Dropping spelling after SWO-C / dictionary recomendations

[Laurie in VA]

Good morning! I asked about dropping spelling after this year for my 6yo DD who seems to be a natural speller. She has whizzed through SWO A, B, and now C in K/1st. Once she writes a mis-spelled word 3x she never, ever misses it again. Several suggested - when I posted about this a month or so ago - that it would be perfectly OK to drop spelling and just keep a list of Trouble Words for anything that DD misspells. I think I am about ready to scrap spelling, but want to check just one last time. Is there anything important that I will miss if I skip the rest of the SWO series? I can not seem to locate a scope & sequence online.

 

Also, we are just starting to work on dictionary skills and I'd like to get DD a really nice dictionary for children. Not necessarily a picture dictionary, though. Just a very good dictionary. Any suggestions?

[swimnactmom]

If I were you, I would drop spelling and keep a spelling notebook for misspelled words. I would substitute the time you would have spent on spelling with a study of Latin roots.

The dictionary we like is the American Student Dictionary. It does have small pictures in the margin, which piques my ds's interest, but I wouldn't call it a picture dictionary.

[Oak Knoll Mom]

I think I am about ready to scrap spelling, but want to check just one last time. Is there anything important that I will miss if I skip the rest of the SWO series?

 

I can't answer any questions about what you will miss in the rest of SWO, because we are only on Level C ourselves. However, keeping a running list of misspelled words may not be the best way to identify words your daughter can't spell. I am a terrible speller and if I don't know how to spell a word I want to use, I just substitute it for one I do know. I end up not using the richer vocabulary that I can when speaking. Just something to consider. :-)

[Trivium Academy]

At ChristianBook.com you can the table of contents of each SWO level which will tell you the concepts, also you can see inside the TMs.

 

We love the Children's American Heritage Dictionary

http://rainbowresource.com/product/American+Heritage+Children%92s+Dictionary/004014/1209486232-84834

 

hth

[Laurie in VA]

...keeping a running list of misspelled words may not be the best way to identify words your daughter can't spell. I am a terrible speller and if I don't know how to spell a word I want to use, I just substitute it for one I do know. I end up not using the richer vocabulary that I can when speaking. Just something to consider. :-)

 

TY for that! I am a terrible speller as well and constantly use Spell Check and a Thesaurus to get the words I really want. Maybe I'll look into SP, as I think that has a huge list of word but the children only have to study those they don't know. It never occured to me that solely keeping a list of trouble words might not work!

[Kay in Cal]

We have kids the same age, and my 6yo just finished SWO C as well, also rarely misses a word and remembers them after he has practiced the one or two he misses. I'm interested in folks' answers, but also in how kids learn to spell without "spelling".

 

My question in our case is: His spelling/writing is certainly not up to an adult level yet. I mean, he does fine with the type of words in SWO C, but his creative writing, emails, etc are fraught with misspellings of more advanced vocabulary (and he has quite the vocabulary).

 

My plan has been to just let him plug along through SWO doing a chapter a day (figuring we'd finish D, E, F in 2nd grade, move on to something else), and eventually his spelling will catch up with his reading. In other words, how WOULD you improve spelling without a spelling program? We will be doing CW Aesop next year, and GWG 4 as well.

 

I have to say that my dh (the primary teacher in our homeschool) doesn't feel comfortable totally dropping spelling as a subject. There were some words that we found that he didn't do correctly right off--like missing the silent l in "could" "would" "should" when we first tested.

[G5052]

My question in our case is: His spelling/writing is certainly not up to an adult level yet. I mean, he does fine with the type of words in SWO C, but his creative writing, emails, etc are fraught with misspellings of more advanced vocabulary (and he has quite the vocabulary).

 

I have to say that my dh (the primary teacher in our homeschool) doesn't feel comfortable totally dropping spelling as a subject. There were some words that we found that he didn't do correctly right off--like missing the silent l in "could" "would" "should" when we first tested.

 

Both of mine whizzed through early levels of SWO and then slowed down considerably. IMHO it's hard to say for certain that a 6 y.o. is a natural speller on the basis of just SWO C (ducking tomatoes). If a 6 y.o. didn't have any problem with SWO F, I'd definitely back off, but SWO C is pretty straightforward for kids who are reading well. When my kiddies were whizzing through SWO I did pretests on the words and let them skip to the next lesson if they got 100%. Now they only do that every once in awhile. My 10 y.o. is working on SWO G and it is HARD. He's a wonderful speller and corrects me all the time, but SWO G is challenging him.

 

For our house, SWO is an easy, organized way to make sure that they run through all of the major patterns and difficult words. They mostly do it independently and it doesn't require much organization on my part other than being around for the pretest and checking their work.

[Kay in Cal]

Yes, that was sort of what I was thinking... that we'll fairly soon hit some level of challenge. Maybe in a year or two. We do the same thing--if my ds gets 100% on the pretest, he just skips the chapter. Right now, that's at least half the time. But like you said, even looking at SWO F (just 2 books down the road), I can tell you that my ds would miss (at least at first!) words like "banquet" "acknowledge" and "schedule". If he still doesn't slow down, we'll have covered spelling patterns basic through advanced and can move on to even richer vocabulary... though SWO G and H are more focused on vocab development as it is.

[Laurie in VA]

Thanks again, everyone! I have decided to scrap SWO in favor of SP. The cost will end up almost the same if DD completed the SWO series, plus I'll have it for DD#2. I think this will work well for us and I will be sure that DD#1 is not missing anything important.

 

Also decided to get the AH Children's Dictionary (thanks TA for the suggestion). :001_smile:.