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jawgee
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| Posted: Oct 29 2014 at 7:40pm | IP Logged
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My oldest, who will be 13 in a couple of months, has been doing dictation for three years now. Initially we did Spelling Wisdom for two years, and this past year we did selections from Bravewriter Arrow/Boomerang (the book would be his literature selection for the month, and each week we would do a dictation passage from the book).
He has always bucked against doing dictation. The first year we did it, he said, "Why can't I just have a spelling list to study?" Dictation passages, no matter how brief, were annoying and frustrating to him - not because they were too challenging, but because he just doesn't like to do it.
In the meantime, I've noticed that he has a lot of misspellings in his free writing. I hadn't noticed it before because he always did written narrations on the computer. Unfortunately I didn't realize what a crutch spell-check had become, possibly without him even realizing it.
So now I'm stuck. Dictation just isn't working for him, even though I very much believe in its effectiveness. Not sure where to turn from here. I am ready to let go of dictation - for his sake - but I need to find something that is going to help him with his spelling. I always thought he was kind-of a natural speller (like I was growing up), but some of the errors I've seen recently have me concerned.
Suggestions?
Another thought: I had considered buying All About Spelling, but I am really confused about what level to place my son at and I am concerned about buying a $40 program every year just for spelling. Has anyone used The ABCs and All Their Tricks by itself for spelling? It something I have wanted to buy but haven't. Hmmm....
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Kristie 4
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| Posted: Oct 30 2014 at 9:11am | IP Logged
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I would bail on dictation- if he likes spelling lists go with it! I did dictation faithfully for YEARS with one of mine, where in hindsight, as far as spelling goes, she needed the spelling lists. My others were fine with dictation.
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Kristie in Canada
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Erin
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| Posted: Oct 30 2014 at 8:42pm | IP Logged
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Monica
I am using All About Spelling with my 15year old and seeing a difference, not immediate but slowly. Now I see why he was struggling!
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Erin
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Kristie 4
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| Posted: Oct 30 2014 at 9:48pm | IP Logged
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Ditto also what Erin said!! We have to remember that each child learns differently- we have that gift with homeschooling to make a way for that (speaking more for myself here!!). My ds11, who can't stand copywork, but wants to write novels all of the time, I kept giving copywork to. Then I realised that for once I had a child who wanted to write creatively, and finally held back on the copywork (he still does it sometimes as it is easy for me!).
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Kristie in Canada
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jawgee
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| Posted: Nov 03 2014 at 7:25am | IP Logged
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Thanks for that feedback. I've been poring over different spelling curricula and AAS is a favorite among homeschoolers.
I'm also intrigued by Spelling Power, esp. because it is all-in-one and I won't have to buy a new level every year.
Anyone else have recommendations or suggestions?
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Monica
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pumpkinmom
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| Posted: Nov 03 2014 at 12:34pm | IP Logged
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I've had similiar problems. I have one who struggles greatly with spelling. We weren't getting anywhere in dictation. He has to see some success each time or he gets upset. Dictation wasn't allowing that and all I had was an upset kid who thought he was stupid.
My youngest is what I assume on level for spelling but he struggles with the physical part of handwriting. This make dictation difficult for him.
We went back to All About Spelling this year. It works for them both. I used it back when my oldest was in 1st/2nd grade and it was a big fail. He wasn't ready for it. He wasn't ready to learn all those rules but he is the type of learner who needs to learn those rules. This year he has hit that maturity level. He is in level 4 and I hope to complete AAS in high school with him. I don't see him every doing dictation. I see my youngest finishing AAS by high school and doing dictation in high school.
(A little side note, I tried level 3 with the boys together last year and it failed. Lesson learn is I can't teach spelling to them together even when they are at the same level and pace.)
I hate all the parts of AAS! You have to find an organizing system that works for you. I have two in level 4 but I started my oldest before to keep 1-2 lessons between them. If my youngest catches up we skip spelling or just review a couple of days. This is key for my competitive boys.  We also only use one student pack so I have to stay organized and not review the wrong cards with the wrong child.
AAS recommends starting at level 1 with every kid. We did that level years ago. I looked at the samples and it was too easy and I didn't want to start there. I did purchase the student pack to have the cards to review what was learned in the levels. I'm not sure if this is what someone should do if you don't start at level 1 but it has worked for us. My boys didn't need to do those early levels but they needed some review. I started with at level 4 this year.
I've used Spelling Power too in the past. The testing part is what my son hated. It's been too long ago to give any review of that program.
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Cassie
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Becky Parker
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| Posted: Nov 04 2014 at 6:11am | IP Logged
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I use AAS here too. I also use Sound Beginnings but that is mostly for the younger kids.
We like AAS but I agree with Cassie about all the parts of AAS! The card box and dividers that are part of the program work well but the little tiles, while great for the hands on learners are kind of a pain, imo. To remedy this, and since my older sons really aren't into moving the tiles around, we do the spelling lessons at the computer. They just type in the letters instead of arranging them on the board. I can have them highlight or color the font of the phonemes that we are focusing on. It works much better than the big magnetic board in this house.
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Becky Parker
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| Posted: Nov 04 2014 at 6:26am | IP Logged
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Regarding Spelling Power, we used that for a while years ago. I liked it, but I felt like we were just memorizing lists of words and I didn't see a lot of carry over to the child's writing. one aspect of that program that we really liked though is the concept of the pretest. Before the new list is learned a pretest is given and the words that the child already knows are not in the lesson for that week. It allows the child to advance through the lists more rapidly.
Back to AAS, I really like that there is some dictation built in. Like others have mentioned, straight dictation is not working for a few of my kids but AAS uses dictation sentences that are part of the lesson so the child gets to learn the words as just words in lists (like Spelling Power) but also in context of a sentence through dictation. And, one more plug, I really like the focus on one rule at a time in AAS. Even with the older student the basic words that make up the lists are all focused on the one rule which helps to solidify it so they can then apply it to other more difficult words.
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Becky
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jawgee
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| Posted: Nov 04 2014 at 10:14am | IP Logged
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If I decide to go with AAS, do I need the interactive kit? My almost 13YO is not going to want to "play" with letter tiles....
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Monica
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Becky Parker
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| Posted: Nov 05 2014 at 5:30am | IP Logged
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The only thing in the kit that might be beneficial are the divider cards, but I see you can buy those separately for around $5. You could also make your own. They really help to keep the cards organized which are great, imo, for review.
I also noticed they now have an app, which might be a good replacement for the letter tiles for older students. I don't have a device to use an app on but we have found that just using a word processor works fine.
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pumpkinmom
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| Posted: Nov 05 2014 at 8:14am | IP Logged
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jawgee wrote:
If I decide to go with AAS, do I need the interactive kit? My almost 13YO is not going to want to "play" with letter tiles....
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I didn't buy it at first because I thought he wouldn't like the tiles, but it was hard to teach the phonograms without it. I could have used colored dry erase markers and put squares around 2 and 3 letter phonograms but if I'm doing that it would just be easier to have the tiles. I just bought the tiles and magnets and have my own system for the cards. We use the app have have it on our kindles. It's free at amazon.
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Cassie
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jawgee
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| Posted: Nov 05 2014 at 11:11am | IP Logged
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pumpkinmom wrote:
We use the app have have it on our kindles. It's free at amazon.
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Thanks.
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Monica
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jawgee
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| Posted: Nov 15 2014 at 5:36am | IP Logged
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Couple questions in the first post. Thanks!
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Monica
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pumpkinmom
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| Posted: Nov 15 2014 at 7:56am | IP Logged
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jawgee wrote:
Another thought: I had considered buying All About Spelling, but I am really confused about what level to place my son at and I am concerned about buying a $40 program every year just for spelling. Has anyone used The ABCs and All Their Tricks by itself for spelling? It something I have wanted to buy but haven't. Hmmm.... |
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I have this book and I've read through it but have never used it. I'm not smart enough to figure this spelling stuff out on my own. There isn't any lessons in the book. It just has the rules and a list of words with it. I think it's possible to use it for spelling if you can figure out how to do that. I know it's been recommended on this forum before, so maybe someone will share.
I completely understand your concerns about having to purchase all the levels and it does get expensive! It was a tough decision for me to make. Keep praying and maybe a better solution will come. 
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Cassie
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Erin
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| Posted: Nov 17 2014 at 10:15pm | IP Logged
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I also have All About Spelling but it wasn't what my child/ren really needed. He/they needed a systematic approach, and AAS wins hands down, believe me I looked/tried a few before this one. I don't use the tiles with my 15year old, as I believe that would make him feel very self aware of his `problem. I use a blackboard, though a whiteboard would also work as also Cassie's idea of the computer.
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Erin
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jawgee
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| Posted: Nov 18 2014 at 3:03am | IP Logged
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Thank you for that, Erin.
So, can you please confirm that I will need both the student guide and the teacher's guide for AAS? What would be the best way to determine where to place my 7th grader (who, at this point, hasn't learned any spelling "rules".)
Thank you all for your input.
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Monica
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4Real Forums : Language Arts Come Alive
Topic: Spelling, Dictation - More ??s
