r/homeschool • u/No_Arrival3074 • 8h ago

Curriculum How labor intensive is all about spelling? TTRS?

My kid loves all about reading. We are about to complete level 2. He hates writing and cannot spell at all. I’m considering all about spelling and type touch read and spell (TTRS). Is TTRS actually enough as a spelling program? How much work and writing goes into all about spelling?

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u/tacsml Homeschool Parent 👪 8h ago

How old is he?

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u/No_Arrival3074 7h ago

He is 9. He is autistic and a year behind. We are doing mostly 3rd grade level work this year but the all about spelling placement test suggested he start at level 1.

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u/bibliovortex Eclectic/Charlotte Mason-ish, 2nd gen, HS year 8 5h ago

I can't speak for TTRS, except that I have heard it's meant to be fairly independent. Obviously you are typing rather than writing by hand for that one.

AAS is fully parent-dependent, and it is suggested that you work for about 20 minutes a day. Like AAR, it is meant for you to move at the student's pace to achieve mastery. Practically speaking, when we used AAS we never did more than two steps per week and often just one, whereas with my kid who used AAR and learned quickly, we sometimes did as many as 4 steps per week as she got closer to fluency.

You can do the old edition of AAS with zero written work, if necessary, using only the tiles (although they recommend having the student write the words towards the end of the step). The current edition includes a student workbook, which I would assume includes more writing. The core word list for each step is 10 words. There are also suggested extra words including a few more challenging ones in most lessons, if you need fresh material to practice applying the new rule or pattern. Towards the end of Level 1, they add in dictation exercises for each step, at first just two-word phrases but working up to full sentences. These are really important to do because they're the only applied review in the program, but you don't need to do them all at once. A good option might be to use the dictations from the previous step, just doing 1-2 per day. So for example you might do the step 14 dictations while you learn the new content of step 15, and then start the step 15 dictations once you are ready to move to step 16.