Anyone have any opinions on which they like better and why? Also, what do you suggest to go along with it to teach my son punctuation and such? Thanks.
Spelling Power has been the best I've found to teach spelling. It covers approx 3rd grade to 12th grade so it's a very good investment. I've used it with great success with 2 of my kids. The younger one is not quite ready for it yet, but when she is, she'll use it, too.
Not familiar with AAS, but we've liked Spelling Power. We've loved Rod and Staff for grammar (including puctuation), though we didn't start that young.
Thank you for the replies. So Jackie, do you think 2nd grade is too young to begin teaching grammar? Do you think 2nd grade is too young to use Spelling Power?
No, I didn't say that. I don't know, really. I've never been a grammar person. I LOVED English, but hated grammar! So I didn't worry about it too much with Rachael or Faythe. Then we did Easy Grammar, with both girls, when they were 11 and 13. After that, someone convinced me to do R&S (Deena, I think!). Phillip was 3rd by then, so that's when I started him with R&S. I simply don't know what they have for younger kids, 'cause I never used it. I did "try" different language...Simple Grammer, Learning Language Arts Through Literature, Language Lessons for the Very Young. Most of them were very Charlotte Mason, but I found them very hit-and-miss. LLftVY I did like for Kindergarten or 1st. Very gentle for young children.
I haven't used Spelling Power, but I have used AAS. It is a good program. It goes over the rules of spelling in a methodical manner. There is a fair bit of memorizing involved (i.e. memorizing all the different sounds a letter can make, memorizing the spelling rules) and the words aren't too difficult. It is pricier than many other programs and is a good fit if your child needs a rule-based approach to learning to spell. I tried it out with two kids. It worked a little better with one than the other. Memorization was a turn-off, but mostly it didn't suit my teaching style because it was scripted and methodical. As for grammar for a 2nd grader - I have a second grader this coming year. I used Mad Libs and a simple Evan-Moore grammar workbook with him last year. He loved the Mad Libs. It gave a great introduction to the parts of speech. This next year I am using a combination of Grammar Rock videos, Heart of a Child Operation English Grammar lapbook, and free workbook pages from here http://www.sfreading.com/resources/ghb.html
Thank you! Do you have any particular Mad Libs that you recommend? Oh, and thank you for the link. Going to check it out!
I'd go by what interests your child. I picked up mine at Rainbow Resource Center and they have a great variety of them.
I bought this one, and we've laughed ourselves sick on it: http://www.amazon.com/Best-Mad-Libs...=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1311030898&sr=1-1
