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Hi – I'm new and wondering..
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Hi,
I am embarking into CM waters for the first time and am both excited and nervous. I’m thinking about teaching LA with Wanda Sanseri’s Spell to Write and Read. It does seem complicated…but very effective…has anyone had any positive results with this? I have a 7 year old daughter and 5 year old son. Thanks! Also would anyone have a copy of Spell to Read and Write they are done with?
Hi!
You wil really enjoy using the CM method to homeschool your children. I changed 5 years ago from a box curriculum after 8 years of bringing “school” into my home. We have all been so happy actually homeschooling now! Also, this website has been the best resource!
I have never used Wanda Sanseri’s program because I have always heard it was great but very complicated and time consuming to teach. But, I did use Sound Beginnings http://www.cathyduffyreviews.com/phonics_reading/sound-beginnings.htm with one of my kids. I really liked it and the author wrote it from the Spell to Read and Write curriculum. It’s just easier to use. I have switched now to All About Spelling for my 8 year old ds and 11 year old dd. We all really like that curriculum.
Hope this helps……Blessings, Danielle
I personally have not used Spell to Read and Write, but have a few friends who absolutely love it. It looked to complicated and expensive for our budget. A friend of mine told me about All about Spelling. It uses a lot of the same concepts as the first one mentioned, but nearly as complicated or expensive. We have been using All about Spelling since the beginning of this year and I have seen great results in my 2 children that are using it.
HTH…Donna
HI,
I tried to use it but sadly had to give it up. My daughter ended up crying when I pulled out the material. At first when I was just using the phonogram cards my daughter loved it and it really made a difference in her reading. Once we got into the spelling notebook however the love lasted for about two weeks then quickly went downhill from there. There are alot of people that love it so I ended up feeling like some kind of failure when it didn’t work for us. People will defend this curriculum on other boards to the point where I felt insulted when I made a statement that it didn’t work for us.(I won’t mention the individual board) I made my own learning log as recomended by the creator of the program which helped out alot. I think it is a great program but it just didn’t go over well in our school.
The Writing Road to Reading is similar to SWR. I would recomend that you try to get WRTR at your library as it was a great help to understand the method. Alot of people just use that alone very successfully. That is what I should have done in the first place as it would have saved me tons of money.
I imagine this didn’t help you much but I wanted to give you our honest experience with it.
Thanks,
Penny
Thanks so much for the suggestions and experiences. We serve in India but will be visiting home this summer. Therefore, quick shipping is not at my disposal
and sadly, libraries are not an option here either! I did get a hold of the SWR Wise guide and the phonogram CD. But none of it makes sense without the book. My 7YO can read well but her spelling is in desperate need of help and she is not logically inclined. I am afraid to overwhelm her with a multitude of flashcards and stuff! OK, Penny your SWR experience sounds like it’s marching up my alley and I’m a little nervous! I took a peek at the All about Reading course…that seems complicated too…Danielle and Donna, how long have you been using it? You both seem satisfied….I learned the old fashioned way – (you know, spell it the way it looks), with just the few basic rules – I am tempted to take that route (since it worked for me) but at the same time I want to do what’s best for my kids! I just don’t want to experiment at their expense or is that a normal course for homeschoolers? Yes, I know, I need help!
I would love to hear more also. I have a 11 yr old who is doing Spelling wisdom and doing fine with it, but he is a first born and excels at all he does. My 10 yr old is a terrible speller and I am also, so I want something that will encourage him and poke him along. Do any of these do that in a soft manner? Thanks Misty
I started using SWR a few weeks ago and it’s very time consuming. I am currently using it with 3dc and using The Phonics Road to Spelling & Reading with 2dc. It takes me over 2hrs. to get our spelling done. Although with the two middle dc using PR, grammar, phonics & writing are included.
All About Spelling was time consuming too. I think any spelling program that is based on the Spalding method is going to be teacher intensive & time consuming.
I started reading WRTR but it’s thick
OK, homeschooling6, hats off to you!!
Two questions: – 1. Do the two hours include both SWR and The Phonics Road to Reading?
2. – Is it worth the effort or are you thinking about switching?
I used SWR for 2 years with my oldest. She did learn to read and to spell very well during that time, but I spent 1-2 months learning how to teach it and then a minimum of 1 hour per day teaching it. She never complained (she’s rather compliant though), but when my next child got older I didn’t have that same amount of time to devote. Now with 4 kids, I could not even think of trying to spend an hour per subject per kid.
I also used Phonics Road to Reading and Spelling (easier to use, but very expensive and still not perfect imo). I then switched to All About Spelling and while it moves much more slowly than SWR, it is the same methodology, very easy to implement and my kids love it. I spend 15-20 minutes per day per kid and spelling is covered. My ds who is 5 is learning to read w/ AAS just fine.
AAS is the only o-g method I’ve found that is truly open and go and easy to do with short lessons (though you could do longer lessons if you wish). I wish I would have started with it from the beginning. You can see samples online at http://www.all-about-spelling.com The author is very accessible via email, too.
I’m grateful for what I learned with SWR, but I can’t really recommend it due to the difficulty of use for the teacher and the amount of time it consumes. SWR is of course, doable, but in the end the effort wasn’t worthwhile for us anymore with so many younger ones.
HTH,
Christie
Thank you! Well, it looks like AAS has the most positive review so far and SWR seems to weigh heavy be on the complicated scale….I think I am going to look into AAS. The SWR book costs as much as the AAS Level one…I think I just may give that a shot, hold my breath and see how it pans out.
Hi again!
We have been using All About Spelling since September. I am using it with my 2 youngest of 4 children. My oldest 2 were natural spellers, so they didn’t need any rules. I do Spelling Wisdom with those 2. My third child was a struggling/late reader-she sees a word and guesses instead of sounding it out and is a phonetic speller. So, she definitely needed the rules in AAS. My fourth child is a better speller but I still thought it was a great program and am going through it with him also. You can break up the lessons to how much time you want to spend with it. My 17 year old dd actually teaches it to them and it only takes her about 15-20 minutes max per day with each of them. She teaches them a half a lesson a day about 3-4 times a week.
Blessings,
Danielle
Hi Danielle,
Thanks for the encouragement. My 7YO can spell but she guesses alot. I figured I better get my 5YO on the right track. So I will start with level one and see how it goes. 15 -20 minutes sounds very doable. Somehow the very thought of 1 hour of spelling is overwhelming! We have some friends coming to visit next month and they will bring me the AAS package.
My 7 year old uses http://www.spellingcity.com to practice her spelling. You can put in your list or words, or words that go with the pattern you are learning and play lots of games that will familiarize the child with the pattern. The more they see the correct pattern, the better they get about following the patterns. You can also save your lists.
Kingdom Mom the two hours is using both programs. I start with my 10dd using SWR for 30 minutes. Then my 11yr. ds for 30minutes. SWR has a section called the Preliminaries. This is what you do BEFORE you start the list, so some days I don’t get to the actual spelling words that day because I stop after 30-35 minutes.
Then I teach my two middle ds 8 & 9yrs. old using The Phonics Road for 30-40 minutes. This is very close to SWR but all four levels include spelling, reading, writing, spelling & phonics. So I plan to stick with PR with my four younger dc.
My two older are using SWR because I’m crazy
actually because my 11yr. old is a terrible speller but I didn’t want him feeling like he was doing the same thing has his younger sibling, so I chose SWR.I plan to continue with using both because they are spelling their way into reading. I think it will help them not only in spelling but reading also.
and sadly, libraries are not an option here either! I did get a hold of the SWR Wise guide and the phonogram CD. But none of it makes sense without the book. My 7YO can read well but her spelling is in desperate need of help and she is not logically inclined. I am afraid to overwhelm her with a multitude of flashcards and stuff! OK, Penny your SWR experience sounds like it’s marching up my alley and I’m a little nervous! I took a peek at the All about Reading course…that seems complicated too…Danielle and Donna, how long have you been using it? You both seem satisfied….
actually because my 11yr. old is a terrible speller but I didn’t want him feeling like he was doing the same thing has his younger sibling, so I chose SWR.Viewing 14 posts - 1 through 14 (of 14 total)
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