What Works this Week - Dec 6th

So, what is working for us this week?  (Hm, seems like I'm just talking about different programs - but hey, they are working for me....)  This week - what is working is - All About Spelling, along with ANKI.

Yes, this isn't a Charlotte Mason method of learning.  In Charlotte Mason, spelling is learned through a progression of Copywork, Transcription, and then Studied Dictation.   Studied Dictation starts at about age 9 or 10, so often CM students seem behind in spelling when compared to students of other methods, including public school.  Many CM students just blossom in spelling when they start Studied Dictation - but a few don't.

When Delta turned 9 last year, we tried to start studied dictation.  I came to realize though that I had tried to skip the transcription step though, as Delta struggled with it - and of course the studied dictation was a disaster.  Even the simplest words seemed too hard.... we moved back to transcription but even that was too hard.

This took me into looking for alternatives.  I tried out a couple of different things, including some older public-domain texts.  But still, I saw no sense of spelling at all.  In doing research, I came to realize that Delta might have dyslexia, even though he was reading fairly well.  (He is struggling a bit with reading as well.)  It was actually the All About Spelling website that clued me in that poor spelling could be a sign of dyslexia.

I don't have any examples of Delta's early spelling mistakes - but they were right out there.... even with 3 letter words.  You couldn't see how he came up with them at all.  Here are some examples of dyslexic spelling from another website (longer words) just to give you an idea...

"... for example substance spelled 'sepedns', last spelled 'lenaka', about spelled 'chehat', may spelled 'mook', did spelled 'don', or to spelled 'anianiwe'.

Yes, although we were working on easier types of words - that was what I was seeing in Delta's spelling and attempts to write.

I might have put things off for another year, trying to move the copywork up to transcription - but Delta was aware of his inability to 'write' from other activities, and was frustrated and feeling badly.  He was asking me to teach him to write.   I decided to try All About Spelling.

We got All About Spelling, Level 1 last January or February.  I started both Delta and Echo (who had a few similar symptoms, although she was younger).   At first I used one method to track cards - I used a pencil and lightly wrote their initial when they started a card - and when it could be moved to mastered I put a small star sticker in their colour on it.  (Of course when they both had it mastered, it also moved into mastered.)  I did their lessons separately, so they could progress at their own rate.   This was working "ok", but I decided to use ANKI instead.

I've written a blog post about using ANKI previously, but briefly it is a smart flashcard program that tries to determine the optimum time to show you the flashcard to give you the best chance to remember it, while not showing it to you too often and wasting your time.  It provides for more review than All About Spelling, and I can have the same "cards" for the kids.  I can use my tablet, or the computer, or even use the internet on my phone - they all sync together.

The change has been remarkable.  Delta has finished level 1, and is a little way into level 2.  He gets the words he has learned through the program correct most of the time - but even better, he gets similar words correct too.

Generally how we do a lesson - I set a timer for 15 minutes... that is how long we do a day.   We start with the review words using ANKI and using tiles.  The number of review words can be as low as 3 or 4, in which case we move on, or could be larger like 20 or 30, such as on a Monday (reviews build up on the weekend) and/or when we have added new words after a 'step' (about 10 new ones for each step)   If there is a large number of reviews, we will do the reviews for 5-10 minutes, depending on the child's focus.

After doing the reviews, we proceed to working on the steps.  Generally we have some phrases (or sentences) to write - but we might just be up to writing the new words on paper.   If it is writing the words, then we do all of them, and that is generally the end of the lesson (we may do a few more reviews if there are still some.)  If we are up to writing phrases or sentences, then we will do from 3 to 6 of those.  If there is still time left, I may start teaching the concepts in the next step - leaving the rest of the phrases or sentences for the next day.

So in general, we do reviews, some writing, and some working on the next step.  When we get to the new words in a step, those are added to the reviews, and the 'review' portion of our lesson is a bit longer - until ANKI is showing those words as learned.  It generally works out that we are ready to start the writing portion of a step nicely after completing the writing portion of the previous step.

It sounds more complicated than it is - but it did take me a while to work out the working on the next step while doing the writing part of the previous step.

On Fridays we do a spelling bee with the "More Words" for each child (also added to ANKI).

And - how do I know it is working?  Delta is more likely to write things now - not long things - but stuff up on the white board, or in a drawing.  He sometimes asks me how to spell a word - and he does at times spell incorrectly - but he is willing to try.  He spells so much better than he did, and I think his reading has improved as well.  Echo is spelling better as well (she hasn't quite finished level 1).

I don't know if we will do ALL the levels of All About Spelling - but for now it is working great!

Still Working For Us

- SkedTracker - working great - more work is getting done each day since we started!
- Cubs/Beavers
- Sassmannshaus Violin - although they don't argue to do practices first anymore.... expect an update soon!

Not Working For Us Anymore

- Children's Miracle Music - well, I just use this now and then anyway.... it works as a once-in-a-while item.

The many uses of Anki!

Quite a while ago, I posted that I was using a free flashcard program for things like Scriptures and other memory work.  However, it has become a lot more useful as time goes on - and I expect I'll find more uses for it as time goes one.

First off, what is ANKI?  Anki is a Spaced Repetition System flashcard program.  When you are first learning or memorizing something, you need to review it often for it to be remembered.  But as time goes on, you don't need to review as often to continue to remember it.  An SRS program uses the feedback you provide it for each 'card" on how easily you remembered it (or if you forgot it) to determine when you should review it again.  Things you remembered easily won't be reviewed for a longer time.  Things you forgot will be reviewed very soon.  This way you can spend the most time with the cards that need the most review.  It is a much more efficient way to learn and memorize basic information.  (There can be some drawbacks to that... but overall it is working well.)

One thing that is nice that was recently added is the ability to have more than one "profile" for Anki on the computer.  This is very important for us, as I'm using it for each of us.

So - what are we using it for?

Well, first off - we are using it for our Scripture Memory.  I have a list of scriptures we are working on.  The ones we aren't working on yet are "suspended" so they don't get presented.  Once the "new" scripture is learned (and Anki does tell you how many cards are "new", so as we generally only work on one) - I then unsuspend the next one.  Meanwhile, each day, we are given a few to review.  Along the same lines, we use it for other similar things to memorize.  Scouting promises, poetry, etc.

The next possibility - which we AREN'T doing yet - is also fairly obvious.  And that is to learn vocabulary for a foreign language.  This is fairly obvious, as that was what Anki was developed for.  The Lifeprint ASL course does have some sentence flashcards which I will probably add to ANKI.

Next thing we use it for is our All About Spelling.  This is a natural use, as AAS uses flashcards.  By using ANKI, I don't have to drag out the cards, and I don't have to try to keep track of the words for multiple kids (or have several sets of cards.)  I don't have to decide myself if a card is mastered or not.  I've entered all the cards in, and suspend them until we have done the learning portion of the lesson.  I've also entered the extra words (into a separate card "deck") so that we can study these too.  Although we are using pretty much the basic settings for review (and this works quite well for my students) - it might be too much review for some....  the settings can be adjusted.

The Dancing Bears program I'm using to work on improving reading also had some flashcards (similar ones to the phongrams for AAS).  So we have a deck for those.

And then Math is another great place to use it.  A simple use would be to setup the basic operations to memorize.  RightStart Math doesn't recommend rote memorization of the operations through flashcards, so I haven't put them in.  What I've done, however, is enter in the Practice Sheets.  I let ANKI tell me which Practice Sheet should be done by the student. We generally only do 1 a day, and when all the ones we are working on are mastered, I unsuspend a few more.  Basically, if they get any wrong on the practice sheet, it is marked as "Again" (that is, not correct.)  If they seemed to struggle with it, I mark it as "Hard".  If they didn't seem to struggle, but took a while to do it, it is marked as "Good".  If they do it fairly quickly, then it is marked as "Easy".

Something I have just added in very recently is the RightStart Math Games.  I'm going to try out letting ANKI figure out our Math Games.  I'm hoping to do a lot of math games this summer, and hopefully this will give us a good suggestion on the best way to use our game time.

Finally, there is one other thing I've used Anki before in the past.  However, it was an earlier version, and required a plug-in and a lot of tweaking.  I haven't really tried it in the new version yet, as I didn't get it quite how I want it.  I feel that Anki could be used very well for this with a LOT of tweaking with the settings.  And that is for our Suzuki music practice.  In theory, if I could find the right settings, I could have it help us decide which songs to practice each day - so that we focus on the songs that NEED more practice, and just do occasional reviews on the other songs.  But with anything close to the default settings, the songs would quickly move to hardly being practiced at all.  Because the goal with the music practice isn't to memorize the song, but to play it well.  And that takes more practice.

So far, I've been very happy with our use of ANKI.  My kids aren't using it on their own - I use it to tell me what to work on with them.  (So for instance, with the AAS cards, it shows me the word for them to spell.  Yes, in theory, I could have put an audio file on the "side 1" with me saying the word, and then them typing the word in - then check against the answer - but I just use it like the AAS program would have me use the physical cards.

One minor problem I have found is when you add things into ANKI to review that is already well known.  It takes ANKI a bit of time of reviewing things with you before it knows that you know it.  Yes, answering "Easy" moves the time to review further in the future... but you will still be reviewing the card more often than you need for a while.  In theory you can adjust the card manually, but I haven't played with that.  It can be a bit of a problem though when you start using ANKI for a subject partway through a course/program.  So, for instance, starting using ANKI for AAS 10 lessons in....  expect to spend some time reviewing for a bit!  It is minor, but can be a bit annoying.

A couple of more pieces of advice.... Don't go crazy and start reviewing large numbers of new cards all at once.  This is common for people to do once they discover this program, and can cause a large number of review cards due all at once.  A similar problem will occur after a long break.  (We see it a bit after a weekend.... and I'm a bit worried about after summer!)  AND - If you do find that you have a large number of reviews due (say after the summer) - the advice is to decide on a length of time to work on it, set a timer, and stop at that point for the day. Don't reset the deck - that would put you in a worse position!