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Help me with spelling for 1st and 3rd grade boys please!


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DS8 (3rd) and DS6 (1st/2nd) are both HATING Evan-Moor spelling all of a sudden. I think it is too easy for DS8, so I have just started giving him a pretest a day and if he gets them all right, he moves to the next one and doesn't have to do any of the other worksheets. He flew through pretests this week with no errors. In Words Their Way, he tests at the beginning of the last level of spelling, derivational relations. I am considering Spelling Wisdom for him because it looks easy to implement but meaningful and challenging in content. Thoughts?

 

DS6 is accelerated and challenging. Started reading at 3 and everything comes easily to him but he is lazy and reluctant. I keep trying to challenge him while also keeping his age in mind. He HATES writing. Of all the things he complains about daily, writing is the biggest challenge. I do everything orally with him that I can, but still require him to do writing occasionally. He just started getting spelling words wrong in Evan Moor at the end of their 2nd grade book. He tests at the within words category according to Words Their Way. So, my question is, is there anything open and go that is easier to implement than Words Their Way, that doesn't require a lot of writing? Or, what would you suggest for spelling for a child who hates writing? Would you just do it all orally? I feel like he is a visual kid and there has to be something tangible, too. I have no patience or energy or space for All About Spelling even though it's appealing. I also have a 3 year old who would destroy everything and a 4 year old who would help then blame her. Or do I take a break from spelling until he’s older? I know that’s what CM would suggest. I worry about backsliding and where to pick up later.

 

Sorry, this is rambly. That's how I roll, as some of you know.

 

Thanks for your thoughts!

Edited by hisforhomeschooling
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I wold look into Spelling Power. It's one book for all levels, customizes easily to the kid and only has him study the words he doesn't know, plus the task cards offer tactile ways to study spelling.

 

However, we cut down spelling even further here.  DS8 intuits rules easily, so I have him do Dictation Day By Day for spelling.  It's a slowly spiraling list of words that are introduced in the context of sentences.  Two sentences a day and he's done.  The spelling carries over to the rest of his work.  Between that and copywork, his spelling is okay for his age now.

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I wouldn't do spelling for a 6-year-old unless he wanted to. I tried it once; it was not worth my time. At 8, it worked great.

 

He may be advanced in many areas but he's 6, so I would scale back writing to minimal unless he wants to be writing.

 

 

 

Sent from my ONEPLUS A5000 using Tapatalk

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It sounds like they are more natural spellers. My oldest was like this and found many lists to be unchallenging. We switched to Building Spelling Skills from CLP bc they had more challenging words on their lists. Another approach we successfully tried was holding Spelling bees out of the McGuffey speller. The first ten words missed became his list. However, my son hated getting any wrong, and they had some obscure farming words included. So BSS was a better fit and less time consuming.

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Touch Type Read and Spell is super easy to implement and teaches typing and spelling together (no writing on paper). 

 

I wouldn't worry about backsliding in spelling with kids that age because they are probably picking up on the spelling of words from reading. (Not all kids do, but my kids who caught onto reading quickly without a lot of phonics instruction have also tended to pick up spelling easily.)

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I wold look into Spelling Power. It's one book for all levels, customizes easily to the kid and only has him study the words he doesn't know, plus the task cards offer tactile ways to study spelling.

 

However, we cut down spelling even further here.  DS8 intuits rules easily, so I have him do Dictation Day By Day for spelling.  It's a slowly spiraling list of words that are introduced in the context of sentences.  Two sentences a day and he's done.  The spelling carries over to the rest of his work.  Between that and copywork, his spelling is okay for his age now.

 

 

I wouldn't do spelling for a 6-year-old unless he wanted to. I tried it once; it was not worth my time. At 8, it worked great.

 

He may be advanced in many areas but he's 6, so I would scale back writing to minimal unless he wants to be writing.

 

 

 

Sent from my ONEPLUS A5000 using Tapatalk

 

 

It sounds like they are more natural spellers. My oldest was like this and found many lists to be unchallenging. We switched to Building Spelling Skills from CLP bc they had more challenging words on their lists. Another approach we successfully tried was holding Spelling bees out of the McGuffey speller. The first ten words missed became his list. However, my son hated getting any wrong, and they had some obscure farming words included. So BSS was a better fit and less time consuming.

 

 

Touch Type Read and Spell is super easy to implement and teaches typing and spelling together (no writing on paper). 

 

I wouldn't worry about backsliding in spelling with kids that age because they are probably picking up on the spelling of words from reading. (Not all kids do, but my kids who caught onto reading quickly without a lot of phonics instruction have also tended to pick up spelling easily.)

 

 

Have you tried spelling on a white board? Dd is writing-resistant, but is much less so with a white board and marker.

 

I am using misspelled words that we have gathered from EM since September, finding patterns, and using monthly spelling tic tac toe boards. I think the simplicity, variety, and choice will appeal to both boys! We will keep going through the EM spelling lists for new words as the year goes on. They loved it today, but we all know that we can't judge anything by the first day or week haha. Thanks for the ideas, everyone!

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All about Spelling has been a lifesaver for us! My daughter would be in tears over spelling and it was a fight to get anything done, but their system makes it much more enjoyable for her.  She never complains about doing it. She has some visual issues that make staring at a page and writing very tedious, and the multi-sensory hands on aspect of it works so much better for her and for those who find spelling frustrating.  (Lot of spelling with special color-coded letter tiles and phonogram tiles). In fact, I think it has boosted her confidence in spelling so much that it is getting her over her phobia and now she does her other spelling (Sequential Spelling) without nearly as much hassle.  We also love Sequential Spelling as others mentioned, and do a combination of the two for extra practice.  The DVD version of Sequential spelling is great because they can do it independently, so she does that for outside work.

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