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Hello!

I am hoping to get some advice about starting spelling with my almost 8yo son. I am taking him and my 6yo daughter through LHFHG this year. He is technically 2nd grade and she is Kindergarten. The guide is working great for us, we are just starting unit 22. (a leeeetil behind... )

He has worked on Handwriting Without Tears since his 1st grade year. This year, I have him doing the 2nd grade printing book alternating with the cutting and pasting books scheduled in LHFHG.

Anyways, I can see that in HOD they advance from the letter writing books to the spelling lists. I am wondering if I should start him on list 1 from Beyond (already have it) instead of the handwriting practice he is doing in the HWT book? Not sure if that is necessary and I should just wait so he and sister can start together in Beyond. She would start list one and he would probably start list two.

I am also wondering if it would be beneficial or necessary for him (and her) to go through both lists of spelling words or not? He doesn't really know how to spell very many words (he can read them without any problems). I don't know if the schedule allows for students to go through both spelling lists at some point, or if one list is enough to move on to the next guide.

Should I start him on list one now and finish the 2nd list when we get to it sometime next year as we go through Beyond? It would mean following the spelling schedule separate from the rest of the guide. I don't want to push him too fast, but I also don't want to keep him from spelling skills that seem normal for 2nd graders.

Thank you!

The spelling is not really handwriting and the amount of writing with that is minimal. Given your son's age, I think having him do the HWT book AND the spelling list would be appropriate. There are 10 words each week and they just write them out 3 of the days and copy 2-3 sentences the other day. I would just start him (them) with list 1. It may be too easy but somewhere around week 14 it gets harder, plus there are "dolch" words which are kind of sight words they learn on each of the lists.

It's not really a strict schedule you would just have to keep track (in Beyond) of which week's list you are actually on and then when there is a review week get out the last 5 lists you've done for the review week. You could use the schedule in Beyond now to tell you what to do each day with the spelling words.

It is mostly expected to do list 1 in Beyond, list 2 in Bigger, and then start dictation in Preparing (though Bigger does have the first level of dictation in it). So you go through it as you can and then go on to dictation.

And just to clarify, the handwriting in LHFHG actually transitions into copywork in Beyond, the handwriting practice is considered to be them copying their poem each week, doing their best to make the handwriting neat and thereby solidifying their handwriting skills. Once you move to that with your older one you may need to even add as some of the poems are pretty short (usually with 6-7 year olds in Beyond you often start with only having them do 1-2 lines each day and gradually increase as their stamina increases).

Thank you, MelinKansas!

I will start the spelling lists with him today and we will work into the copywork. I would say he still needs to work on his stamina in that dept!

Thank you!!