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Spelling/Vocab- What to do, what to do?


DragonFaerie
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DS is a terrible speller. Really bad. He reads on or even a little above grade level. He's very creative with his writing, and it's coming along well. He does well with grammar. But he cannot spell to save his life, and I am at a loss.

 

He is using Sequential Spelling right now, and it's going very well. He can spell words like recommend, befriended, and excited. But then he can NOT spell first (frist), hard (hrad), or left (lefl).

 

He's been using Wordly Wise online for vocabulary. It's been okay. The big problem I have with the program online is that it lets him just click and click until he eventually hits on the right answer and then move on. He can get a 25% on an activity and still move on to the next. Not acceptable in my home school. So, I am switching him to the Wordly Wise books because I really like the program. Vocabulary-wise, he is on grade level.

 

With DD, I combined spelling and vocab simply by having her vocab list from WW also be her spelling list for the week. But, that won't work for DS because while he can handle the vocabulary, he is not ready to spell these words. I'm hesitant to stop Sequential Spelling because he is learning a lot using it. But how do I fix his problems with spelling "easy" words? I have Soaring With Spelling that we could use, but that seems like overkill adding in yet another program. Should I just add SWS even though his day is already fairly full? Should I switch spelling programs, even though he's doing really well with SS? Should I not worry about his inability to spell basic kindergarten and first grade words and hope that he'll eventually learn them through other means? Is he just a "bad speller" and there's nothing I can do about it? Ugh. Help?

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Yeah, it's not for us. It seems a lot like AAS, and that didn't work out well, either. A lot of my problem is that his reading level is just fine, so going back to phonics seems like overkill. I'm thinking about adding the SWS but using it more like Sequential Spelling. We'll do the pretest and stop and correct each word as we go along. Then he can do the daily exercises along with writing sentences with the words and maybe writing the words 3x each or something. In an effort to avoid too much work each day, I'm thinking I may stretch each week of both SWS and WW into two weeks. It'll take longer that way, obviously, but maybe more time with the words will help. Surely at some point, his basic spelling will catch up with what he's learning through SS. I hope.

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He is using Sequential Spelling right now, and it's going very well. He can spell words like recommend, befriended, and excited. But then he can NOT spell first (frist), hard (hrad), or left (lefl).

 

Should I switch spelling programs, even though he's doing really well with SS? Should I not worry about his inability to spell basic kindergarten and first grade words and hope that he'll eventually learn them through other means? Is he just a "bad speller" and there's nothing I can do about it? Ugh. Help?

 

 

These two parts of your post lead me to think that no, I wouldn't switch programs (and adding something on to an already full day would probably just lead to him giving less focused attention--not what you want when you are trying to increase his retention).

 

Instead, I would add in a couple of tools:

 

One, when he writes something like "frist," ask him to read "exactly" what he wrote. If he says "first" without really looking at it, say, "I would pronounce that 'frist.' We want first. Do you know how to fix it?" You want him segmenting his words in order and thinking through each sound.

 

Does he say the sounds as he writes them? Encourage him to do this, even if it's not natural and he balks. This is a strategy that would really help him to not mix up the order of the sounds, or put in incorrect letters (like the L at the end of left--though perhaps he just forgot to cross his t).

 

Second, if he has some trouble words that come up again and again (frequently used words that are typically misspelled in his papers), have him keep his own private dictionary of commonly misspelled words or tricky words (homophones or words with unusual spellings). Before he turns in a paper, have him check it against his list of tricky words and correct those.

 

I will say that phonics as it applies to spelling is not the same thing as phonics that applies to reading--it goes deeper and is more involved. With reading, you only have to know how to pronounce the sound. With spelling, you have to know the different ways to write a sound, and whether there are rules or other strategies that help you decide which sound to use. That's why you go back to the beginning with phonics in a program like AAS, Spalding, & others.

 

Anyway, have him work on saying the sounds as he writes and reading exactly what he writes, and you'll make some progress on those smaller words where he is reversing letter order. HTH some! Merry :-)

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Thanks for the suggestions, Merry. I do already point out his misspellings, and I walk through each word helping him to hear the appropriate letters. I also frequently help him sound out words when he asks how to spell something that is easily phonetic. So far it just isn't "sticking."

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Marcia Henry's Words! It starts with easy words like you explained, then moves up to Latin and Greek word roots, and combines spelling and word root study/vocab. The samples are from early on, the later words are 8 - 12th grade level words.

 

http://www.proedinc.com/customer/productView.aspx?id=989

 

It is a very efficient book, several years worth of material packed into one book, and you can print an unlimited number of worksheets from it and then later sell it!

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Marcia Henry's Words! It starts with easy words like you explained, then moves up to Latin and Greek word roots, and combines spelling and word root study/vocab. The samples are from early on, the later words are 8 - 12th grade level words.

 

http://www.proedinc....iew.aspx?id=989

 

It is a very efficient book, several years worth of material packed into one book, and you can print an unlimited number of worksheets from it and then later sell it!

 

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll check it out.

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