Jenn Robinson Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 Hello! I am fairly new to the boards here but not new to TWTM. I have a spelling question that I've been turning over in my mind for about 3 years now and thought I'd go ahead and ask. I have a 3rd grade dd that is in year 3 of SOTW & FLL etc.. We've followed the WTM recs for most everything but spelling. Every time I reread the book I think, "We should be doing Spelling Workout." But we just don't really like that kind of approach to spelling. Is there something that she will be missing that You guys think that she really needs that program? We could switch if I thought there was a huge benifit to it. Right now she reads a portin of the McGuffey readers and I dictate a few passages to her. What ever she misspells is her "spelling list" for the week. We use the book "ABCs and all their Tricks" and look up the rules for the missed words. At the end of the week she rewrites the passage and has learned those words. We like this.:) However, there is not a lot of "rule/pattern" type of learning and I'm wondering how much of that she needs. BTW, I am a horrible speller and was diagnosed LD in school and just never learned to spell. :confused: I'm just wondering what you all's experience is in this area? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emmy Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 I don't think you are missing anything by not doing SWO. I've been using it with my 8yo ds and while his spelling is improving, I think it's more from studying a list of words each week than it is the exercises in the workbook. I'm planning to switch over to either Natural Speller or Spelling Wisdom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WTMindy Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 Shhhhhhh. Don't tell the homeschool police. I don't use a spelling curriculum!!! My kids are pretty natural spellers (not amazing, but good) and I just didn't find using SWO was worth the time. By the way, my dd just won a city-wide spelling bee last month, so I guess we're doing OK. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamaof2andtwins Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 One of my children used Spelling Workout for part of one year. I just don't care for this kind of program, and the majority of my children don't do well with a more traditional program. There are a few suggestions in TWTM that I don't use/like. Don't feel bad for picking what works best for you and your family. Jennie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SBP Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 I hope we don't have to, because I've been homeschooling 6 years and have never set eyes on Spelling Workout ;). We used Spell to Write & Read until this year and have just switched to a workbook program for the first time because the children were spelling very well, and I thought I could free up some teaching time by switching. So far so good, and it sounds like that's the case with your DD as well. If she needs something more rules-based as the words get longer and more complex, you'll probably know it and can make the change then. I'm a big believer in "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." Best, SBP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djkapp Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 I found Spelling Workout a little tedious. We used Spelling Power for most of the years my children were in elementary school. Three of the five were fairly natural spellers. Two were not. My 7th grade son still struggles a bit, but mostly its because he just doesn't like to pay close enough attention to his spelling (or punctuation either). I actually attribute much of their spelling ability to being avid readers. Incidentally, without using Spelling Workout, two of my daughters participated in the National Spelling Bee, and both made it out of the preliminary rounds. My motto--gather the info, listen to advice, and choose what works best for you and your children! Yvonne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurie4b Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 There's not a lot of "rule pattern" learning in Spelling Workout either. Yes, there is a "rule" at the top of the page of each new unit, but often it's something like long o can be spelled oa, o, oe, ow. Then there are a few words of each type. Not at all anything like you'd need to actually teach the rule. SW is good for natural spellers, not for kids who could benefit from rules based learning. If you wanted that, I'd get something Orton-Gillingham based. We use SW for the natural spellers in the family. It gives them practice alphabetizing, editing, etc. in the context of spelling. It's not particularly useful for a kid who actually needs to be taught spelling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 (edited) I love the ABC's and All Their Tricks, I use it often. That's a great way to teach spelling. You can find most of the spelling rules here: http://www.dyslexia.org/spelling_rules.shtml And you could also watch my free online spelling lessons with your daughter, they have the majority of the spelling rules: http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Spelling/spellinglessonsl.html I was a good reader but a poor speller--I had phonics in K and then Dick and Jane in 1st grade, so I never learned all the spelling rules. After teaching remedial reading with phonics for a while and learning all the sound/spelling correspondences and phonetic spelling rules, I finally learned to spell! You can test her spelling grade level with the Ayres test (higher standards than today's average spelling grade level, they're about 2 grade levels different than spelling norms today on average, and about 1 grade level higher at the lower grades) free from Google books. Instructions on page 37, scale on page 28, lists by letter start on page 51: http://books.google.com/books?id=y0JMAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=a+measuring+scale+for+ability+in+spelling#PPA3,M1 Edited November 18, 2008 by ElizabethB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smg0918 Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 You can test her spelling grade level with the Ayres test (higher standards than today's average spelling grade level, they're about 2 grade levels different than spelling norms today on average, and about 1 grade level higher at the lower grades) free from Google books. Instructions on page 37, scale on page 28, lists by letter start on page 51: http://books.google.com/books?id=y0JMAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=a+measuring+scale+for+ability+in+spelling#PPA3,M1 Thank you so much for posting this link. What a great tool for assessing spelling ability! I just printed the scale and lists and I'll definitely be using this with my kids. Thanks again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenn Robinson Posted November 18, 2008 Author Share Posted November 18, 2008 Thank you ladies! You helped free my guilt in that area! I loved all your comments and how great that some of you have children in spelling bees- what fun! ElizabethB- thank you so much for all your links and resource recs. I am going to go back over them with a fine toothed comb right now but I wanted to thank you first!:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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