wathe Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 Hi All, I am very new here. I hope I've posted in the right place. My question: When should I expect my child to transition from invented spelling to standard spelling? Do I correct invented spelling? My just-turned-seven year old son is a reluctant writer. Just in the past few weeks, he has become more enthusiastic and initiated a few little creative writing projects of his own. His writing contains quite a bit of invented spelling. Which is new for him because other than copywork he's never done any real writing before. I understand that invented spelling is a normal developmental stage. How long do I expect it to last? Do I correct it? I want him to learn to spell properly, yet at the same time I really want to encourage this new enthusiasm for writing. Examples: Today we did a "word race" from Peggy Kaye's Games for Writing. The goal was to write down as many verbs as he could in ten minutes. He was interested and fully engaged. Here's his list: run, walk, eet (eat), yon (yawn), sleep, control, biled (build), woch (watch), clime (climb), crime (not a verb, but spelled correctly), look, play, wreck, paddel (paddle), wake, jump, snore. He also wrote a little poem for fun: "Bees eat pees (peas) well (while) they wate (wait) to sneez (sneeze)." Background information: He's my oldest kiddo. Has never had any formal schooling outside the home. Fine motor: His fine motor skills were slow to develop. He's used Handwriting Without Tears. Just in the last few months has his handwriting become fluid (legible, can copy a few sentences without fatigue, not painfully slow). Success! Reading: Strong reader. Reads for hours daily for fun. Finished OPGTR more than a year ago. Has read the entire Ramona series and every Boxcar Children book our library has. My grade one reading "program" has been to give him stacks of books, and inevitably hear all about the plots the next day from his non-reading, very talkative little brother. Writing: WWE level 1. He has just finished week 11. We've just started Peggy Kaye's Games for Writing - taking advantage of his new interest in writing. Spelling: Spelling Workout A. Very nearly finished the book. Aces it. Thanks very much for you insight! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 You might want to copy and repost this also on the K-8 curriculum board. You'll get some more input there. My input. For creative writing, I wouldn't correct his spelling at this point. For a game where he's supposed to quickly come up with verbs (which he did very well), I wouldn't correct his spelling. I would correct it on spelling pages. And on copywork. Eventually I would take his writing and have him edit it himself. Have him read it over to look for mistakes. Then I would correct any he misses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barb_ Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 What Jean said. You don't want to squash his budding enthusiasm, but you should be gently guiding him at the appropriate times. Always help him spell words when he asks you to. It's a multi year process and balance is essential. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wathe Posted January 15, 2015 Author Share Posted January 15, 2015 Thank you both. This is helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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