The Phonics Road or The Latin Road?

[faroutback]

Has anyone ever used The Phonics Road or The Latin Road to spelling? If so, did you use them in conjunction with HOD? They look pretty involved as a grammar package themselves, but I noticed they offer quick start packages that are a little bit more affordable but could offer the basics to help with phonics and spelling and adding in some Latin at the same time. I know we use dictation and the spelling lists and I have one ds that continually questions the whys of spelling and pronunciation and struggles with both at times. I am wondering if this could help us. Thanks for your input.

[Nealewill]

So.....before finding HOD I used this program and it was a total flop. It was a TON of work. The rules really didn't help at all with spelling whatsoever. There were a ton of random words and they expected the kids to just remember them. I used it with my oldest for one level. She was a struggling reader and honestly, I felt like I wasted a lot of money and a lot of time. We started her with Abeka and then we had to go back to it half way through the year. She ended up using Abeka K-2nd to learn to read but that is only because it was working for her. She actually ended up having dyslexia (which we kind of figured out) and she really didn't read consistently till 3rd grade. My son was the same way. He has auditory processing disorder and he ended up having a lot of the same issues with reading as my oldest dd. I ended up using a special curriculum for him and that was helpful.

If it was me - unless your child has a special need specifically, I would use the HOD recommended resources. They are effective, affordable and scheduled in a way that makes your day run smoothly. If you are looking to add in some Latin, then that is what I would do. I would just add it in for your own purposes. We have add in Latin ourselves and use Classical Academic Press but there are tons of resources. I think using the Latin road would be overwhelming to your day and very repetitive in many ways. In some ways they do include grammar and spelling rules but I think the grammar in R&S is much stronger along with the much added practice that HOD already provides.

[faroutback]

I definitely prefer R&S for grammar. I thought the quick start packages might just be basic enough to learn the rules and some Latin but if it jumps around in the Latin this may just cause more confusion. I was hoping it would clear up some of the spelling rules. I may look to The ABCs and All Their Tricks for some help. Thank you for your insight.

On a different note, I notice you are using Preparing and RevtoRev together, would you mind to share your schedule of how you combined them? I looked through the schedule thread but did not see one. I may have overlooked it though. Thanks.

[Nealewill]

Well....I haven't set my official schedule yet but here is what I am thinking: (I also should mention that I work from home so this includes my work schedule)

My current plan is to have my kids start their day with DITHOR. This way I can go over their lesson with them around 8:00 and be ready to start working by 8:15. Then I plan to have my younger 2 kids work on all of their independent stuff in the morning. My oldest will probably do the left side of the guide in the morning except story time. If she has time, she will complete math. In addition, when my younger kids are ready for to do math, they will just bring me their student text book, I can take a small break and go over their lesson at that time. Then they will sit next to me while I work to complete their computations. Right after I finish work (around 11:30-11:45) I will do dictation. At lunch, I plan read the story time for Preparing. After lunch - around 1:15, I do the rotating box with my oldest and get her start on grammar and writing. My younger two kids will need to start clean up their stuff sometime in here because they will have had a ton of time. My oldest can then finish up the right side of her guide while I work with my younger two kids on the poetry, grammar, history reading, etc. I plan to give them about an 1-1.5 hours to finish things up. Once I am done working with them, I will do my oldest's story time box with her and hopefully be done for the day by 4:00.