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My almost 8 year old is in 2nd grade this year. We are doing Beyond (and loving it, I should mention!), but are kind of "off" as we went "half-speed" in Little Hearts for Kindergarten. So, 1st grade was partly finishing up LHFHG and then beginning BLHFGH. So this school year (2nd grade) we are picking up where we left off in BLHFHG. He's in unit 10 right now, so we won't finish this book until mid-March. Here's my question...when we started doing this at the end of his first grade year, we started list 1 for spelling. I realize that list 2 is "meant" for 2nd grade. So I guess I'm wondering whether I should bump him up to list 2 for this year or leave him finishing list 1? In all 10 units of list 1 spelling words, he's probably only mispelled a couple of words. He's a great speller, so I don't think list 2 will be too hard for him, but I guess I question whether he will have missed anything by skipping over the rest of list 1? My understanding is that when we move on to Bigger, there won't be spelling lists but dictation, is that correct? If that is the case, I'm thinking maybe I should move him from spelling list 1 to list 2. Could you ladies please give me your advice? Thanks SO much!

I'm thinking you probably just want to finish out list one and then continue with list 2 when you get to Bigger. Spelling list 2 and dictation are both in Bigger so you can choose which is most appropriate for your dc.

You can do as Patty mentioned or you could go to list two, depending on the needs of your ds. My dd is 8 in 2nd grade. We did Little Hearts last year for 1st and just began Beyond in August. I went directly to list 2, because I knew list one would be too easy, at least for now. If I come across words in list 1 that I feel she should learn, I may have to switch. I didn't realize that list two was in Bigger. I'm glad Patty mentioned that. So, if dd needs to go back to list one, I can cover list 2 in Bigger. For now, we continue in list two. So, either way, you can get them covered. If list one is too easy, try list two. The choice is yours.

I honestly think you could go either way. I tend to lean toward making sure that my kiddos have had all of the mental picturing exercises that go along with the spelling lists in Beyond and Bigger prior to heading into studied dictation. If you have to take a standardized test at the end of grade 2, I would likely move your son toward doing List 2 (just to be sure he has been exposed to a typical grade 2 spelling list prior to having to identify those words on a year-end test). If your son does not have to take standardized tests, I would be more inclined to finish out List 1 and then move toward List 2.

Blessings,
Carrie

Thank you ladies for your input. Carrie, can you please clarify for me what he will do in Beyond in grade 3? Would he use the list 2 spelling words at all or would he go straight to dictation? Thank you!

Meredith,

If you chose to go the route of finishing List 1 following the plans in the guide, and you are already 10 weeks done, then after that you would head into List 2. When you complete all of List 2, you would begin studied dictation. It won't matter whether you begin studied dictation in the middle of the year, or the beginning of the year, as the passages go at the child's pace and aren't scheduled by passage number in the guide.

If you decided to jump ahead to List 2 instead, you would never finish List 1 (which does give me a bit of pause, as I love to make sure my kiddos have had all of the needed Dolch/sight words). Whichever route you go, make sure to follow the plans in the guide, as learning to visualize the words in the mind is as important as learning to spell the words correctly.

Blessings,
Carrie

Carrie set me straight on this issue. I have been doing list two with my 2nd grader because I thought list one was too easy. Yes, the first few units would have been easy, but I looked through list in the later units and found that most of them are words that dd should practice. I should have looked through them all at the beginning. Actually, if we'd stay with list 2, I think there would be struggles as we go on. We will be doing list 1 from now on and next year, for 3rd grade in Bigger, we will do list 2. Glad that is worked out.

Hi Meredith!

We're in almost exactly the same boat as you, and here's what I did with my daughter. You can see if it helps or not.

We were finishing out LHFHG last school year when she was a "1st grader". I also had a baby last August. We waited to start up with Beyond's spelling until after that little guy was on a good schedule and I wanted to add more. Then I started with spelling list 1.
We finished LHFHG and moved into Beyond in March. At this point when we were beginning Beyond Unit 1, we were ready for the spelling list from Unit 17. I've been putting a little check mark next to the lists as we complete them, so when I wrote the list 17 words on cards, I put a little "1" in the upper corner to go with Unit 1. That way we could continue where we were in the spelling words, and use the cards to follow the plans in the LA box exactly every week (including when we get to the review weeks). So, we're finishing out all of list 1. We're currently on unit 33's list of number words. So in 2 weeks, we'll move back to the beginning and do the list 2 words to complete our year.

If we're not quite done with the spelling words, we'll continue them in Bigger. List 2 is one of the spelling options in Bigger's appendix. Whenever we finish list 2, we'll begin the studied dictation. Then for dictation you continue to advance at your child's pace. You don't need to start a new level each year. In fact, it's best to pick up right on the very next passage in your new school year, from what I understand.

Hope that helps!
Kathleen