Jump to content

Menu

Stay with Barton or move on to what?


Bookworm4
 Share

Recommended Posts

I have a 11 year old that I started using Barton with about 2.5-3 years ago if I remember correctly.  We got part-way into level 3 when I ended up sick with complications in pregnancy.  Barton got tabled for a long while.  At one point in pregnancy I restarted level 3 since we had taken such a long break.  After additional complications and then newborn challenges, we had taken another long break from Barton and then I had restarted level 3 again because I wasn't sure what she had retained.  Eventually I bought a subscription to Reading Horizons online so she could continue to get some practice without relying on me with a challenging baby.  Long story short, I wasn't consistent with Barton the entire 1st year of my baby's life and am now ready and prepared to jump back into with with both feet and create a consistent schedule.  During 2018 though, my daughter has progressed through most of Reading Horizons and only has a handful of lessons left in Reading Horizons Discovery.  Because of what she has learned in Reading Horizons, she really doesn't want to go back to "easier" levels in Barton where we left off.  Her reading is doing really well (spelling still needs extra work).  I'm struggling to know whether to continue with Barton (I am also starting my other daughter on Barton next week) and save to buy level 4 or switch her to something like Megawords or Nessy or something else entirely.  There is no way she would have done so well with Reading Horizons if she hadn't done work in Barton first, but I'm not certain the next best approach for her.  I feel like she still needs reading practice and extra spelling work, but I now question if she really needs Barton to continue making progress at this point.  With another child starting Barton and needing additional therapy, I would love it if something else would work that might be easier for me since I am also juggling a toddler, but will figure out how to make it work if we should continue Barton with her.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think you're going to want some data to make this decision. High Noon has a placement test included in level 2. Level 1 is presumably material she's already solid on. If her reading is solid through the content of High Noon 1, you could go into level 2. It will give her the more mature format she wants and the workbook will give her a bit more independence. At this point, you're talking about needing to work her through multiple levels of Barton to get her where she needs to be. It may be she needs that for the spelling. I have my ds doing Spelfabet, which is inexpensive, but I would not think she would like that. It's appropriate for him because it has pictures to support his language comprehension.

So without data, you don't actually know where her decoding is. You have assumptions or hopes but not actual data. As far as the spelling, you need to determine whether multi-sensory instruction that includes non-sense words is valuable to her. If her visual memory is strong, she may already have her spelling kicking in with her reading. It can happen. 

On the Barton, I don't see how you get her going forward if you can't afford the levels and don't have the time. It would be better to do something you CAN afford and get her moving forward at this point. Spelling can be hit lots of ways. Barton is great, but you're going to be saving levels for each successive kid. Level 4 is where things shift anyway, because you get through the syllable rules (which don't necessarily stick, people seem to need a lot of runs through, too fast), and then it drags out the sort of climax stuff after that and drags out to many levels what could have done more quickly. So you'll see people jumping after level 4 anyway, just because that is what is happening.

If she's doing so well with online instruction, how about some online spelling? I've been looking for it. I think a blend of stuff is good. I would get some data and see where she's actually at with her decoding and what she actually needs. Have you seen the free OG materials at the MA Rooney site? They might give you enough to get her through syllabication and morphology and know you've hit it. Then you just find something for her spelling. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

45 minutes ago, PeterPan said:

I think you're going to want some data to make this decision. High Noon has a placement test included in level 2. Level 1 is presumably material she's already solid on. If her reading is solid through the content of High Noon 1, you could go into level 2. It will give her the more mature format she wants and the workbook will give her a bit more independence. At this point, you're talking about needing to work her through multiple levels of Barton to get her where she needs to be. It may be she needs that for the spelling. I have my ds doing Spelfabet, which is inexpensive, but I would not think she would like that. It's appropriate for him because it has pictures to support his language comprehension.

So without data, you don't actually know where her decoding is. You have assumptions or hopes but not actual data. As far as the spelling, you need to determine whether multi-sensory instruction that includes non-sense words is valuable to her. If her visual memory is strong, she may already have her spelling kicking in with her reading. It can happen. 

On the Barton, I don't see how you get her going forward if you can't afford the levels and don't have the time. It would be better to do something you CAN afford and get her moving forward at this point. Spelling can be hit lots of ways. Barton is great, but you're going to be saving levels for each successive kid. Level 4 is where things shift anyway, because you get through the syllable rules (which don't necessarily stick, people seem to need a lot of runs through, too fast), and then it drags out the sort of climax stuff after that and drags out to many levels what could have done more quickly. So you'll see people jumping after level 4 anyway, just because that is what is happening.

If she's doing so well with online instruction, how about some online spelling? I've been looking for it. I think a blend of stuff is good. I would get some data and see where she's actually at with her decoding and what she actually needs. Have you seen the free OG materials at the MA Rooney site? They might give you enough to get her through syllabication and morphology and know you've hit it. Then you just find something for her spelling. 

Thanks.  Reading Horizons is supposed to be OG, but I feel lacks as much multi-sensory aspect being online.  It has a certain amount of review, but could have more in my opinion as well.  It does have her marking vowels, vowel teams, unit sounds, blends, etc. in words which I think helped her a lot as well.

This summer when we did DD11's 4th grade standardized testing (she was already 5/6ths of the way through the Reading Horizons online curriculum at this point), she tested at grade level 8.3 for reading comprehension, 12.3 for language arts, 5.7 for vocabulary, 7.3 for language mechanics, and 2.6 for spelling.  That said, the results did say that anything more than 2 grade levels above (so above grade 6) wouldn't be accurate since it was only the 4th grade test.  Considering her reading level was at the 3rd grade level the summer before and spelling at the 1st grade level the summer before when we had our teacher assessment a year ago, I can see she is making progress.  That said, I don't know what her actual decoding level is yet and am trying to find an online test I can give her to determine her decoding level and also look closer at her fluency and automaticity. This summer she read through the unabridged Secret Garden on own and seemed to understand more than I expected (especially with the moor accent written in the book).  She has also been reading through the original Nancy Drew books quite a bit.  She has also been reading other books, sewing/craft books, and cookbooks but those were a few she talked about more.

I can figure out a way to buy the next Barton level if I need to do so.  I ended up purchasing Foundation in Sounds for my 7 year old last week with the funds I had saved for Barton level 4 (yes, I could have gone with LiPS for less money, but believe this will be enough for her and am too tired from a 12 month old who still nurses frequently at night to read an entire LiPS manual before I can implement it with my DD).  DD7 needs a lot of other time of mine for therapy related exercises daily, reflex integration, and likely additional therapy appointments (speech and OT evaluations to come).  I am also switching DD7 to RightStart as I can see how she will benefit from their approach and what we used before wasn't quite enough for her, but that is also teacher intensive.  The thought of all of that with Barton with 2 kids plus other subjects and a toddler sounds overwhelming, but we will figure out how to make it all work if needed.  That said, if I can find a way to keep DD11 moving forward with some independence (and less expensive than Barton would be nice), I am all for it.

I will give DD11 the High Noon Reading placement test tomorrow.  I forgot about High Noon.  She wasn't quite ready for it when I considered it before Barton, but I do believe she would be fine now with it. 

I will also look into the  free OG materials at the MA Rooney site.  I think I saw it mentioned here about a month ago when I was reading and searching for ideas, but forgot to write the website down and couldn't find it later when I went to look.  

I'll look at Spelfabet.  I haven't heard of it before.  I have Apples and Pears book A sitting on my shelf so gave her the placement test today and she placed towards the end of level A.  I may go ahead with that to start and see how that works for spelling for her and if it works well then move to the next level later this fall.  I read about some people that go through Apples and Pears and then switch to Megawords so that might be an option.  I may also look at some more online options as she likes a mix of work with me teaching and some independence as well at this age.
 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Pen said:

I’m not familiar with Reading Horizons. What can your dd read / not read with fluency, automaticity, and good comprehension at this point?

Thanks.  Reading Horizons is supposed to be OG, but I feel lacks as much multi-sensory aspect being online.  It has a certain amount of review, but could have more in my opinion as well.  It does have her marking vowels, vowel teams, unit sounds, blends, etc. in words which I think helped her a lot as well.

I need to figure out what she can read with fluency and automaticity well.  Her reading comprehension is good and often I feel better than her actual reading level as she is a really good guesser if she knows the context.  I am going to try to find the High Noon Placement test tomorrow and see how she does with that.  I'm not sure what other placement tests or reading tests I should look at to get a better feel for where she is at right now.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Did you check whether the grade levels were equivalents (ie. what grade level student at the 50th percentile would score what she scored on that test) or actual performance grade levels? It's just something to check. The Woodcock Johnson, for instance, kicks out actual grade levels, but many other common standardized tests are kicking out grade equivalents.

My ds has a similar spread with reading comprehension and spelling. I think what you might want to do is free yourself from the guilt and let her move on to learning other ways. There's sort of this thing like oh if you don't do it this way you're short-changing her. If she can learn from visual methods at this point, she's fine, kwim? 

You might look at Ronit Bird vs. RightStart. If you think it's dyscalculia, I would definitely be thinking Ronit Bird.

Btw, on your dd's scores, vocabulary is an area of relative weakness, which might mean you'd like to do more with audiobooks to continue to get that up.

Apples and Pears for spelling sounds like a great idea! It definitely would have been a program of choice for me, but ds just can't write that much. Even Spelfabet is a lot of writing for him. 

Do the Horizons Reading people have a recommendation for spelling? Years ago I did Calvert Spelling cds with my dd, and I just can't seem to find a similar option now. There's stuff like Spelling City, but Calvert was actually instructional.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, PeterPan said:

Did you check whether the grade levels were equivalents (ie. what grade level student at the 50th percentile would score what she scored on that test) or actual performance grade levels? It's just something to check. The Woodcock Johnson, for instance, kicks out actual grade levels, but many other common standardized tests are kicking out grade equivalents.  It was a grade level equivalent and was the Terra Nova (CAT) test.  I didn't do well reading aloud as much during pregnancy and much of last year and am sure that impacted her vocab level.  Her percentile ranking was 4% for spelling, 64% for vocab, and 77%-95% for the other areas related to reading and language arts. 

My ds has a similar spread with reading comprehension and spelling. I think what you might want to do is free yourself from the guilt and let her move on to learning other ways. There's sort of this thing like oh if you don't do it this way you're short-changing her. If she can learn from visual methods at this point, she's fine, kwim?
That's a good point.  I am trying to think of what approach may work best for her at this point.  I know she needed Barton to start, but seems to be doing okay without it now.

You might look at Ronit Bird vs. RightStart. If you think it's dyscalculia, I would definitely be thinking Ronit Bird.  I need to look at the dyscalculia symptoms again.  I remember looking at it in the past for her and even bought Ronit Bird's dot book.  I need to re-evaluate and see if it is a learning struggle for her or my lack of consistency with her during pregnancy and the infant phase this past year.  I am seeing progress and she's been excited about various math concepts from watching Odd Squad this summer.

Btw, on your dd's scores, vocabulary is an area of relative weakness, which might mean you'd like to do more with audiobooks to continue to get that up.  I agree.  I got her a Kindle this summer so I can get her going on audio books more where she can listen and roam around the house.  I used to be better about reading aloud a lot during the day until I got so sick in pregnancy almost 2 years ago and then it was hit and miss.  Meanwhile, she also listens to a lot of Adventures in Odyssey, but that's not the same as audiobooks.

Apples and Pears for spelling sounds like a great idea! It definitely would have been a program of choice for me, but ds just can't write that much. Even Spelfabet is a lot of writing for him. DD couldn't handle the writing when I bought it to try before Barton, but I am glad now I saved it.  She now will choose to write in a journal or a letter to friends/family so I am hoping it's not too much writing for her.  This calendar year she has started wanting to learn to write more and also wanted to start writing poetry.

Do the Horizons Reading people have a recommendation for spelling? Years ago I did Calvert Spelling cds with my dd, and I just can't seem to find a similar option now. There's stuff like Spelling City, but Calvert was actually instructional.  Reading Horizons has spelling built into the lessons.  I forgot about it until now, but I think I might be able to print off some extra practice pages as an option.  I've heard of Calvert years ago, but never looked into it.  I may also be able to purchase the version of Reading Horizons for older students for her, but I don't know if that will make a difference at this point.  I've thought about checking into Nessy Reading and Spelling, but she didn't seem to like the trial version and I had a hard time even getting her to try it more than once.

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

You shouldn't need to read aloud for her vocab to continue to improve at this point. Is she reading for pleasure yet?

With the audiobooks, what you might do is take whatever reading list would be normal for her age, say the 4th grade VP history/lit (they're great stuff, middle ages), and get them as audiobooks. Is she registered with the National Library Service/BARD so you have access for free? 

Her writing sounds wonderful!

Her scores look like her reading has taken off and she just has the spelling issue. Probably anything that gives her explicit instruction will be adequate. 

I'm in a similar stage to you with my ds, because his reading took off and he just doesn't NEED tons of decoding. I'm gonna do a touch more with him, but he's really ready to move on and do spelling, comprehension, typing, etc. He couldn't do the spelling in Barton except with tiles anyway. 

Have you thought of doing something different with her, like studied dictation? Or maybe just copywork or copybook? I wouldn't even be hyper-picky. If copybook interests her (collecting quotes, etc.), that would do. It would give you another way to sneak in some functional spelling. So if some does something with a workbook, something via copywork, something via typing, it adds up.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, Bookworm4 said:

his summer when we did DD11's 4th grade standardized testing (she was already 5/6ths of the way through the Reading Horizons online curriculum at this point), she tested at grade level 8.3 for reading comprehension, 12.3 for language arts, 5.7 for vocabulary, 7.3 for language mechanics, and 2.6 for spelling.  That said, the results did say that anything more than 2 grade levels above (so above grade 6) wouldn't be accurate since it was only the 4th grade test.  Considering her reading level was at the 3rd grade level the summer before and spelling at the 1st grade level the summer before when we had our teacher assessment a year ago, I can see she is making progress.  That said, I don't know what her actual decoding level is yet and am trying to find an online test I can give her to determine her decoding level and also look closer at her fluency and automaticity. This summer she read through the unabridged Secret Garden on own and seemed to understand more than I expected (especially with the moor accent written in the book).  She has also been reading through the original Nancy Drew books quite a bit.  She has also been reading other books, sewing/craft books, and cookbooks but those were a few she talked about more.

 

We used High Noon, and it is a wonderful program, but from your description it sounds to me like your dd is beyond that. 

For reading my tendency would be to get 2 copies of books she likes (Nancy Drew or whatever is fine) and have her read aloud as you look at the same text.  Make sure she is truly able to read it all. If there are more than a few words per page she struggles with then she may need a reading program still after all. Work on flow and feeling as she reads (can go back over a page for this). Have her tell you about what she read, make predictions about what may happen ahead, etc. as a way to check her comprehension. If there are words you are not sure she knows the meaning of, ask her for a synonym. 

If she cannot do that, report back for ideas. If she can, then if you keep this up with books of gradually increasing difficulty that should do it for reading. 

 

For spelling I recommend that you look at Spelling Power. An older edition used should be fine if price tag of new edition at $60 seems too high. But I do recommend a new clean student record book as helpful. It isn’t just an overpriced composition book, but is set up inside to make the program easier to do.  

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

And I third or fourth the recommendation to get her audiobooks.

We can get a bunch just through our public library on cd or as downloads on Hoopla and Library2Go apps.

Use the audiobooks for books she would probably not read on her own, such as classics and harder books. Let her continue reading for herself with fun books like Nancy Drew. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, PeterPan said:

You shouldn't need to read aloud for her vocab to continue to improve at this point. Is she reading for pleasure yet?

With the audiobooks, what you might do is take whatever reading list would be normal for her age, say the 4th grade VP history/lit (they're great stuff, middle ages), and get them as audiobooks. Is she registered with the National Library Service/BARD so you have access for free? 

Her writing sounds wonderful!

Her scores look like her reading has taken off and she just has the spelling issue. Probably anything that gives her explicit instruction will be adequate. 

I'm in a similar stage to you with my ds, because his reading took off and he just doesn't NEED tons of decoding. I'm gonna do a touch more with him, but he's really ready to move on and do spelling, comprehension, typing, etc. He couldn't do the spelling in Barton except with tiles anyway. 

Have you thought of doing something different with her, like studied dictation? Or maybe just copywork or copybook? I wouldn't even be hyper-picky. If copybook interests her (collecting quotes, etc.), that would do. It would give you another way to sneak in some functional spelling. So if some does something with a workbook, something via copywork, something via typing, it adds up.

She is reading for pleasure now.  Our library has Overdrive with audiobooks (I need the download the app this weekend).  She isn't registered with the National Library Service/BARD.  I will have to check into that option. 

I will look into the VP history/lit book list.  I know people that have used their history and loved it, but I haven't ever checked into their lit program.  I may switch her to the VP online option at some point.  I switched gears on history this year and bought Mystery of History level 1 (both the book and the audio CDs) so we'll see how that goes.  She enjoyed listing to Story of the World audio books read by Jim Wise in the past.

I gave DD the High Noon level 2 placement test this afternoon.  She was 3 seconds too slow on the part 2 section and struggled with quite a few words in part 3.  I am going to go ahead and order High Noon level 2.  I like the idea of separating reading and spelling for her at this stage.  I may also order the first book of Megawords or try to find better samples.

I need to think more about studied dictation for her.  She might be ready for it now.  She definitely wasn't ready a year ago.  We are doing Fix it Grammar this year which has some copywork daily.  I may also add in other copy work or a copybook for her as well.  She is really into poetry right now and asked me to order a poetry curriculum that will help teach her more about poetry and require her to write poems.  I keep looking at MCT and IEW's poetry curriculum.  I'm sure there are many others that I could look into as well.  I feel like studying poetry will also help with another area of language and we can always add in copywork of the poems if it isn't scheduled in the lessons.  We are also starting typing this year.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, Pen said:

 

We used High Noon, and it is a wonderful program, but from your description it sounds to me like your dd is beyond that. 

For reading my tendency would be to get 2 copies of books she likes (Nancy Drew or whatever is fine) and have her read aloud as you look at the same text.  Make sure she is truly able to read it all. If there are more than a few words per page she struggles with then she may need a reading program still after all. Work on flow and feeling as she reads (can go back over a page for this). Have her tell you about what she read, make predictions about what may happen ahead, etc. as a way to check her comprehension. If there are words you are not sure she knows the meaning of, ask her for a synonym. 

If she cannot do that, report back for ideas. If she can, then if you keep this up with books of gradually increasing difficulty that should do it for reading. 

 

For spelling I recommend that you look at Spelling Power. An older edition used should be fine if price tag of new edition at $60 seems too high. But I do recommend a new clean student record book as helpful. It isn’t just an overpriced composition book, but is set up inside to make the program easier to do.  

Thank you.  I actually forgot about Spelling Power.  If I remember right, it goes into the spelling rules.  DD has really liked having the spelling rules taught and I've heard her trying to tell them to her younger sister at times.  DD thrives on knowing the rules of language and it helps her remember and understand it better.  I will look into Spelling Power more this evening.

I gave DD the placement test for level 2 of High Noon today.  Her fluency was 3 seconds slow on the story reading for part 2 and she struggled a bit with part 3.  I am going to order level 2 to help fill in those gaps and build fluency.

I also like your idea of reading along with her and working through what she has read, making predictions, discussing synonyms, etc.  That would help me identify some struggles or gaps easier.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, Pen said:

And I third or fourth the recommendation to get her audiobooks.

We can get a bunch just through our public library on cd or as downloads on Hoopla and Library2Go apps.

Use the audiobooks for books she would probably not read on her own, such as classics and harder books. Let her continue reading for herself with fun books like Nancy Drew. 

That's a good idea as well.  I just downloaded our libary's app to access the audio files.  We went through many of their audiobook CDs, but there may be more that I haven't looked up in a while and I can also try requesting more for them to purchase or get through inter library loan.

That's a good point about separating the books she picks to read on her own and others that I either assign as audiobooks or ones that I pick to read aloud with her and my other kids.  I should have thought to do this a month ago, but I will make a list of books that I want her to either listen to or that I want to read aloud this year and then give her a blank sheet that she can list books that she has read as she goes along.  I think she will really like seeing them all listed somewhere.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 minutes ago, Bookworm4 said:

She is reading for pleasure now.  Our library has Overdrive with audiobooks (I need the download the app this weekend). 

 

If you can get it as Libby, I think that is easier to use. At our library it is the same books, just 2 choices of app. 

15 minutes ago, Bookworm4 said:

She isn't registered with the National Library Service/BARD.  I will have to check into that option. 

I will look into the VP history/lit book list.  I know people that have used their history and loved it, but I haven't ever checked into their lit program.  I may switch her to the VP online option at some point.  I switched gears on history this year and bought Mystery of History level 1 (both the book and the audio CDs) so we'll see how that goes.  She enjoyed listing to Story of the World audio books read by Jim Wise in the past.

I gave DD the High Noon level 2 placement test this afternoon.  She was 3 seconds too slow on the part 2 section and struggled with quite a few words in part 3.  I am going to go ahead and order High Noon level 2.  I like the idea of separating reading and spelling for her at this stage. 

That sounds like a good idea. If that is so, then their Fluency materials and some of their readers also might be helpful. 

15 minutes ago, Bookworm4 said:

I may also order the first book of Megawords or try to find better samples.

 

That might be duplicative with HN level 2. 

15 minutes ago, Bookworm4 said:

 

I need to think more about studied dictation for her.  She might be ready for it now.  She definitely wasn't ready a year ago.  We are doing Fix it Grammar this year which has some copywork daily.  I may also add in other copy work or a copybook for her as well.  She is really into poetry right now and asked me to order a poetry curriculum that will help teach her more about poetry and require her to write poems.  I keep looking at MCT and IEW's poetry curriculum.  I'm sure there are many others that I could look into as well.  I feel like studying poetry will also help with another area of language and we can always add in copywork of the poems if it isn't scheduled in the lessons.  We are also starting typing this year.

 

I think MCT is wonderful!  Highly recommend it!

But you need to be able to do it with her. It is sort of a sit side by side or on your lap sort of thing for that level. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, Bookworm4 said:

Thanks.  I haven't heard of Hoopla before.  Is it a separate app, subscription service, or something through a library system?

 

We have it through the public library.  I am rural and out of district for all libraries, but have paid memberships at 2 libraries. I think both have Hoopla and Overdrive/ Library2Go.  There is some overlap in what the 2 systems have, but also some things are on each that are not on the other. I think Hoopla has less, but usually immediate access. Overdrive has more, but often long waits to get things. 

I believe it is also possible to get a personal paid Hoopla membership if your library doesn’t participate in it. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, Pen said:

If you can get it as Libby, I think that is easier to use. At our library it is the same books, just 2 choices of app. 

That sounds like a good idea. If that is so, then their Fluency materials and some of their readers also might be helpful. 

 

That might be duplicative with HN level 2. 

 

I think MCT is wonderful!  Highly recommend it!

But you need to be able to do it with her. It is sort of a sit side by side or on your lap sort of thing for that level. 

Thank you.  That's good to know about Libby.  I just downloaded it a few minutes ago and need to finish setting it up.  I'm excited that I finally got this done, as small of a task that it is.  It got pushed to the back burner too many times over the last year since I first learned about it.

I will also take a look at the fluency levels and readers from High Noon.  I don't know as much about the program options to be honest, but have liked what I have seen.  I also didn't know if Megawords would duplicate High Noon so will check into that.  I have plenty of unused curriculum sitting on my shelves and don't need to add more if it's not going to benefit us in some way.

I don't mind doing the poetry with her.  It would be good for me to go through it with her and refresh my memory of various types of poetry to help her get the most benefit out of it. 

I was feeling overwhelmed trying to sort through everything and line up the final pieces of my plan for my 2 school age kids, especially knowing that I need to make sure that DD7 gets the extra time she needs from me this year, but thinking through these ideas here and also finishing organizing our curriculum here today helps me feel better about tackling this school year and figuring out how to juggle it all.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, Bookworm4 said:

Thanks.  I haven't heard of Hoopla before.  Is it a separate app, subscription service, or something through a library system?

 

We have it through the public library.  I am rural and out of district for all libraries, but have paid memberships at 2 libraries. I think both have Hoopla and Overdrive/ Library2Go.  There is some overlap in what the 2 systems have, but also some things are on each that are not on the other. I think Hoopla has less, but usually immediate access. Overdrive has more, but often long waits to get things. 

I believe it is also possible to get a personal paid Hoopla membership if your library doesn’t participate in it. 

 

Library.hoopladigital.com.  I think. If you have Apple it is Hoopla Digital at App Store 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, Pen said:

And Librivox gives free access to public domain classics. 

I forgot about Librivox.  We have used it in the past, but not lately.  I will put this on my list too. ?

2 minutes ago, Pen said:

 

We have it through the public library.  I am rural and out of district for all libraries, but have paid memberships at 2 libraries. I think both have Hoopla and Overdrive/ Library2Go.  There is some overlap in what the 2 systems have, but also some things are on each that are not on the other. I think Hoopla has less, but usually immediate access. Overdrive has more, but often long waits to get things. 

I believe it is also possible to get a personal paid Hoopla membership if your library doesn’t participate in it. 

I will look into a Hoopla membership.  Our library just uses Overdrive/Libby and TumbleBooks (but that might just be children's e-books and not audio books - I need to check into that one more as well).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Bookworm4 said:

Thank you.  That's good to know about Libby.  I just downloaded it a few minutes ago and need to finish setting it up.  I'm excited that I finally got this done, as small of a task that it is.  It got pushed to the back burner too many times over the last year since I first learned about it.

I will also take a look at the fluency levels and readers from High Noon.  I don't know as much about the program options to be honest, but have liked what I have seen.  I also didn't know if Megawords would duplicate High Noon so will check into that.  I have plenty of unused curriculum sitting on my shelves and don't need to add more if it's not going to benefit us in some way.

I don't mind doing the poetry with her.  It would be good for me to go through it with her and refresh my memory of various types of poetry to help her get the most benefit out of it. 

I was feeling overwhelmed trying to sort through everything and line up the final pieces of my plan for my 2 school age kids, especially knowing that I need to make sure that DD7 gets the extra time she needs from me this year, but thinking through these ideas here and also finishing organizing our curriculum here today helps me feel better about tackling this school year and figuring out how to juggle it all.

 

You can probably do some of MCT with both a 9 yo and 7yo at same time. Read Sentence Island, read Poetry. 

 

Megawords sat unused on my shelf. I think I ultimately sent it on to Goodwill. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree that Megawords on top would be overkill. HN is really nicely fleshed out, and the student workbook is going to give you opportunities to work on spelling, etc. I didn't get it, only because my ds does extremely limited writing. The reduced version is in the tm, and I'll just probably write on the whiteboard with him what he needs. There were some exercises I thought would be particularly good for him, like unscrambling sentences.

Spelling Power has an amazing activity file (you know, one of those boxes of good intentions), but the actual lists are pretty random. I got it and ds was pretty frustrated. Just so you know, she's at an age where professionals will begin encouraging you to focus on morphology. That's your roots, prefixes, etc. I've been thinking my ds is probably to where he could do something like SWR (analyzing lists of words), but having rules jumbled together doesn't fluster him.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Pen said:

 

You can probably do some of MCT with both a 9 yo and 7yo at same time. Read Sentence Island, read Poetry. 

 

Megawords sat unused on my shelf. I think I ultimately sent it on to Goodwill. 

Would MCT work well with both an 11 and 7 year old?  My 7 year old would be fine listening into anything, but isn't reading yet.  I am starting Foundation in Sounds with her next week (in the past I didn't know if she couldn't pay attention enough to pass the Barton screening or if she really couldn't pass part C which is why we are just now getting around to it). 

That is also good to know about Megawords.  I think I'll cross that off my list for now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

With the 7 yo I would do FLL. That and the grammar in the Barton will be gobs. For the 11 yo, no opinions. You're going a lot of directions, so try to streamline or make sure you're not duplicating. Like if your Fix It and SWI will hit grammar, then don't do more grammar for now. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, Bookworm4 said:

Would MCT work well with both an 11 and 7 year old?  My 7 year old would be fine listening into anything, but isn't reading yet.  I am starting Foundation in Sounds with her next week (in the past I didn't know if she couldn't pay attention enough to pass the Barton screening or if she really couldn't pass part C which is why we are just now getting around to it). 

That is also good to know about Megawords.  I think I'll cross that off my list for now.

 

I think a 7yo is likely to enjoy listening to Sentence Island and looking at the pictures with you reading aloud.  

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, PeterPan said:

I agree that Megawords on top would be overkill. HN is really nicely fleshed out, and the student workbook is going to give you opportunities to work on spelling, etc. I didn't get it, only because my ds does extremely limited writing. The reduced version is in the tm, and I'll just probably write on the whiteboard with him what he needs. There were some exercises I thought would be particularly good for him, like unscrambling sentences.

Spelling Power has an amazing activity file (you know, one of those boxes of good intentions), but the actual lists are pretty random. I got it and ds was pretty frustrated. Just so you know, she's at an age where professionals will begin encouraging you to focus on morphology. That's your roots, prefixes, etc. I've been thinking my ds is probably to where he could do something like SWR (analyzing lists of words), but having rules jumbled together doesn't fluster him.

Good to know about HN.  I will skip Megawords for now and hopefully HN will be the right fit for her at this time.

That's also good to know about Spelling Power.  In the past random lists didn't work (thinking of Logic of English Foundations), but am not sure how she would do now with them.  I think Apples and Pears works with morphology, but will have to do some digging to know if something else would be better or get her farther.  I need to think about this more with her given this is her weakest area right now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The other really slick thing about HN2 is it's pretty brief. There are 65 lessons, where each lesson has multiple pages, etc. So depending on where she starts and how it goes, you may make surprising progress. 

Yup, I think you're right about A&P. A similar product would be Spelfabet. I'm with you that sometimes it takes me time to wrap my brain around what these programs are doing and what aspects he needs.

I can't remember the name of the more mature typing program, sorry. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, PeterPan said:

With the 7 yo I would do FLL. That and the grammar in the Barton will be gobs. For the 11 yo, no opinions. You're going a lot of directions, so try to streamline or make sure you're not duplicating. Like if your Fix It and SWI will hit grammar, then don't do more grammar for now. 

I hated going through FLL with my oldest years ago, but the repetition would probably be really good for my 7 yo. and wouldn't add a lot more time to our day.

Fix It does hit grammar and vocab and seems incremental with short amounts per day, but plenty of review.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, Pen said:

 

I think a 7yo is likely to enjoy listening to Sentence Island and looking at the pictures with you reading aloud.  

Thanks.  I will look into this more.  I remember seeing MCT recommended for dyslexics years ago, but haven't used any of their products yet.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, PeterPan said:

The other really slick thing about HN2 is it's pretty brief. There are 65 lessons, where each lesson has multiple pages, etc. So depending on where she starts and how it goes, you may make surprising progress. 

Yup, I think you're right about A&P. A similar product would be Spelfabet. I'm with you that sometimes it takes me time to wrap my brain around what these programs are doing and what aspects he needs.

I can't remember the name of the more mature typing program, sorry. 

I noticed that there weren't too many lessons in HN2 and wondered if there were multiple pages per lesson.  I have a feeling that DD may be excited about that after all the work and struggles she has gone to to even get to this point and then to feel like she is closer to being able to read more easily sooner than she felt like it was with Barton.

I forgot to look into Spelfabet last night.  I hadn't heard of it before you mentioned it so will look it up more tonight. 

I feel like there are so many good programs out there with various strengths or that teach different styles of learners better that it can take a while to sort through what we need at different points in time in this journey.

As for typing, I have a list of some names to try out.  If one isn't a good fit, I can always move to the next option or compare to the others that didn't work well.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My dd around that age used Mavis Beacon for mac, and it had really fun games. We were using the Dvorak keyboard layout, and that version had Dvorak-specific lessons.

I've been hanging on some lists for SLPs who focus on literacy, and that was how the Spelfabet program came up. It was made by an Aussie SLP, and I super love it right now. Handy thing is it's broken into so many levels that it would be a snap to place into.

Edited by PeterPan
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

23 hours ago, PeterPan said:

My dd around that age used Mavis Beacon for mac, and it had really fun games. We were using the Dvorak keyboard layout, and that version had Dvorak-specific lessons.

I've been hanging on some lists for SLPs who focus on literacy, and that was how the Spelfabet program came up. It was made by an Aussie SLP, and I super love it right now. Handy thing is it's broken into so many levels that it would be a snap to place into.

Thanks.  I know a friend of DD is using Mavis Beacon and remember learning typing with Mavis many years ago.

That's interesting about Spelfabet.  Older DD worked with an SLP for 4.5 years and that SLP and I had a lot of good conversations.  I looked a little last night, but was trying to figure out how it worked.  Are they all downloadable workbooks?  Do you have to give a placement test or just look at the description and pick where to start based on that?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, Spelfabet is a series of workbooks. Hopefully there are samples. You'd just start where you think best, I think. For my ds, starting at the beginning was right. The first few lessons were just CVC, but about mid-way into the book you start into some basic rules (FLOSS, etc.), which makes it good review. 

I'm kind of of the rock star theory on teaching too, that having something where they think they're rock stars can be good, especially when it's a disability and we're trying to boost them up. So since I've already tried things he thought were too hard, I was looking for something so cunningly simple that it took him off his guard that he could do it and be successful.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, PeterPan said:

Yes, Spelfabet is a series of workbooks. Hopefully there are samples. You'd just start where you think best, I think. For my ds, starting at the beginning was right. The first few lessons were just CVC, but about mid-way into the book you start into some basic rules (FLOSS, etc.), which makes it good review. 

I'm kind of of the rock star theory on teaching too, that having something where they think they're rock stars can be good, especially when it's a disability and we're trying to boost them up. So since I've already tried things he thought were too hard, I was looking for something so cunningly simple that it took him off his guard that he could do it and be successful.

Thanks.  That makes sense.  I will have to look more into the levels.  If I start too basic with DD she will actually fight it complaining it is too young for her or "kindergarten work" (even if it isn't true). 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

23 minutes ago, PeterPan said:

And it might seem too young anyway. My ds has autism, so for him younger/simpler is better sometimes. I agree with you though that the feel is important. 

You could put the words from HN into Spelling City...

My DD is also a couple years older than your DS.  My younger DD may eventually do well with this.  I am going to start Apples and Pears spelling with my 11 yo tomorrow since I have it and she placed mid-way through the book.  We'll see how it goes before I decide to order level B or switch to something else for her (maybe even a level of Spelfabet to try).  I will also have to remember about Spelling City for practice.  I tend to forget about it.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, PeterPan said:

I didn't realize you already had the A&P. That will be fabulous! Your plan sounds great!

Adding, A&P would have been my first choice for ds. I just needed something with a lot less writing. 

I bought A&P a few years ago to try with Dancing Bears before Barton.  At the time DD couldn't handle all the writing.  I think she is at a place that she can handle it now though. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, PeterPan said:

Well there you go, that would be a nice thought! Right now we're at the single words up to a sentence level. His IEP says a scribe for anything sentence length and above, so it's just not his reality. Even the OT was hitting some walls and was like hmm let's move over to typing... LOL

Yeah, Apples and Pears would probably be torture for him and not beneficial.  I am sure that's a challenge to find the right balance in a program for a good fit or figure out how to modify a program to work well.  Hopefully it will get easier in time for him.  It's hard when kids are so bright and yet have so many struggles.  I need to get my younger DD into OT for writing challenges.  I don't know what they may say about her struggles at this point.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 hours ago, Bookworm4 said:

I need to get my younger DD into OT for writing challenges.  I don't know what they may say about her struggles at this point.

We've used two OTs for handwriting. Well actually that's not true. All 4 OTs who have worked with him over the years have worked on handwriting. He's diagnosed with SLD Writing, and at this point even the ps (spit spit) will acknowledge it as a significant disability. He can get single letters that he can combine into single words with assistance and enough time. So yeah, it could be an SLD. Definitely try OT. For my dd, there were some physical issues the OT could help. Our new OT has a phd and worked in vision therapy for her internship and specializes in visual connections to learning. Even she is like get this kid typing. So at some point it helps to have someone helping you make that call. I am not gonna guilt myself, because it just is what it is. 

10 minutes ago, Pen said:

HN also has a spelling program workbook. I think it is aligned with the main program. 

Is that Angling or something else? I looked through a lot but things jumbled in my brain. In a side note, the ATP/HN people are doofusses. They sat on my order a WEEK after I placed it, so it hasn't even shipped. Blew my mind. The lady was like oh well schools had a holiday last week. So?!?! If I place an order, I mean for it to get shipped! What idiots. So people shouldn't expect orders in timely fashion from them I guess. They have men in caves writing all the books they send you apparently.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, PeterPan said:

Is that Angling or something else? I looked through a lot but things jumbled in my brain. I

 

No. Not angling.

  HN Spelling. I think maybe A and B to go with monosyllabic words of the main level 1 program. And C and D to go with the multisyllabic words of Level 2. 

We didn’t use it. Probably should have. 

The regular student workbook also has some spelling, but not a lot. 

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, PeterPan said:

e ATP/HN people are doofusses. They sat on my order a WEEK after I placed it, so it hasn't even shipped. Blew my mind. The lady was like oh well schools had a holiday last week. So?!?! If I

 

I am sorry to hear that. 

I got to speak to the main program book author though and he was very nice and a huge help. 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Pen said:

HN Spelling. I think maybe A and B to go with monosyllabic words of the main level 1 program. And C and D to go with the multisyllabic words of Level 2.

 

It may be easier to find via a google site search than search within HN. 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

Ă—
Ă—
  • Create New...