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We are using Beyond, and my 2nd grader is using R&S 2nd grade spelling. We do school 4 days a week, so she covers one lesson of spelling per week. I am not doing any spelling with the 1st grader yet, so we are ignoring that box of the plans in Beyond. I am considering using HOD's spelling instead of R&S next year though (my oldest will probably actually be ready for dictation, but my next child will need to do spelling). We school 4 days a week, and Day 1 is almost never on Monday. Would it mess us up to have a 3-day break in the middle of a list of spelling words? We generally take off Fri/Sat/Sun from school. If we have Day 1 on a Thursday, for example, and they are introduced to a new list of words, will having 3 days off before they see them again be a problem?

I would think that it would depend on how well the child does with spelling. I know last year for my dd who was 6/7 in Jan. she struggled with the spelling. We also did 4 days a week w/a three day break and some times she would have a hard time with it. She is not very good with spelling though so that may be her overall problem. This year we are stretching the manuals out so I can keep my dd's together for the duration of HOD so I will be going at half speed with them. This also gives her more time with a spelling list. I have thought about speeding the lists up if she was doing very well and slowing it down if we needed to. I'm not sure if you're in the position to do that or not but that might be something you could do as well.

If not then maybe some extra time going over the words would help? Maybe have your dc do the list once more on Friday or Sat? I'm probably not helping here but I truly believe (from my experience) that some kids will handle it fine and other won't.

HTH...at least some!!

We did spelling last year with Beyond 4 days a week, and it worked fine. I used to do R & S Spelling too along with the HOD plans, but stopped it after awhile. I decided the HOD plans were doing more for my ds's spelling than the R & S. I think you'd like the HOD plans, they incorporate CM style methods and work well.

In Christ,
Julie

Yeah, I figured if I'm going to have the guide, I might as well use the plans for spelling too! R&S spelling is inexpensive, but I see that as money that I can use to buy a fun read-aloud book instead!

I've been reading A Charlotte Mason Companion, and everything makes so much sense. I have a new appreciation for the HOD guides since all the work has been done for me!