Spelling question...

[stephanie]

What are your fave programs for a poor speller? My ds9 is very bright and excels in everything he does except spelling. It's really odd b/c he amazes me at how high his comprehension is in math, language, sciences, etc. Then we get to spelling and he has so much trouble. We now use SWO,and he does well with rule memorization, but once he starts to write, it's like everything goes out the window. My dh is the same way. He is very intelligent, but can't spell to save his life. I don't know any curriculums to post a poll so any recommendations would be nice. Thanks!:confused:

[Susie in CA]

I would stick with SWO for practice and memorising the rules etc. When you have him write things for History, Science, Enlish, etc. I suggest to let him concentrate on content only. Then either later that day or the next day go through the paper with him and correct all the errors. He can re-write it then without the errors.

 

My son has the same challange. He can't seem to write and think of spelling and grammar at the same time. I do see a lot of improvement in both his writing and spelling since we started doing it this way. I hope this helps.

 

Susie

[Rhonda@LivingWater]

even for a student who is NOT a Natural Speller. I like how it is broken down into "families" because it seems to help the student learn in an understandable way. It is for grades 1-8 and is only $20 so it is very cost effective. Perhaps you could take a look at it on Rainbow Resource to get a better idea of how it is laid out. I am not familiar w/SWO but it may be just as Susan said that if you stick w/it, it may all come together without having to try anything new. :)

HTH!

[claire up north]

I have declared all out war on this subject. We tackle it several different ways:

 

1. We use Sequential Spelling five days a week. It is very good for repetition of spelling patterns and learning to listen carefully for appropriate endings: -er, -est, -s, and so forth.

 

2. We use an online program called Spelling Time. We found it last year when it was free, and the kids really liked it. I can input (almost) any words I want and then the kids spend the week playing online games to reinforce them. I use this for those words that my kids should just know, even if they haven't thought about the patterns that might come into play. Examples include the names of the states, the months of the year, our address information, holidays, and so on. Also, I use this for practice with really hard words or confusing words. An example from this week: though, through, thorough, and thought. An example from last week: write and right and rite.

 

It now costs money to join the program :(, but I knew it would be worth it because of my experience with it last year. You can check it out at http://www.spellingtime.com. http://www.spellingtime.com

 

3. I no longer spell words out loud for the kids. They have to look them up. They can still ask me, guessing the spelling, and I will tell them if they are correct (thereby saving them the task of looking it up). If they don't guess correctly, though, I tell them to get out their dictionary. (We have 4 different dictionaries to handle increasingly complicated words.) I will sometimes cut them some slack and spell a word for them if I know it's a hard one and there's no way they will retain the information, but this is only about twice a week.

 

4. I require a lot more writing now. My 9yo summarizes each chapter he reads from his assigned reading, looking up the necessary words. He has gotten much better, especially with words like want, know, there, their, friend, and other common ones. (Prior to all of this effort, he consistently missed even these words.)

 

5. I give an oral spelling test each week on the words from Spelling Time. In contrast to every other subject we do, I tie performace to reward for this one item. I pay $1 for 90% or better, with additional opportunities for candy. (Sugar and money-- the elixers of life, eh? :D)

 

6. Just for your information, I also bought All About Spelling. I really like the approach, but I thought it was a bit too young for my kiddos. These other options seem more appropriate for my 4th and 2nd graders.

 

Hope this helps!

[Liz CA]

At this age, we used "Spelling Workout" and it transformed ds from a very poor speller to a decent speller.

[stephanie]

Yes, that does help. Those are a lot of good ideas. I need to get past the idea of having to complete a workbook every day. Now that I think about it, he needs work on the common, day-to-day words. I think I'll mix it up a bit. Thanks so much!

[FloridaLisa]

We've used several spelling programs. I have two natural spellers, a fairly normal speller and two unnatural spellers! My two unnatural spellers spelled completely phonetically and, therefore, incorrectly. My oldest non-natural speller is now 14 and really turned a corner around 11 with 1) consistent spelling practice using Spelling Power's 10-step method; 2) lots and lots of reading; and 3) spelling awareness -- making her look at the word and correct within her writing.

 

For my 8-yr-old unnatural speller, I've been very happy with Sequential Spelling. I think the word patterns help the child to imprint the spelling in their visual memory. And that's the key to spelling really.

 

HTH,

Lisa

[8filltheheart]

I have 2 children like your ds. Very bright but can't spell. Unfortunately my oldest graduated that way!! I am currently using Apples and Pears with my 6th grader. Correct spelling is actually making its way into his written work....that is a miracle.

 

http://www.prometheantrust.org/usshop.htm

[Ellie]

It's the most comprehensive spelling method I've seen. There's a learning curve on the teacher's part to learn how to teach it, but it's worth it.

[Guest Lorna]

'Spelling Time' was really great for our son last year too. We also use Spelling Workout. I really recommend persisting with it because it has done wonders for our son.

Something I really recommend for a poor speller (old and young!) is a spelling dictionary. This saves the stress of having to spend a lot of time 'looking up' a word in a huge great book. I have even recommended it to my dyslexic sister-in-law. She hates dictionaries and so avoids any form of writing.

Our spelling dictionary is called 'Spell it Yourself' published by Oxford University Press. It is Anglo-English but I am sure there must be an American equivalent. It really suits our son's logic. It takes a word for example and looks like this:

 

pawn ed, ing, broker, shop, -ticket, s

 

If a word needs to drop an e it is simply written as an 'e' with a line through it.

The book is very slim yet it has most of the words he needs to check. I like how it teaches as well as gives the spelling. I think, when I just spell the letters out for him, he is not really considering the formation of words.

Regards,

Lorna