Spelling: The Last Roadblock - a few ??s

[abrightmom]

Thank-you in advance for the helps. This board is full of precious ladies and I'm so grateful for your kindness toward our family in helping us figure out our HOD path. We're almost there!! The last challenge for me is spelling. I've been fighting this issue for awhile . . . My dear husband thinks I should go HOD all the way and not continue with our other spelling program (All About Spelling). I'm fine with that though it will be difficult to "let it go" at first. I've always intended to use studied dictation (in conjunction with AAS) because I do believe it is an excellent exercise. I understand the whys behind studied dictation. My main areas of concern are as follows:

** The study of prefixes, suffixes, word roots.
** Learning about homonyms, synonyms, antonyms.
** Abbreviations & contractions.
** Terminology that accompanies spelling such as "possessive nouns", "plural", what a syllable is, etc.
** A child who "hits a wall" with dictation in the later years when words are longer (multi-syllable). I believe that strong spelling skills and word attack/study skills enable a kiddo to read/break apart/analyze more challenging words for reading & spelling. Not all children will need this but some will.

I do need to work through this. I like the looks of Rod & Staff's spelling program and I'm tempted to ask that of my children who are using studied dictation (not those using the spelling lists in Beyond) because it is something that can be managed independently, not cutting in to my teaching time. That's just a confession . . . I really don't want to completely drop a spelling program that builds other skills along the way.

Please help me to think through this and address my areas of concern. How do we learn those things (in my list) if we're not studying them in the context of a spelling program like AAS or Spelling by Sound & Structure?? I do see how HOD's approach to spelling is VERY effective for spelling. I love it in fact and I'm excited to implement it. It's that list of "others" that I need help working through and understanding.

Thank-you again!

[arstephia]

Katrina,
I have tried various spelling programs over the years with my oldest (including R&S Spelling), and it really just resulted in him learning a word long enough to pass the test. Since we have been using HOD, all of my kids - including those with no "formal" spelling curriculum- through their written narrations, dictations and other writing activities, are showing that they do know how to spell and spell well! The areas you mentioned are covered nicely in Rod and Staff English. Since they are not learning isolated words or structures, they are better able to apply it to their every day learning and writing. My son could ace a spelling test, but the same day his writing assignments would be littered with misspellings. The HOD approach with the Rod and Staff Grammar and writing, along with the dictations have helped my kids see words spelled correctly in contexts, understand how they are used - like plurals, etc. and continue to use them. Even in my 5th grader who I would definitely not call a natural speller has improved in her spelling since using HOD. I would look through a Rod and Staff ENGLISH book and you will see the areas you are concerned with will be covered. As far as multi-syllable words, R&S English does tackle root words, and most multi-syllable words are extensions of root words. For instance, dd wanted to write "incomprehensible". She asked me how to spell it and I told her to break it down. She knew "comprehend" was the root word, so she wrote "incomprehen" and then "sable" and "sible" and immediately knew which was correct. She is ready such rich language in her book that models great vocabulary and words that she can figure things out by sight - and really, don't most of us do that still today to some degree?

I hope that helps a little bit. I too felt (when I first started HOD) that I needed to add elements to it to complete it, but I couldn't be happier with how things are turning out without MY additions.

[abrightmom]

Steph,

Thanks for sharing this! I have Rod and Staff English through Level Four. I'll take a look! I didn't realize that grammar would cover these topics. I always see them lumped in with spelling. I AM excited to use HOD's spelling lists and studied dictation. We tried it for a week and I could see, right out of the gate, the learning value it has.

[arstephia]

Katrina,
I just looked at the 5th grade book that was here next to me. In regards to your list of topics, the "study of prefixes, suffixes, word roots" is the only one I couldn't see specifically in my table of contents, but it is likely covered in early grades and/or in the reading programs. I know we dealt with those in our phonics studies extensively but we didn't use HOD during the "learning to read" years. However, I did look to see that in Grade 5, the other topics on your list are covered again. And I know from using Rod and Staff since 2nd grade, they have been in the earlier grades as well.
** Learning about homonyms, synonyms, antonyms. Lesson 115
** Abbreviations & contractions. Lesson 86
** Terminology that accompanies spelling such as "possessive nouns", "plural", what a syllable is, etc. Lesson 22-23

[my3sons]

What excellent information, Steph! Steph already gave good specific, solid advice. I will just concur that R & S English teaches these skills. I will also add that my ds had speech difficulties and received several years of speech therapy. Spelling was not his thing. I was worried and added spelling. I posted about this and these links may help you hop over this last roadblock with glee :
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=6619&p=48256
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5645&p=41357
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4951&p=36417

In Christ,
Julie