Nov. 8, 2005 - Spelling Help
Copy of email to a friend who asked what we do for spelling...
First, for any creative writing/ my boys hated writing anything because spelling was SO hard for them. What I do (and will do until their writing/spelling is better) is they tell me what they want to say, I type it up and print it out... and they use it for copy work. We also use our memory verse each week for copywork as well... as well as letters to grandma's "Thank You's" etc.
I am using English from the roots up that teaches the Greek and Latin roots to words (helps explain some of those odd spellings later!) that the kids love doing. All of the kids do it together ~ we review words, find words that have the roots, etc. That is technically our "vocab" at the moment, but its building a good base for spelling, and getting them used to paying attention to the spelling of words. We review the meaning, have them spell the words backwards and forwards (taking turns, they LOVE getting to spell things backwards!!) Abyni even knows most of them. SHe'll hold the word cards and "test" everyone else on their spelling.
Also ~ I got a book from the Library called "Better Spelling in 5 Minutes" by Mark Pennington. I am using that for the worksheets (a little ~ I'm not much of a worksheet kinda girl:) and each week we go over a new spelling rule, copy down the "rhyme" from the book that helps teach the rule, etc. We have spelling quizzes, and I sometimes have them write a sentence (after they're pretty confident of the spelling words) that includes a LOT fo spelling words. For instance, "The Chief saw the neighbor's field from the ceiling." Kind of thing. That seems to have built my kids confidence a LOT... just being bale to spell a few kinds of words correctly is really doing wonders!
For Sprite, all we ever did was copywork, and her spelling is fantastic (it wasn't BEFORE copywork!) but the boys definitely needed something more!
It may sound like a lot of writing, but actually its spread out so there isn't too much in any one day. Most of it is a LOT of verbal exercises and drills.
Hope that helps!
