Rod and Staff spelling

[Supertechmom]

Where would you start a horrid 6th grade speller in R&S? He has excellent reading skills and comprehension but has trouble pronouncing words correctly and spelling is rough. Horrid may be an over statement. He took the Iowa in 5th grade but took the 6th grade level test and scored above average on it,so he's not too bad.

[Brindee]

This is what I would do, not sure others would agree. The grade levels on the outsides of the books are called LEVELS in our house. My kids know that they just work at whatever level they need to understand well and build a strong base before moving on. They have no problem with doing lower levels of work, because it's helped them before. Sometimes, then, they charge ahead once they get it.

 

So if he's really struggling, I would try the 4th grade Spelling and see how he does. They're not very expensive, so I'd check where he's at by that. If he's missing some skills, it may be better for him to go back to an easier level where he has more success, than doing grade level just because it's grade level. As he goes through it, you'll be able to tell where problems lie, and he'll have a strong curriculum for building on higher skill levels in spelling. As soon as you and he feel ready, move on to the 5th grade level, then the 6th, etc.

 

It's not important to me what level they are, my ds15 will be doing the 8th grade English/Grammar from BJU next year because that is his weak area. He'll be in 10th grade. My older ds did the 10th grade grammar in 10th grade and it was the first time he really struggled with English/Grammar. He made it all the way through with a good grade, but he had to work at it. He told me just yesterday that he is so thankful he used that text and worked hard to learn it all, because it really helped him have a strong base for what he now wants to do. He is a senior this year, and wants to teach English and Spanish in highschool, or be an interpretor of some sort. But he is GOOD with English. Anyway, I think level 8 is good for this ds, and he's find with it!

 

Sorry for the long post, just wanted to give an example of what I meant. Hope it came out clearly enough!

[Supertechmom]

Thanks! I actually have the 3rd grade speller here on my desk. I may just have him work through that and then get each new level as he finishes. I have younger kids so it won't go to waste at all. Even thought R&S is cheap, I'm making them write out the answers on paper to save the workbooks. I don't want to run into a Singapore situation later on when I have all the manuals and texts but out of workbooks :)