Simply Spelling users: Another question and concern

[Sue G in PA]

Okay, I'm looking through Simply Spelling tonight (I can't sleep) to see what's what, how to teach it, etc. I'm concerned about a few things and I'm hoping you can ease my mind:

1. I'm seeing a bunch of little errors all throughout the book. Some are just typos (no biggie), but some are just things that are plain wrong! For ex/ the author says in the back re: irregular pluras that we simply add 's' to the word scarf to make it plural. Am I missing something b/c I always learned that scarf changed to scarves!? Am I being to particular?

2. My next concern is the passages (all or mostly poetry). We teach our dc to capitalize ONLY the first word of every sentence and the first letter of proper nouns. Well, in these poems, every new line is capitalized! Here we remind our dc before dictation of the "rules" but poetry breaks the rules! Every new line is capitalized. Has this caused a problem? Do you just tell your dc that a poem is different in that each line is capitalized? I'm just being picky, I know.

Okay, thanks for bearing with me this evening (oops, morning!:)). I really want to use this program, but these concerns have me reeling.

[Lovedtodeath]

:bigear: Also wondering what do you do when you are done with Simply Spelling?

[cajun.classical]

Okay, I'm looking through Simply Spelling tonight (I can't sleep) to see what's what, how to teach it, etc. I'm concerned about a few things and I'm hoping you can ease my mind:

1. I'm seeing a bunch of little errors all throughout the book. Some are just typos (no biggie), but some are just things that are plain wrong! For ex/ the author says in the back re: irregular pluras that we simply add 's' to the word scarf to make it plural. Am I missing something b/c I always learned that scarf changed to scarves!? Am I being to particular?

2. My next concern is the passages (all or mostly poetry). We teach our dc to capitalize ONLY the first word of every sentence and the first letter of proper nouns. Well, in these poems, every new line is capitalized! Here we remind our dc before dictation of the "rules" but poetry breaks the rules! Every new line is capitalized. Has this caused a problem? Do you just tell your dc that a poem is different in that each line is capitalized? I'm just being picky, I know.

Okay, thanks for bearing with me this evening (oops, morning!:)). I really want to use this program, but these concerns have me reeling.

Okay, Sue. Here's what we do. First I haven't ever even looked at the back of the book, so if there are mistakes there, I haven't noticed.

Secondly, there is a good variety of passages. Not just poetry. I'm not sure what level you are looking at. I've got one in A and one in C. We're almost finished and we've had poetry, fables, long multi-paragraph selections from literature, hymms, etc. For dictating poetry, I simply teach them that each new line of poetry is capitalized. It has not been a problem, and it is a capitalization rule they need to know. With other selections, I've taught them about punctuating quotes and indenting and what a dash is and a semicolon, etc, etc. I teach on the spot whatever the passage requires. Sometimes, there might be a British spelling or an archaic capitalization used. Again, I point it out to them because they need to know it when they read literature. They will run into this stuff when they read.

Having almost completed the year, I'm very pleased. My ds's spelling has improved greatly and I've noticed that his improvement is carrying over into other writing (not just good spelling tests, but better spelling overall in his writing). My dd is a natural speller, but can't remember to capitalize or punctuate to save her life! Dictation has been a good way for her to work on those weaknesses as well.

[Trivium Academy]

Unless you switch programs, nothing because you can use it into high school. There is a Simply Spelling 3-12 book.

[Trivium Academy]

Sue, I just wanted to add that anything you are concerned about - I'm sure Laurie would appreciate knowing and be able to address any changes that may need to be made. Her email is shoelacebooks@yahoo.com

[Lovedtodeath]

Unless you switch programs, nothing because you can use it into high school. There is a Simply Spelling 3-12 book.

I somehow missed that... good to know.:D