spelling- how important as a "subject"

[Tanya in KS]

I will have a second grader next year. We did not do spelling this year as our curriculm does not advise it (We use Rod & Staff for phonics/reading) How important is spelling as a subject? My time is sooooo limited for teaching.

 

Thank you

Tanya

[Parabola]

Hey Tanya, we're in Kansas too AND I have a ds who will be in second grade next year. We're almost neighbors!

As for your question, you will probably get varying answers. Does he seem to be naturally good at spelling or does he struggle with it? If he is not struggling with it, my opinion would be not to worry too much about spelling right now, if you are time constricted. He will pick up a lot of spelling while doing other schoolwork and reading. You can also correct as you go and sort of give an impromptu spelling lesson.

If he does struggle, and you think he NEEDS spelling but you're time is limited maybe you could do something like keep a running list of words he mispells in his other school work and work on those. Quiz him orally while doing, say, the dishes or riding in the car.

And, by 2nd grade, he may be ready to do some work independently. Maybe if you wanted to you could find a curriculum he could do on his own (for the most part) x minutes per day.

 

We do spelling, even though my son is a natural speller. I imagine, when it comes to the point where I want to add something and need to cut some time, spelling will go.

Just my thoughts. Good luck!

[kokotg]

my son's a natural speller, so we dropped spelling as a subject about midway through Spelling Workout B. I try to pick copywork that has difficult to spell words in it. He writes "books" constantly in his free time and asks me how to spell words a dozen times a day (and I've started sending him to the dictionary some of the time), so I figure between this and just doing a lot of reading he's picking it up on his own. If he ever seems to be falling behind, we'll add it back in, but for now I'm not the least bit worried about it. If he's doing phonics, he's essentially getting spelling (just sort of backwards) anyway.

[Kimber]

I have 2 very creative spellers. :) I started Spelling Workout for about 6 months, and quit. Then we did A Reason for Spelling next. No improvements. Next with the oldest I tried Phonetic Zoo, that helped a bit, but it was not a natural resource for our family meaning it wouldn't get done. I saw some improvement with that.

 

Then we started doing copywork 3-4 times per week. Also, last year, as a box checker I added Calvert spelling at night as fun homework--about 3 x per week. From the copywork alone, I saw huge improvements. When I added Calvert, things continued to improve. My dd functions at about a year ahead in all subjects and is just now on grade level in spelling, maybe a little under. But I don't sweat it because I continue to see substantial improvement from copywork and Calvert.

 

Good Luck.

[Sue G in PA]

In second grade, most dc are still doing some kind of phonics (like ETC) and so spelling isn't really necessary. About 3rd grade spelling might become a bit more necessary for non-nat spellers. You could easily skip it and do just copywork/dictation until 3rd and do something like Simply Spelling which is more like copywork/dictation (from the looks of it anyway). We do SWO and it doesn't seem to be sticking with any of my ds except dd11 who is a nat. speller. So, on to Simply Spelling next year. I don't do spelling at all w/ ds6 (1st) and don't plan to next year either.

[Storm Bay]

We have three approaches, one for each child. My eldest is a natural speller, and so we used Spelling Power. I would give her a quiz and she only studied the words she didn't know. Now no spelling for her (gr. 8). My middle one absolutely needs spelling as its own subject as she just spells everything phonetically otherwise (not something I ever encouraged.) We tried various methods, but the best fit for her is to do lots and lots of copying of words, not in their context. If she copies them in sentences it's a lost cause.

 

For ds, who is in gr. 2, we don't do a formal spelling yet. He does Explode the Code (and it takes very little to no teaching as he knows the ropes) and we happen to have a copy of Spelling Workout. I'm not impressed with Spelling Workout A (but some love it), but since he needs extra practice with writing we use it for that and learning to follow directions as it's not as predictable as ETC. But I don't quiz him on the words. We'll tackle spelling as a subject later.

[Just a Jen in Mississippi]

I also have two natural spellers but I have still kept spelling into our routine. I start all three of my kids on Spelling Workout until 3rd grade and then I switch to Spelling Power. Like a previous poster said, I give them the spelling list and they only study words they miss and then I retest. It's really not very time consuming at all, but I feel good about giving them a spelling rule once a week and having them put that skill to use. The great thing about Spelling Power is that the students aren't wasting time studying or doing worksheets on words they already know. My oldest will be in 8th grade next year and that will probably be her last year. I also have to say that Spelling Power has been great in that it goes over states and provinces and other proper nouns.

 

I really feel strongly about spelling after reading emails and notes from my 7th grader's friend who can't spell words like can't (caint), where (ware), sure (shore), poor (poar), etc. This little girl is also a homeschooler, but her parents are very busy with their business and stay on the go. I can't believe how bad her spelling is. I would hate for "outsiders" to see that and have another excuse to think negatively of homeschoolers. I hope I don't sound judgemental....this is a smart little girl and to my knowledge she has no learning disabilities. She was on a math team with my daughter, but seemingly needs some redial work in spelling or some kind of help:blink:. So, I think whether they are natural spellers or not, it's good to go over rules and practice spelling at least once a week. It will serve them well for a lifetime. My vote is to do Spelling Power at a pace that fits you and your child versus no spelling at all. I'm sure there are other great programs but that's the one I'm familiar with. Anyway, that's just my 2 cents!:001_smile: Good luck. Oh, and I can totally understand not wanting to add more work into the mix!

[Donna T.]

We started Rod & Staff Spelling in 2nd grade. I love it. For 2nd grade, it only takes about ten minutes a day, three days a week. It is also a nice review of phonics. My son could do his lesson independently even from the beginning of 2nd grade. I think it is fine to delay spelling as a subject through about 4th grade if you are doing copywork. But, R&S is easy, doesn't take a long time, and effective.

 

Will you continue with R&S for phonics? If so, I would think you could definately postpone spelling for awhile. I know of mothers who have used R&S phonics for spelling at that level.