Spelling with Charlotte Mason in mind

[tld]

I'm not 100% Charlotte Mason in my teaching philosphy, but I do like a lot of what she stands for in education.

 

I believe Charlotte Mason recommended spelling instruction beginning the end of 3rd grade through 9th grade. And her primary means was via dicatation. I believe some of the reason for this is the thinking that they need to learn to read and write well first so they aren't thinking so much about the mechanics of writing and can focus on picturing the words first.

 

I like the idea of my kids learning spelling rules and I was heavily contemplating doing All About Spelling next year with my 1st grader. We'll be finishing All About Reading level 1 this year, and after completion of that level, the company recommends starting All About Spelling. I like the ideas of the two programs complementing each other, but I know it's not CM-like, and so that's why I'm questioning it.

 

If we don't to AAS, there won't be a writing componant to his phonics/reading instruction. Is that a big deal if he seems to be progessing in his reading without it?

 

I've heard a couple people say that they suspect kids are too young in 1st and 2nd grade to really remember spelling rules. Does anyone have experience with this one way or the other? Is there an advantage to starting spelling with children right away?

 

On the long-term, do any of you teach spelling all the way through 9th grade, and does it look different in the older years?

 

All thoughts on this are welcome as I try to figure out the route I will take with spelling instruction.

[km123175]

My oldest daughter was an early and avid reader - still is an avid reader. She did not internalize spelling through copywork as other folks suggested would occur with good literature.

 

We've been doing spelling lessons and it is only recenlty (she's 8 1/2) that some of the spelling stuff is sticking. Granted she's only in 2nd/3rd grade now, but I've found - for her that doing spelling lessons earlier just frustrated me to no end and didn't help with her writing/spelling much.

 

I will say that previous to now, I have not done dictation as CM suggested - with studied (or whatever it's called, it left my head at the moment) dictation. I used more of the WTM method, of copy work one day and then dictation of the same passage another day.

 

Now, she is (at least partly) interested in spelling correctly. :) I'm doing some spelling lessons with her from the Wand (Bravewriter) and she at least understands that phonics as something to do with spelling.

 

My 2nd child (6 years old) is a much more natural speller (reluctant reader) and writer - she "gets" that spelling is based on sound and that there is a specific way to spell something.

 

I'm not even goingto attempt to "teach" spelling to the younger one for at least another year, although when she does copy work and notices a different spelling than she expected we'll talk about it, and maybe add it to her word wall.

 

I don't know if that was any help at all. I've never used AAS; so, I'm not sure about that specifically.