Sonlight and Spelling

Is spelling included in Sonlight cores(is it enough?) or do I need to buy a separate program? I am already adding on handwriting for my 2nd and 4th graders. I’m also buying a grammar program for my 4th grader. I love the look of the sonlight program, but this is all adding up quickly!

It really does add up quickly! I too am doing SL this year and had to add my Math, Science and grammar/writing program and I am also thinking of adding spelling. We are already finishing up week 2 of SL. In the long run SL is worth it because you get loads of books you will use again, but in the now it costs plenty (especially coming from Canada when the US dollar is higher right now).

SL spelling is very much:
Day 1- introduce the spelling rule and words
Day 2- Pretest (write the words)
Day 3- Check (go over misspelled words, use in sentence)
Day 4- Post test (spelling test like day 2)
Day 5- use any misspelled words in a sentence

We are using the spelling provided with SL for now, and if they introduce words with a particular rule rather than random lists of words it may just work for us. (I would have to do a few more weeks to see how that works out). If not and if I find that the rules aren’t sticking I may have to go with something like AAS.
I would suggest if you have the money and the time, see if SL spelling will work for you while you put money aside, so that if you find it doesn’t work you can drop their spelling, and you will already have money set aside to purchase something new, but if SL is working then you still have some money set aside for something else. That’s what I’m planning to do for us. :slight_smile: hope this helps.

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Thanks for replying! I was thinking about just waiting until we try it out and then see what, if anything, needs added. How do you feel about the phonics part of sonlight? That’s the other thing I was concerned about.

I’m really not sure about the phonics, we are doing grade 3 so it is focusing on spelling using phonics rules rather than actual phonics, but I do know that SL has an optional recommendation of Explode the Code for phonics. Have you tried asking on the Sonlight forums? People on there are very helpful. :slight_smile:

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Spelling is included in lower levels, but not in Cores D and higher. I found it difficult to match reading, writing, and spelling levels, so we used a separate spelling. But since it comes with, try it and see how it works for you. You can always try something different later if it doesn’t work out.

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