"Intellectual distinction is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for election to a Rhodes Scholarship. Selection committees are charged to seek excellence in qualities of mind and in qualities of person which, in combination, offer the promise of effective service to the world in the decades ahead. The Rhodes Scholarships, in short, are investments in individuals rather than in project proposals..."

Friday, April 9, 2010

More on Spell to Write and Read

Subtitled : The Success Story:

If you will remember, the reason I was going to use SWR was because of my 11 year old son. He struggles with handwriting and spelling. Last year, he spelled at a 3rd grade level. I worked with him last year using word families (big mistake). He did progress one grade level, according the SWR placement test. The end of August, he placed 4th grade, 1st month. Seven weeks later, just before his standardized test, he placed 5th grade, 4th month. His handwriting is amazing (for him) and he is so proud. He tested 5th grade 3rd month on the standardized test (so I believe both proved each other out). I am just astounded that he would make such significant progress. When I tested him the end of March, he scored above grade level - 6th grade 9th month.

His handwriting is amazing. It's not flowery or perfect, but it's legible. I seriously couldn't even read his printing at the beginning of the year. We used the Cursive First packet almost exclusively the first week, just working on our cursive. Then we reviewed the a-z phonograms with cursive then the multi letter phonograms before we started doing lists. He does do copywork on a regular basis now and while his visual memory skills are still not great (he sometimes loses his place while copying) he can do it, without complaining.

The Spell to Write and Read has changed our lives. My son says he LOVES Spell to Write and Read. It has changed all of our lives.

On a side note: My 10 year old daughter is a natural speller. She has finished Spell to Write and Read. She loved it, too. She loved it so much, in fact, that she begged for about 100 words a week. She would spell them, quiz them and then use them in sentences. We're moving on to Latin and Greek with her so she can better understand word etymology.

1 comment:

RealMom4Life said...

I'm glad you found something to work for your son. It's so tough on them (and us) when they struggle with something. He should be very proud! We've never used that program but we have come across a few other gems that finally clicked and made all the difference!

Also, in case you haven't heard of it and have an interest. My kids use www.spellingcity.com. You can enter your own words lists (my 2 oldest daughters enter them) and the kids can play games and test themselves, there are also lists on there you can use. It really works great for my better spellers, for my more struggling speller it serves as a reinforcement/extra practice with the words I am helping him with.