Spalding method?

[Michele B]

I have a friend hsing a 6 year old boy. She told me today she is going to begin the spalding method. She was doing ETC, FLL and copywork. I gathered from what she said today that Spalding is completely different than what we have been doing: no copywork, writing before you read, etc. I am for whatever works for her and her son. I was just wondering if any of you have experience with this method: its strengths, what to watch out for, etc. Maybe I can pass some of it on with out butting in!

Thanks,
Michele

[8FillTheHeart]

I have never used SWR, so I am not sure what the differences are between it and Writing Road to Reading (the title of the Spalding book.)

[Canada_Mom]

As much as it is not Classical in approach, I have to admit, I LOVE Spalding!- so far anyways!

I'm doing gr.1 w/dd6 and I think it's awesome. I know SWB does not agree with the Spalding theory that handwriting is connected to reading but this hasn't been an issue for us. I did not use it for K, so by gr1 dd was ready for the writing that is involved. It does promote creative writing at a much younger age that TWTM recommends, but starts off with a gentle, oral approach. Wanting to follow more TWTM and LCC methodology, we do use Copywork in our History, Science and Religion studies.

Here is a break-down of what is done each day:

SPELLING:
You start off by learning the 70 phonograms of the English language. If you have the TM (which I use) it's all organized as to how many each week etc. There is daily practice of the phonograms, both oral & written, which continues throughout the year, although now that we are in week 22, I do not review very much as dd6 is excellent with them. Once all phonograms have been introduced, the kids start their notebook. They enter about 10 words a day into this notebook, breaking each new word into its individual sounds and learning the different "rules" to the English language. Once this starts, there is a daily spelling quiz of the previous days' 10 words and at the end of the week a weekly test of the words learned that week. Each day it prompts the teacher to have the students use unfamiliar spelling words in oral sentences to demonstrate meaning and comprehension.

WRITING:
Once they have learned a significant number of words the TM guides you to have them write simple sentences. It introduces them to what the 4 kinds of simple sentences are and begins with oral work having kids give oral examples of each. It then introduces compound sentences, then complex, then 2-3 related sentences and now, at week 22, we are starting to introduce paragraphs.

Spalding also covers grammar, so dd has learned the basic parts of speech. **I use FLL at the same time and amazingly, the introduction of the parts of speech has matched up beautifully between the 2- lucky coincidence for me, I'm sure** There has been no confusion while using both. It makes me feel better that DD is getting more Classical methodology on a daily basis.

READING:
I am also very thrilled with the reading portion, especially for gr.1. It introduces the kids from the beginning to what a narrative is, what informative writing is, what informative-narrative writing is and how to recognize each. This helps them to know what to look for and what to expect to get out of the reading they do. I thought this would be so above DD but she gets it!! Now, she loves to read anything & will tell me "oh Mommy, this is a narrative because it has characters, setting, plot.." It's really cool.

The reading portion also takes you through their reading list- which includes Beatrix Potter etc. so I find it all very good. It will tell you read Peter Rabbit with your child, then discuss the attributes of quality literature that are represented. It also recommends readers that will ONLY contain the phonograms learned to that point or the spelling words learned- depending on how far into the lessons you are. I like that it uses whole books as well as reading comprehension exercises below.

It works on reading comprehension and has daily practice with short paragraphs for kids to answer questions to.- this is optional but DD likes doing them so we continue. At first I struggled with this all being "twaddle" but I find that we still do our daily literature reading and that this has enhanced her understanding of what we read together.

My DD likes having an understanding of the rules of language and how/why they apply rather than feeling that some words are spelled like that just like that "because I said so." One very big strength I find with the spelling program is because there is research into the way the words are introduced, kids can write sentences very early on, which gave dd a lot of confidence. Programs that teach word families are limiting because often the kids can't spell words to go with cat/fat/mat until much later. Spalding introduces the words based on frequency of use.

Once weakness I can think of, which is a personal thing, is that when learning the parts of speech- say nouns- Spalding only teaches them nouns based on the spelling words that they have learned to that point. While I can see the reasoning for this I see this as very limiting, especially for little kids. It can be difficult for them to come up with a simple sentence using a selection of 8 nouns and 5 verbs if they aren't very "creative."

Oh- one more weakness- it is DIFFICULT to understand the scope and sequence initially and to implement. I found it very frustrating and confusing at first and will admit that it had me in utter tears on a few occasions at the beginning. Now, I love it. If your friend is going to use it, I HIGHLY recommend the TM even if she doesn't follow it to a tee (I don't always) and to check out the forums on www.spalding.org. Very helpful!

Sorry, this has been so long! I've probably lost you by now!! I can't say enough good about this program, but that's b/c it has worked beautifully for our family. It's likely not for everyone! Spalding is a VERY intense program but it is also very thorough.

Let me know if you have any more questions- I'll be happy to answer them if I can!

[Maria/ME]

Canada mom said it in a nutshell! Excellent info.

My dd hated reading. Just hated it and couldn't grasp it. I let go for awhile and started loosely using Spalding. I particularly am using the Sensari books sold on www.bhi.com

We use the phonograms. We have spelling tests (which for some reason my dd likes) and we've learned some spelling rules. I'm telling you, those spelling rules made reading click for her. The act of writing what we are learning to read helped her too. Seeing the phonograms and drilling them also helped....we don't follow the handwriting methods for two reasons. #1 We'd already started with Getty/Dubay Italics a long time ago and #2 I thought the way the method taught kids was a little, well, dumb. Yes, isn't that a nice polite generalized word? There seemed no creativity w/in it and was a bit too strict in guidelines and forms.

Then again, I hate being told what and how to do something.

Bottom line: I really liked the ideas behind the method and we are using some if not most of them in a loose fashion. It has helped tremedously. I wrote a bit more about it on my blog, under curriculum, but nothing that Canada Mom didn't cover so wonderfully!!

[Colleen in NS]

I use part of the Spalding method from the Writing Road to Reading. I just use it for teaching how to read, how to print letters and do cursive letters, and teaching how to spell. I use it alongside FLL, copywork/dictation, R&S grammar, etc.. I guess you could call it the "how to read and spell" part of our classical methods. :) But I don't use the grammar/writing part of WRTR.

[z2_mom]

Those that are using the Spalding method are using the WRTR or are you using the lesson plans that you can purchase directly from Spalding.

lynda

[Colleen in NS]

Just the WRTR book.

[Ellie]

It's very logical to me, and although there is a learning curve in learning how to teach it, it's worth the effort, in every way.

I taught Spalding using only WRTR, long before the teacher guides. But the teacher guides, and the new 5th edition, are great.

[kfrench]

spalding is SWR or writing road to reading there is also all about spelling which is spalding and the author has just simplified SWR and WRTR into daily lessons and teaching a new spelling rule and words that use that rule with each lesson and using colored letter tiles to teach the lessons and then writing the words in their book. They used the colored letter tiles instead of all the SWR markings. They have all the words, phonograms, rules etch on flashcard which you review daily until they are mastered and then review occasionally. It looks really a lot easier to use than SWR for the teacher and very methodical and organized. SWR was always to too many things to do and too many new rules and pages to do. No pages in All about writing you just review everything with the flash cards. Everything is learned one thing at a time so I think it might be easier to remember it. I still like SWR and will probably use it with my older dd since they are use to the markings and pages but for my youngest I think I will try the All about spelling. I learned new spelling rules about c and k just looking at the examples on their website. Wow I thought I had learned it all with SWR.

Kris

[Canada_Mom]

I use the teacher guides and the WRTR book. I found it difficult enough to figure out how to teach it properly that I really appreciate having a teacher guide to tell me what to do each week. The first 10 days in the guides are great as they break it down to exactly what to do each day. After day 10 it's a list of what to cover for that week.

Like some have mentioned, it's totally possible without the guides, but way too much brain work and planning for me... :eek:

[Ellie]

Only the Writing Road to Reading is the manual for the Spalding Method. SWR is Wanda Sanseri's method; it is similar to WRTR because the author used to teach Spalding.