ILL & PLL not working

We really like Spelling Power. We aren’t using it as much this year, but I plan to add it back after Christmas. I just needed to give myself a break from something that was parent-intensive. I will say SP is not very independent, but if you tweaked it I suppose it could be moreso.

We do use ILL and PLL. My 10YO son, 5th grade, is using ILL (he never used PLL b/c we were using Daily Grams at the time he would have used PLL; live and learn; that didn’t work for us at all).

My 12YO son, 6th grade but only speaking English since 2010, uses PLL. I expect him to finish with PLL this year. I don’t expect 10YO DS to finish ILL until next year sometime.

Here’s is what I did with it: we use it almost exclusively orally. I have found even with my ELL student that he does better with copywork from a book rather than the written work in PLL. So I just go over each lesson with them orally. We often skip the picture studies, because we do those in other ways. If a lesson seems like something they already know, I skip it. If a lesson seems to leave them confused, I make a note to myself to go back over it at a later date just to see if they really got it.

I do think over time it really works. For what its worth, I consider PLL to be HUGELY helpful to my 12YO son, who is still what I consider an ELL student. I credit it the most with how far he has come in his grasp and comprehension of the language (so that says a great deal for me in favor of PLL).

But as with every resource, mileage varies. I would say if it isn’t working, try something else. I am happy with it, but I won’t say the boys love it. None of mine though love grammar/language instruction except DD, who is 7.

HTH

I think Writing Tales is a good alternative. If I hadn’t used PLL/ILL, then that would have been my second choice.

We love Writing Tales, too. I also have added in Spelling Workout….it’s very independent.  However, this year I wanted to go more dication based so we’re using Spelling Wisdom 2 days a week and Spellling Workout 2 days a week (but not doing all the Spelling Workout exercises). Spelling Workout is cheap, and I like the review of phonics rules.  :)Gina

Is TM necessary….it depends. I’m not using it w/WT 1 and I have no problem checking work quickly. However, I used to own the TM and I think it gave advice on lit. analysis (asking about characters, setting, conflict, etc.), maybe a little background on some stories, etc. We just don’t do that part. The TM also includes some games/activities, but we never did those either.

For WT 2, I think the TM is more helpful (to me) for quick grading. There are tougher grammar qu. and things like story ordering that I could figure out myself, but the TM is worth it to me for quick grading. HTH some:)  Gina

We used to do Building Spelling Skills, because I really wanted phonics rules learned.  This year we are switching to Spelling Wisdom, for a more CM approach.  However, I still want the phonics rules, as I actually do find them helpful even now, as an adult, when I come across new vocabulary.  I picked up Classical Phonics and plan to use it as more of a checklist to make sure my 10yo dd has them down.  CP is actually meant for beginning readers/spellers, but I haven’t decided yet how/if I will use it for my now 8yo and 4yo ds’s.  I really just think it is going to be a handy resource for me and perhaps for my older students.