thescrappyhomeschooler Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 I've been making up my own spelling lists this year based on the rules we cover in Phonics Pathways. I plug the words into Spellingcity.com and the kids do activities online. They write the words 2X each, and we have a test on Fridays. For next year, I'd like to purchase an actual spelling curriculum. My older ds is a natural speller. He just intuitively knows how to spell things, I think just by gleaning it from reading. He reads well above his grade level and has a knack for language related work. He will be a 3rd grader next year. My younger ds is reading slightly above grade level, and has been doing well with my current spelling routine, but he is not a natural speller. He pretty much has to memorize how to spell things. He will be a 2nd grader next year. What should I use for these guys? I'm wiling to purchase two different curricula if one is better for their particular learning styles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katemary63 Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 I love Megawords. The first book is for grade 4, but I could have easily used it for my dd in grade 3. You'd have to evaluate your ds in that reguard. Megawords teaches syllabication rules, spelling rules, vacabulary including latin and greek roots, spelling, and reading fluency for multisyllable words. There are also dication exercizes, alphabetizing and more. It is particularily good for non-natural spellers however, I am using it for my dd who IS a natural speller. We plan to do all 8 books. The Megawords workbooks provide lots of different types of ways to study the spelling words. Some of them are boring or seem like busy work. However, they are no more like busy work then simply copying your spelling words 10 times each and they teach so much more then just memorizing. They teach how to seperate your word into syllables, how to spell common types of syllables and much more. ps. The way I work it is to give my DD a pretest from the word list. Her weekly spelling test is on the first 10 words she gets wrong. I do not make her study the words she spells right seperately, but she will end up reviewing them in the Megawords worksheets anyway. Megawords is also open and go. No preparation for the teacher. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Michigan Mom Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 If you know the learning styles of your kids, which is sounds like you do, you can teach to their learning style. Your older one is probably a visual learner. They tend to be good spellers because they "take pictures" of the words. Your other child is probably either primarily a kinesthetic or auditory learner. For auditory kids, have them always talk to themselves and spell the words out loud. It also helps to have them listen closer with their dominant ear. Do this by cupping the hand (talk into the wrist area and listen with the fingertips). Kinestetic kids come in different varieties; Tactile (the one most people are familiar with) they like to feel textures, Vestibular-these kids need to move, spin, rock etc. and Propriceptive -these kids are craving pressure on their joints. They are the ones who lean or hang on you, sit on their feet, put their chin in their elbow at the table etc. If the brain is wired to take information in this way, sitting still for a vestibular kid can actually block the brain from absorbing info. Something in the hand to fidget with for the tactile kid can help. For the Proprioceptive kid, a weighted object on their lap or hanging on the shoulders can help. What does this have to do with spelling? Everything! If you incorporate learning the spelling words with these methods you will see improvement. If you're not sure which learning style they are, try catering to all -then you will have it covered. Cut the words into pieces to manipulate and put in order, use stones to cover each piece in order etc. There are so many ideas... but chances are, the method of learning that worked for your older kid won't work for another with a different learning style. Hope this helped! :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Upstatemamma Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 We've been using Soaring With Spelling and we love it. It has a pretest on Monday and then Tuesday through Thursday include activities that deal with the words and their definitions. Then Friday has a final test. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 Natural Speller for your natural speller. Spelling Plus for your non-natural speller, then you will also have rules available for your natural speller if need be. You might also want to consider adding in Spelling Dictation if it helps to write the spelling words out in sentences. They are both simple to use, multi-year books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thescrappyhomeschooler Posted February 3, 2011 Author Share Posted February 3, 2011 Thanks for the advice, all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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