Starting spelling with a reluctant writer?

[krismoose]

Background: My ds is 6 and is reading comfortably at a mid-2nd grade level. He's reading the A Beka 2nd grade readers for fun right now. We moved from The Reading Lesson to Phonics Pathways to get more practice in the later rules, and he's got a few months left in it. He does a sentence of copywork from the day's PP page, as well as a sentence from Pictures in Cursive. He's doing a page or 2 in a beginning phonics workbook as well, mainly to practice printing a bit, as he learned cursive first. Just recently he's been trying to write on his own and is asking how to spell everything.

 

So...I've been considering possibilities for where to add some spelling instruction. He moans about writing for "school", (and then fills a page on his own :rolleyes:) so I want to start small :) I also don't really want to add more than 10-15min to our current school time, as I don't think I'd do it at this point if it's longer - 1yo is just starting to walk and reducing her naps dramatically :lol:

 

1. Pick 2 or 3 words from the day's PP lesson and have him use magnetic letters to spell them, spell them out loud, toss a ball and spell them, and just move on the next day. I figure when we finish PP we'd start at the beginning of a spelling program (most likely the lists in the HOD Beyond Little Hearts guide.)

 

2. Do as above but with words from the beginning phonics workbook.

 

3. Abandon PP - he hardly ever misses a word - and start the spelling program from the beginning now. I kind of feel like I ought to finish, though. I'd hate for him to get stuck a year or 2 down the road if I can prevent it now, kwim? Or maybe I just don't want to stop it because it's comfortable to *me* ;-)

 

4. Other ideas?

 

 

Thanks!

[krismoose]

bump for the overnight crowd :)

[ElizabethB]

#1. But, I would only read half the words in PP, but half across, not down, so you're not missing any content. (Or vice versa depending on the set up, but usually new content is on a new line.) If he misses anything, then read the full line.

 

So, you will take the same amount of time or less, but still cover everything and add in spelling. There are some spelling rules and tips for using PP for spelling in the back of the book, I think.

[krismoose]

Thanks, ElizabethB!

[Crimson Wife]

I'm using AAS with a reluctant writer, and he spells the words with the letter tiles.

[krismoose]

Well, I answered my question today. I had him read half the words on the PP page, from ElizabethB's suggestion, and then spent 5 minutes trying to get him to spell a few words with magnetic letters while he built things with them :lol: That's why I abandoned AAS when he was learning to read. Not going to do that again :D Then I had him study and write the words from the HOD spelling list, and he insisted on doing all ten, and got them all right...and was extremely proud of himself :001_smile: Thanks for your ideas!