Rod and Staff Spelling & English

[KDOCK5]

This is my first time using Rod & Staff Arithmetic. (I've always loved the simplicity of it, but used Teaching Textbooks with my kids before switching to MP full grade packages). I love love it! I have a couple of questions:

1- Rod & Staff Spelling.......have any of you used it & if so what did you think about it? My 10 yo has used Spelling Power since I started homeschooling her in 2nd grade. She is an advanced speller, but me being new to homeschooling & nothing to compare it to, I didn't realize it at the time. She flourishes with Spelling Power, so I assumed my now 3rd grader would too. I tried my now 3rd grader on Spelling Power last year (she was in 2nd) & I could see pretty quickly it was not working for her, so we did All About Spelling that year. That worked pretty well with her, but after switching to MP this year I decided to go ahead & try their recommendation of Spelling Workout. I'll be honest, we probably didn't give it the chance we should have, but by the end of the lesson she was still missing several words! We tried for about 4 weeks, then I went to Spelling Power hoping maybe since she was older & reading well now this would work for her. Well.....it's not! So...I've been looking at other spelling programs & ran across Rod & Staff Spelling. With my love for their arithmetic, I'm tempted to try it! Do or have any of you used it & if so what did you think?

2- Rod & Staff English.....I think MP used to use Rod & Staff English in the lower grades before EGR? I should remember (bc I think I asked when we switched to MP) why they don't use it any longer, but do yall know? I really like the looks of it too....but, help me to understand why they use EGR now. And, do any of you still use Rod & Staff English still?

Thanks!

[Colomama]

Re: Rod and Staff Spelling & English

R&S English was deemed too intensive and repetitive for a student studying MP Latin concurrently. EGR was created and used in its place. It teaches / reviews the same concepts, but in a more effecient way.

Before I tried R&S Spelling I would try Simply Classical Spelling for your daughter. Honestly, if Spelling Workout didn't work, R&S is going to bomb as well. Were you following the MP plans for Spelling Workout? The key is writing the words daily in addition to a section of the workbook. And there are additional teaching tips too, like chunking the phonics sounds, etc..

You could also try using Spelling Workout at a lower grade level. That's what we ended up doing a few weeks in. My son is doing second grade lit, but first grade spelling. If we continue to struggle we will move to Simply Classical Spelling.

[KF2000]

Re: Rod and Staff Spelling & English

I will echo the recommendation to try going down a level in Spelling Workout rather than switching programs. Keep in mind that since MP's K program is so strong in phonics, children begin using SWO B in First Grade - which means all the Spelling Workouts listed in each grade level are actually one grade level above the norm. Also, make sure you are following the procedures listed for spelling in the Curriculum Guide.

Another thing I would suggest is to try getting the Second Grade Phonics and Spelling "chunk" of the curriculum. This is the final year students have both Phonics and Spelling assignments, and can be a great way to strengthen any weak spots of Phonics before leaving it behind. There is a guide for Second Grade Phonics and Spelling that gives you a lot of ideas of additional activities to reinforce the concepts. I would try this before starting another new program.

I used several levels of Rod and Staff Spelling prior to switching to SWO. It is going to have its own "flavor" so to speak, but it is going to still seem very similar to SWO. And some of the activities were much more academic than are necessary to become good spellers. They would take a lot longer than the SWO activities without displaying a concrete benefit to justify the extra time they took.

I also love the Rod and Staff English program. Colomama already explained the reason MP developed the EGR program, so i will not repeat it. But the R&S books are still a handy way to quickly go over concepts explained in a manner appropriate to each grade level. They are inexpensive and nonconsumable, so having them as a back up to EGR is not a bad idea!

AMDG,
Sarah

[KDOCK5]

Re: Rod and Staff Spelling & English

Thanks guys. I am going to take my 3rd grader down a level SWO C. I didn't realize MP had SWO grade ahead, thank you for bringing that to my attention KF2000! When I googled more about SWO, I found that they say SWO D (which my 3rd grader is currently on) is considered 4th. Since she didn't do MP from kindergarten, she is probably lacking on phonics & may need to slow the spelling down more.

And I remember now about EGR. Because of Latin, they wrote that curriculum. Thanks for the reminder! I currently have my 3rd & 5th grader on EGR I one year place. My 3rd grader seems to be doing "ok" with it, but just last week decided to put my 3rd grader back on the 2 year place for Latina Christiana (she was on the 1 year pace with my 5th grader)....I may need to slow the 3rd grader down to a one year pace for EGR I also. It seems there are always so many adjustments to make. I have a hard time with this.....I like to stick to a plan!

Thanks as always.....hopefully I will get all of it figured out soon. I love so many things about MP, it's just been such an adjustment for us. Every program we are using has changed for us this year since we have switched to MP for 3 kids besides the spelling for my 5th grader. It can be overwhelming at times. Thankful to have this helpful forum.

[KF2000]

Re: Rod and Staff Spelling & English

You are welcome for the help, and as for your note about wanting to "follow the plan" to a "T"....I have learned that I just have to be open to how each year goes. We no longer curriculum hop, but we still make adjustments for each child and each year as it seems necessary. It would be nice to have it all "work just so" but do not be surprised when that doesn't happen. Make the adjustments and move on. There is still flexibility even when using a planned program like MP. These are tools; we use them as we know to be best for our kids.

AMDG,
Sarah

[Anita]

Re: Rod and Staff Spelling & English

You are welcome for the help, and as for your note about wanting to "follow the plan" to a "T"....I have learned that I just have to be open to how each year goes. We no longer curriculum hop, but we still make adjustments for each child and each year as it seems necessary. It would be nice to have it all "work just so" but do not be surprised when that doesn't happen. Make the adjustments and move on. There is still flexibility even when using a planned program like MP. These are tools; we use them as we know to be best for our kids.

AMDG,
Sarah

Someone needs to frame this. It makes us all feel better when a pro says it.