Tree House Academy Posted December 7, 2008 Share Posted December 7, 2008 Again, this is planning for next year. My youngest is barely 5, but he is reading on a 1st grade level and making progress each day. We are on the second section of LLATL Blue and will move on to LLATL red when we finish (probably in March or April). This year, since I still consider him basically Kindergarten, I did not want to start a spelling program with him. I definitely want to start one next year, but I am not sure which to go with. He is already easily able to spell any word that is spelled the way it sounds (CVC, CVCC words, etc). We do this all the time on the white board. I guess what I am wondering is, should I go with a 2nd spelling for him next year or a 1st grade? My oldest is a struggling speller and he uses a combo of Spelling Power and the Cavert CD. It works for him. However, my little guy is a natural speller/reader and I want to cater to that. I also am not totally fond of "memorize this list and regurgitate it" type work. It seems to have really ruined my older son because he had a great short term memory and did excellent in spelling, but never could get the words right just days later in his writing. Any recommndations? On grade? On a program? I was thinking of just going with something like Horizons Vocab and Spelling or Building Spelling Skills. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen in CO Posted December 7, 2008 Share Posted December 7, 2008 I wouldn't start a spelling program at all until you are finished with phonics. For a natural speller, maybe not start one at all. Just use copywork and dictation which do a good job of putting pictures of words in their heads until the child is read for a vocabulary study or as part of an overall writing program in later elementary or logic stage. My dd is a natural speller and I am waiting to see when adding spelling for her will fit. She hasn't needed it yet, but I am waiting and watching. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tree House Academy Posted December 7, 2008 Author Share Posted December 7, 2008 I had not considered that approach. Definitely something to think about for me. We are doing ETC for phonics and I do plan to finish all of the books. My older learned to read by sight and not phonetically and it has really come back to bite us now (he learned in ps, not home). Hmmm......thanks for the suggestion. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Governess Posted December 7, 2008 Share Posted December 7, 2008 My dd4 just finished ETC book 3. It covers cvvc words, some cvcc words, and cvcv words with silent e. Some of the exercises I think count as spelling: in one exercise she has to circle the correct letters to make up the word, and at the end of each lesson there are 5-6 words that they have to write out from memory. I'm planning on finishing all the ETC books before we do a spelling program, so we'll probably start sometime in second grade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pata Posted December 7, 2008 Share Posted December 7, 2008 (edited) My dd is a grade level ahead as well, she's 6yo and doing 2nd grade basically. We tried a spelling program this year and it didn't go so well. We have switched back to using ETC and I use the last page of the lesson as a spelling test. Hope that helps! Edited December 8, 2008 by Pata Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rafiki Posted December 7, 2008 Share Posted December 7, 2008 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tree House Academy Posted December 7, 2008 Author Share Posted December 7, 2008 We are finishing book 2 in ETC right now. We only do it twice a week and do ETC online during the days we aren't doing the book. The last page where they have to spell the words could definitely be used for that. Good idea! Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommy22alyns Posted December 8, 2008 Share Posted December 8, 2008 Becca has a lot of "natural speller" in her too, and we've been using All About Spelling. We moved pretty quickly through the first level and we'll be ready to move on to Level 2 in January. I did want something to teach her the rules as well and I've actually been learning them myself as I'm a natural speller. Surprisingly, she really likes her spelling lessons! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnneC Posted December 8, 2008 Share Posted December 8, 2008 We're using Spelling Power which we like because if you know how to spell the words you don't have to revise them. It's working for my natural speller and my atrocious speller, it actually works better for my natural speller. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovedtodeath Posted December 8, 2008 Share Posted December 8, 2008 I am finishing up phonics through a spelling program. (see sig) We started halfway through book one. My reason for doing so was that DD would not cooperate with decoding lessons. You could also look into SWR and WRTR...I would go with those but I was low on time and cash. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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