "Help Your Child's Memory" booklet from AALP. It seems like that will help me with this as well. A plan is developing... provided I can figure out where we need to jump back to. 

 

 

[MerryAtHope]

I downloaded that "Help Your Child's Memory" booklet from AALP. It seems like that will help me with this as well. A plan is developing... provided I can figure out where we need to jump back to. 

 

I would do a mastered review of the word cards from level 2. Use some of the fun review ideas if you want (that I linked above) and then sort them into mastered or daily review. If he misses just a word or two from a lesson, make sure he knows the related phonogram, sound, and key cards taught with that lesson. If he struggles (or if he misses most of the words from a particular lesson), then you may want to re-do the whole lesson. If he knows the concepts easily, then have him just practice the word. Build it with the tiles, and see if he can teach the concepts to you that way. Fill in any gaps. Then the next day, have him build it, and see if he can teach it to you with fewer helps, until he can easily build the word teach it to you. Then practice it in writing again. 

 

Some kids aren't ready for much outside writing until after level 3 (the dictations gradually get longer in the series--level 3 has 12 sentences per step--plus another writing exercise called the Writing Station is added midway through 3.) So, I wouldn't worry too much about not having done outside creative writing. Just make sure to do spelling daily, to keep cards in review a bit longer, perhaps incorporate periodic review of mastered cards to make sure they are staying fresh in his mind, have him teach concepts back more with the tiles, and so on. The dictations do bring back previously-learned words, but some kids need more than that, which is why the card system comes in handy--you can do as much or as little review as he needs.

 

I LOVE the memory download. The Funnel Concept actually changed how I homeschooled other subjects as well.

 

You can check the level 1 words as well--or just choose one or two words that you think are tricky from each step, and see how he does with those. If any are difficult, then recheck the other words from that lesson. 

[3 ladybugs]

Sounds good! 

 

I have went through the 2 books and wrote down 2-3 words from each section that had cards. For book 1 that totaled 44 words. I figure that this week I will scatter the words over the 4 days and see what he gets right. Then I can reevaluate. Hopefully he will get all these words right then I can focus on book 2. That has 50 words, so I might divide that into 2 weeks. 

 

 

[busymama7]

How are you using AAS? For my oldest I found we had to take a week to do each lesson. She needed that repetition. So Monday we teach the new lesson and then she writes the words every day. Thursday and Friday we add in dictation and writing station. We also do several review words daily from both the review & the mastered piles. Another help for her has been adding in Spelling City. Giving her another way to play with her spelling words has definitely helped.

Are there pre entered lists for AAS on spelling city? I used it last year with my kids using rod and staff but I'm new to using AAS and using it with other/younger kids. Anyways for rod and staff the list were already there which was really helpful

[Jess4879]

Are there pre entered lists for AAS on spelling city? I used it last year with my kids using rod and staff but I'm new to using AAS and using it with other/younger kids. Anyways for rod and staff the list were already there which was really helpful

 

yep :)  I haven't come across a list that another user hasn't already entered.  :)