Classical Homeschooling Newsletter

Spelling:
Edited by Lene M. Jaqua
MikeJaqua@worldnet.att.net

This article is dedicated to all the wonderful ladies on the Trivium list, who posted about spelling techinques, curricula and web sites, especially Mary Ellen DeLong, whose posts inspired me to write up this article. Much of the material here is taken from what she wrote. Thanks, ME --lmj

Pre-Grammar Stage Spelling:

Reading preceeds spelling. Teach your children to read with a solid phonics program. Use the phonics words to incorporate a little spelling into your phonics lessons without purchasing anything new.

In first grade just dictate words from the phonics lessons. Often writing is still a fine motor challenge, so let them use little blocks (like Scrabble letters) to do their spelling. Also, you could make a sheet on the computer with the alphabet and then cut them into squares for the child to use for spelling. They can be laminated to last longer. For a fun spelling drill, start with a simple word and then change one letter only several times, finally winding up at the first word. Do this with the Scrabble blocks. Ex: fun, sun, sin, fin, fan, man, mat, hat, fat, fan, fun.

Copy Book:
Tracing and writing letters, tracing words and finally being able to copy words also preceed formal spelling. The time-honored method of copybook is the one of best ways to teach every aspect of the mechanics of the writing process in the Grammar Stage. Children's spelling and WRITING improves dramatically after doing daily copybook exercises.

Formal spelling in the Grammar Stage:

Starting somewhere between 2nd and 3rd grade when writing is not so much of a challenge, formal spelling begins.

There seems to be two approaches to the choice of spelling words:

1) Learning to spell the most common words of the English language (such as mentioned on Ayers list). This could also involve practising spelling of misspelt words from copybook or other writing exercises, picking words from the back of the McGuffey spelling lesson or from another reading book.

2) Systematic Spelling such as a list built from word-family combinations of phonemes gradually increasing in complexity. Webster's Blue Backed Speller is an excellent example of this, but there are many newer and more "homeschool-mom friendly" spelling programs out there using a similar approach. The Blue-Backed Speller, a mid-19th century spelling book, begins by listing the alphabet. Next, Webster presents the sounds of the letters, followed by the phonograms (simple one-syllable letter combinations) in a list. The spelling word lists start off with one syllable, single short-vowel words and progress to long-vowel words and phonograms, increasing in complexity, finishing with multi-syllable words. The book costs $8 and contains spelling lists from 1st through 10th grade. The word lists are grouped in spelling patterns such as, a-ble, fa-ble, ta-ble, ca-ble, la-ble, sta-ble, en-a- ble, in-a-ble, un-a-ble, un-sta-ble. In addition, the book contains lists of suffixes, prefixes, and word endings such as /ble/

Most of the moms contributing to this discussion used a mix of both types of spelling list, some common word usage spelling and some systematic word-family spelling as well.

SPELLING: Teaching, Training and Testing

Once you have chosen your spelling lists and rules to cover for the year, here is one way to proceed on a weekly basis:

Day 1) Go over the new words with child, discussing sounds, syllabications, pre- or suffixes and spelling rules (For dialectic stage children you also want to go over root word, meaning and language of origin).
Dictate the day's spelling words, check for misspelt words. Place those words on the study sheet (see study sheet suggestion below). The child finishes study sheet alone and writes his mispelt words in mom's special notebook for the 6 week review of misspellings.

Day 2) Teach today's new words. Dictate/test yesterday's mispelt word plus today's words, place misspelt words on study sheet, etc. (like day 1).

Day 3 & 4) same as above.

Day 5) Same as above, with the exception that no new words are dictated, instead, do phonogram and rule review.

Every six weeks) Review ALL the words previously mispelled by using the list in the notebook where the children wrote down their misspelt words. This review is critical, especially for children who on short term memory can ace a test, but are unable to spell the word a few days later.

Spelling Study Sheets:
You create a generic word study sheet, using the 10 steps below. Laminate the study sheet and place it in the child's Language Arts 3-ring binder. The child uses a "vis-a-vis" pen to write on the sheet and erases with a "Wet One" when done.

The Study Sheet contains 10 steps:
(...These ideas are largely taken from Spelling Power...)

1)Say the word
2) Look at the parts of the word: Divide the syllables, mark the phonograms and note the rules etc.
(Older children will note root word, pre- and suffixes as well.)
3) Pronounce the word and say its letters carefully
4)Close eyes, visualize word and spell -
5)Check the word for acurracy, if not correct repeat steps 4 and 5
6) Trace and say the word in sand or other medium; we do it on the carpet
7) Check for accuracy
8) Write the word, in the 6 week review notebook.
9) Check for accuracy; if it's wrong, repeat the previous steps
10) Write a sentence using the study word.

Looking for Spelling Rules?
Many of the fancier spelling programs such as Spelling Workout, Spelling Power, Grammar of Spelling and others come complete with worksheets and spelling rules. BUT if you are on the "Webster Budget plan" or are using other "cheap" spelling lists, and are looking for lists of spelling rules , The Bluedorn's , who re-marketed the Webster speller, also sell their "English Encoder/Decoder" for $5. It is a comprehensive list of phonics and spelling rules.

Christine Miller of Classical Christian Homeschooling, at her web site recommends "The ABC's and All Their Tricks" for everyone as a teaching resource for spelling and phonics rules.

On-line :

For some basic spelling rules, check out the Rigg's Institute 28 spelling rules They are very concise and easy to use, and even include a few examples of words illustrating the rules.

Here is a spelling site online: www.mcdougallittell.com/lit/spelling/howto.htm containing a complete program of lists and lessons for spelling for the dialectic stage, sixth through eighth grade, including word studies and root words.

For drill, there's a shareware program called "Ray's Spelling" that dictates spelling words, and you can input your own lists using your computer's microphone www.aaanet.net.au/software/children /raysspelling.htm

In addition, Scott-Foresman/Addision-Wesley has a 1 - 8th grade spelling web site with tips, rules, tests etc: www.everydayspelling.com

Another web site with spelling rules, spelling words, et.c. can be found at Language skills I - VII The seven Language Skills Titles teach word usage, spelling, usage in context, pronunciation, and alphabetizing for over 4,000 of the most commonly-used words in the English language. Without purchasing their program, you can use their tables of spelling words and rules as a guide, or a nice reference list of what your student should be able to spell at a particular grade level, OR you can use it as a supplement to Webster's or which ever spelling list you decide to use.