spelling with an older kid

[kfeusse]

How do I determine if I need to do something in the area of spelling with an 8th grader or not?  His spelling isn't horrible, but it isn't great either.  Are their programs that are geared more for the older kid?

 

I was looking at Spelling U See.  It looks interesting...and later I will test him to see if he places in the last book.  But I was curious what you all thought about spelling in 8th grade.

 

thanks.

[2_girls_mommy]

My odd, a great speller, did Rod and Staff spelling all the way through the 9th grade. The last book is only 8th grade, but we moved through them slowly, so she finished it up the first semester of 9th grade. There is just a lot of good stuff in those books I didn't want her to miss. So I see nothing wrong with going that long. My upcoming 8th grader is not a good speller, has some troubles similar to dyslexia, and we will definitely continue spelling work with her, probably all of the way through high school to be honest. 

[Momto6inIN]

My 2nd DS is a disastrous speller. As in, he has at times misspelled the same word 3 different ways in the same paragraph. 🙄

I threw up my hands and gave up on spelling with him in the 8th grade, and focused instead on teaching him self-editing and having someone else check his work.

Some people (kids and adults alike) just aren't wired to spell well. His language and communication skills are just fine otherwise, and he'll be fine.

 

Sent from my Z988 using Tapatalk

[Miss Tick]

If you aren't sure if he needs spelling, he is probably doing pretty well already. I might consider collecting misspelled words from his writing and then testing those until he can spell them in two subsequent tests.

 

If you want more formal guidance you could find a copy of Spelling Power which has lists grouped by rules. We've been using it (tweaked for us) for a few years and I plan to continue up to high school. I don't LOVE it, but it gets the job done with minimal work on my part.

[Χά�ων]

How do I determine if I need to do something in the area of spelling with an 8th grader or not? His spelling isn't horrible, but it isn't great either. Are their programs that are geared more for the older kid?

 

I was looking at Spelling U See. It looks interesting...and later I will test him to see if he places in the last book. But I was curious what you all thought about spelling in 8th grade.

 

thanks.

I am slowly takimg DS through Sequential Spelling. We both like the straight to the point approach.

[Lori D.]

What do I think about spelling in 8th grade? Well, if your student needs it, and it helps, then you do it and it's not a problem. I guess I don't see there being a "magic cut-off age" for spelling. ;) True, most students seem to be done with spelling somewhere along about 5th-7th grade, but there are always outliers, on both sides of that bell curve, so 8th grade doesn't sound "remedial" to me for spelling. One other thought is that it could be a good thing to work on spelling in 8th grade, and then let it go as it can be really hard to have the time to work formally on spelling in high school.

 

Other factors I'd take into consideration:

- how "bad" is the spelling -- worth taking the time for? -- will it take away from something else that's critical for 8th grade?

- how much will DS fight it, or not care/be lazy -- or will he put in enough effort that it really will bear fruit?

- might DS just now be "clicking" with the spelling portion of the brain so that to NOT work on spelling in 8th grade would possibly be a missed opportunity?

 

 

As far as our experience of spelling and an older student:

 

I did spelling with DS#1 (average speller) up through 10th grade -- it morphed more into word origins and vowel patterns and vocabulary in high school. (We made our own spelling using The ABCs and All Their Tricks). I think it helped DS#1 be more aware of spelling patterns by continuing into high school.

 

I did spelling with DS#2 (struggling speller due to mild LDs) up through 12th grade. We used Megawords and we did individualized spelling based on The ABCs And All Their Tricks, plus we used a variety of methods of spelling practice techniques from a variety of sources/programs. The focus was spelling pattern and syllabication (Megawords), and vowel patterns (individualized spelling). That, and DS using Spell Check AND doing online gaming in high school that required typing in dialogue (and not wanting to have typos or appear stupid), helped him become more alert and careful with to spelling -- though, he's never going to be great at it.

 

 

Like SusanC said, you might want to try and figure out what exactly is the problem and then hone it on specifically addressing the problem. Is it not knowing some spelling rules or vowel patterns? Do you see a habit or pattern to the errors -- if so, then you can learn the rules/vowel patterns that address that.

 

Is it not recognizing how to break words into smaller bites (syllables) for spelling attack? That, too can be addressed by practicing the syllabication rules.

 

Or do the misspellings come in his own writing? Many people struggle to spell and (rough draft) write at the same time. Practicing that writing is a multi-step process, and that it's crucial to go back and proof-edit for spelling might be what's needed there.

 

BEST of luck as you think it through! Warmest regards, Lori D.

[Kareni]

I used Spelling Power with my daughter (now a college graduate) from about 7th through 9th grades.  She is not a natural speller.  It improved her spelling (well, perhaps simply paying attention to spelling caused the improvement).  That said, I became familiar with Sequential Spelling after that time.  Given a chance to re-do, I'd likely select Sequential Spelling.

 

Regards,

Kareni