week 2 - what's working, what's not

I know, I know, it's only week two... but sometimes things either really click or they don't.

First up... one that's working....

Evan Moor's Daily Paragraph Editing

My I Spy loving son thinks this is the coolest thing.... a grammar I Spy! He has declared it his favorite thing (after math, of course). This makes me happy because we struggled with finding a language arts program that engaged him. This is not a language arts program, but it makes it possible to skim through some of the dry repetition of our grammar program because of all of the practice he's getting here. I got the regular ebook (not the enhanced one) from CurrClick and I love being able to print my own copies as I need them instead of having to actually make copies.

The one that's not...
Sequential Spelling Book 1

Okay... that's unfair to say. It is working, but I had counted on using it for both kids at the same time and that's not going to happen. Let's start with Alex... he enjoys it, so much more than any other spelling program we've tried. He "gets" the patterns they use and is improving his spelling. Clara on the other hand, is no longer using the program. I will try again in a few months so they are not on the same word list. When will I ever learn that it is not a good idea (no matter how appealing it seems) to have both of my kids using the same book at the same place at the same time? Clara struggled to see the patterns, which was made worse by the fact that they came easily to Alex. Just because the grade range encompasses both kids, I should learn to keep them as separate as possible. I'm hoping after a few months of learning, coupled with doing spelling separate from Alex will help her enjoy this program because I, personally, am really liking it.

We have some other things that are going over well... but I'm going to give them another week before I blog about them... don't want to jinx anything yet! :-)