Wow, let me begin by thanking everyone for their input!
Of course I am extremely excited to see the postings of succes with the AAS program. As you can easily see from my earlier enthusiastic response, I was ready to jump in and buy it. Then a very kind collective “voice of reason” (thank you to Doug and the others!) stepped in and made me realize that mAYbe waiting a year or so and THEN starting with Spelling Wisdom would be a better choice. I thought about it, slept on it, talked it over with my husband, thought about it some more and think that really is the best thing for us to do. My only concern is how to proceed with her writing….by this I mean, when she does writing on her own (for school or fun) , do I just let the errors go for now or just spell words out for her if she asks
(I know CM has us covering the misspelled word so that it isn’t seen &imprinted with the wrong spelling) ? Thank you for the time you all took to help me with this!
You could have her dictate to you, acting as a scribe. Then, she can copy it down and focus on correct spelling for a timer. I’ve used a marker board for my children at this age (they copy onto paper when dictating something to me). If we are just working on word recognition/spelling practice (or even handwriting practice), they use a marker board or magnadoodle. Saves paper. Works well for us. Just a thought. Waiting works. I’ve had a couple of early natural spellers who moved quickly to being able to do something like Spelling Wisdom. Others that needed to wait til 10 or later. Patience. 🙂
And don’t forget to always be reading lots of good books. All of that goodness will be absorbed over the years and make spelling, grammar, vocabulary, reading, and writing so much easier!
My 9yo is a writer, always writing something, and I tell him to always ask me if he even thinks he doesn’t know how to spell a word. I write it on a piece of paper/white board and have him copy it. He’d probably be considered a more natural speller compared to my oldest, but I’m not really sure, so this area isn’t a struggle for him. And, when he’s 10 it will be a good time for dictation. Also, if his narrations are short enough I will type them and have him copy it to his notebook.
Just a reminder to keep up the copywork. Eventually, it all just clicks! That is how WE adults learn to spell, through everyday situations. If I am writing and come across something that just doesnt look right, I go find how it is spelled. It is because of my experience with words, within context.