SWR users, pass some encouragement my way please!

[Stacey in MA]

I can't believe how much prep and reading this takes to get started! Are we EVER going to actually start our spelling program??!! Man, it's tedious!

I am plugging along at it, b/c I've bought into the idea of it, but I feel like I'm taking a course, studying, prepping, etc. I sure hope it's worth it! What if I get through all this and it just doesn't work? or we hate it in implementation?

Tell me about your experience with this program, please?

Thanks! - Stacey in MA

[Alana in Canada]

Take a deep beath. You can do it. The learning curve is steep, but you will be OK, honest.

The sites I found helpful don't seem to be around anymore--but OhElizabeth wrote this:

http://www.lulu.com/content/364293

[one l michele]

I love it for teaching reading and am just starting my third round of using it for that. I don't care for it for spelling. It has a huge learning curve, I spent a lot of time doing my own log and learning the program. The SWR book itself is as clear as mud, I still just want to stomp on the thing. The WISE guide spellling lists and SWR method were not a good fit for my oldest. He's not a natural speller and spelling words in isolation did not help him learn to spell while writing. Often the words he was learning in the WISE guide were not words he wanted to use. He used SWR for 2 years, this year we switched to the Spelling Plus Dictation Resource Book, it's been a much better fit for us.

[Stacey in MA]

....to watching the messages and questions go by. Thanks for Elizabeth's doc too, that is helpful as well.

Have a good Monday! - Stacey in MA

[Debbie in OR]

Hi Stacy, It does have a huge learning curve and I nearly gave up as well. My issue came from trying to incorporate all of the added LA enrichments on each page. I just could.not.get a flow going with that....very discombobulated for me and my kiddoes. Finally, I just ditched those and I use it exclusively for spelling with the phonogram cards and spelling rule cards. Now we are all in a happy place with it. (The rest of my grammar, etc...comes from Latin and copywork, etc..) HTH

[HollyDay]

I hear you!!

The best thing you can do (well, worked for me) is to make your own log book. Just start with list A and go through the steps to make your own log. It really is not that hard. In fact, it is a very easy program once you get past the terrible "teacher guide".

I dislike the Red book more than I can find words to explain. The author is such a global thinker and I am such a linear thinker that we cannot understand each other very well.

I urge you to make your log and get moving so you can get out of the Red book as quickly as possible. Then you can to make the program work for you.

There is also a wonderful dvd, if you have younger dc, that really helps to show what the program should look like on a daily basis. I bought it even though my dc were a bit older. It helped so much! We were past the "sand box" letter tracing stage, but the rest helped me see what the program really does look like. If you need something visual (like I did), then you might consider buying that.

Also, CALL a trainer. They are wonderful ladies and will help explain (especially if you an auditory learner) the program and the daily work.

[OhElizabeth]

Like the others, I suggest you just get in and start doing it. You can get lost reading theory and never see how it actually fits together, kwim? Use my little getting started guide and just plunge in. Imperfectly done is better than not at all! And you know what? It's actually so simple, once you see how it works, that you're going to be fine. It just seems overwhelming because a) Sanseri throws out too many details at once, and b) it's not the way you did things. Use my guide, do what it says, THEN go back and read the manual a few months from now. Even feel free to throw it at the wall if you want, hehe. I know I did when I started. :)

Imperfectly done is better than nothing. You can do this and you're NOT gonna screw it up! :)

[Stacey in MA]

Yes, I really want to just get GOING on this stupid thing! And yes, I have wanted to throw the book against the wall a time or two, even already! ha! But since I don't know the program, I wasn't sure how much I could reasonably omit, so I thought I'd better read and do it all. YES, she puts way to much detail in the start, and she is all over the place in her explanations. Yikes!!

Elizabeth, I am so, so, sooooo glad you have shared that quick start guide!! Thank you! I will look at it tonight and see if I can make some sense of it.

God bless, all!
- Stacey in MA

[Meliss]

When I got started using SWR years ago, I just stayed one step ahead of my kids. I didn't try to understand it all before I started. I only did one list in my log before I taught my kids the next day. I understood more and more as I went along and just did it! I've noticed that oftentimes the people who try to wrap their head around it before beginning end up quitting.

[siloam]

Stacey,

I took wanted to chuck it out the window more than once, but I am glad I stuck with it.

Heather