We began with a serious schedule in September and for the most part still maintain it except on Mondays when we deliver Meals on Wheels which often runs over the allotted scheduled time. And there are those days where we are just not in the mood to school, but nevertheless, we have met our goals for the first semester in the basic subjects.
I try to almost always use Catholic materials in schooling, yet when I first looked into the Spell to Write and Read program, I was impressed enough to investigate it further. After speaking with some people that use it, I decided this was the program I wanted to use with my then 4 year old. After studying it more deeply, I was intimidated! I actually had the materials for a year before I started teaching just the single phonograms. Then I hit a block. I study the Yahoo group files, I studied the books, and I floundered. Finally, I went to a 2-day intensive seminar on how to teach reading, writing, and spelling using this program. It was just what I needed and I have not looked back. (Although the Catholic curriculums still make me blink every once in a while.) At first I was bored because we spent several weeks learning to write all the single phonograms (sounds) in cursive (using the companion Cursive First program). When it finally came time to pull out my Wise Guide to Spelling along with my Spell to Write and Read teacher's book, I was more than excited to apply the many things I learned from the seminar.
Now, after 12 weeks, we are on the "D" list of 20 spelling words and we love it. Michael is "reading" 80 spelling words now fairly fluently. The hard thing with this program is that reading is somewhat delayed which is the opposite of what I have always striven for. Yet he, rather WE, are learning the why's and what's of spelling. At first I thought there was no way he would get the markings, rules, and other "complicated" aspects down, but he grasps them much easier than I do. The intimidation came back yesterday as I realized that I would be teaching the reference page on the "Silent Final E' today. It just seems like a lot for a 5.5 year old to comprehend. I reviewed my own working notebook from the seminar and studied the section in the book. I only taught the first 3 reasons for a silent, final "e" this morning, and my son loved it. His words, "This is lots of fun!" Wow, who would have thought learning about why E is silent at the end of words could be fun???
OK, who can name the five reasons for the silent E?
