MyLife Posted April 3, 2017 Share Posted April 3, 2017 (edited) My 7 year old son has completed 75 percent or more of Abeka Letters and Sounds 1, but he is probably reading on a beginning 2nd grade level. Here at the very end, Abeka is teaching many new special sounds very quickly. He is able to keep up. My question is...Should I continue with Abeka Letters and Sounds 2 next year? Should I stop formal phonics after this year and just review rules and sounds as he reads aloud and works on spelling? The spelling book I chose does not cover all of Abeka's higher level special sounds (like -tion), so did I make a mistake in choosing this spelling? My main concern is that I don't want to stop phonics too early and have a third grade slump, but I also don't want phonics to turn into busywork. Thank you, ladies, for all your insight. ETA: For next year, I have planned for him to read through popular books for 2nd grade like Frog and Toad, Billy and Blaze, Henry and Mudge, etc. I also purchased Steck Vaughn Spelling. Edited April 3, 2017 by MyLife Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purpleowl Posted April 3, 2017 Share Posted April 3, 2017 Both of my girls had a point somewhere in the middle of A Beka L&S 1 where they could suddenly read practically everything. I finished out that text (with each of them) but then stopped doing phonics instruction, switching to First Language Lessons 2 for grammar and mom-selected books for reading. We don't use a formal spelling program because they're both natural spellers. I tried with DD#1, but it was a chore for both of us ;), and not really necessary. I just correct their spelling as I see mistakes in their writing. If the mistakes become habitual, we'll revisit spelling as a formal subject, but for now this works. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReadingMama1214 Posted April 3, 2017 Share Posted April 3, 2017 (edited) Our spelling is below her reading level. I think that is actually better. While they may be able to read special sounds, they may not be able to spell them. Our phonics program went to a 4th grade level, but our spelling is a first grade program. It's been working well for us. We did phonics until she could decode at a 4th grade level. I would continue on with phonics to solidify the grasp he has on them Edited April 3, 2017 by ReadingMama1214 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted April 3, 2017 Share Posted April 3, 2017 My 7 year old son has completed 75 percent or more of Abeka Letters and Sounds 1, but he is probably reading on a beginning 2nd grade level. Here at the very end, Abeka is teaching many new special sounds very quickly. He is able to keep up. My question is...Should I continue with Abeka Letters and Sounds 2 next year? Should I stop formal phonics after this year and just review rules and sounds as he reads aloud and works on spelling? The spelling book I chose does not cover all of Abeka's higher level special sounds (like -tion), so did I make a mistake in choosing this spelling? My main concern is that I don't want to stop phonics too early and have a third grade slump, but I also don't want phonics to turn into busywork. Thank you, ladies, for all your insight. ETA: For next year, I have planned for him to read through popular books for 2nd grade like Frog and Toad, Billy and Blaze, Henry and Mudge, etc. I also purchased Steck Vaughn Spelling. I took my older dd out of a Christian school that used all ABeka, during Easter break of first grade. There were still six weeks of school left, at least, so I know that she did not finish the whole phonics course, but I never needed to do anything else with her as far as phonics/reading. We didn't do anything formal for spelling, either, at any time, so I guess she was able to figure out all of the higher-level "special" sounds. :-) If you think your ds could use more phonics/spelling, you might consider Spalding, which is a complete "language arts" course for children until they are, oh, nine years old: reading/phonics, spelling, penmanship, capitalization and punctuation, simple writing, all in one fell swoop. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MyLife Posted April 4, 2017 Author Share Posted April 4, 2017 If you think your ds could use more phonics/spelling Ellie, what sort things would you consider in determining if a child needs more phonics instruction or not? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReadingMama1214 Posted April 4, 2017 Share Posted April 4, 2017 Ellie, what sort things would you consider in determining if a child needs more phonics instruction or not? The assessments on the phonics page website are really helpful. I found that they do a good job of determining if phonics is needed further. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted April 4, 2017 Share Posted April 4, 2017 Ellie, what sort things would you consider in determining if a child needs more phonics instruction or not? If he is not able to read age-appropriate material, he may need more phonics instruction. Spalding does the job, whether it's phonics or spelling. :-) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MyLife Posted April 4, 2017 Author Share Posted April 4, 2017 (edited) The assessments on the phonics page website are really helpful. I found that they do a good job of determining if phonics is needed further.I gave him the 40L Quick Screen Reading Grade Level Test from the Phonics Page. He read into the fifth grade list before missing 5 in a row. His total score was a 3.7. We have an Abeka display coming up. I think I will go to it and flip through the workbook to see how much of the material is a repeat of what we are using for spelling and language arts. Edited April 4, 2017 by MyLife Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MyLife Posted April 4, 2017 Author Share Posted April 4, 2017 If he is not able to read age-appropriate material, he may need more phonics instruction. Spalding does the job, whether it's phonics or spelling. :-) He is in first grade but reads above a first grade level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted April 4, 2017 Share Posted April 4, 2017 He is in first grade but reads above a first grade level. If he's 6 or 7, and can read above that age level, then I would say he does not need more *phonics* instruction. :-) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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