Nakia Posted August 14, 2011 Share Posted August 14, 2011 My oldest will be in 6th grade this year. Spelling has always been really hard for her, but once we found Sequential Spelling, she did pretty well. I suspect she is a bit dyslexic. Anyway, she has been using SS for almost 2 years, and I'm really pleased with her progress. I will be surprised if she is ever a great speller, but for now, I'm happy with what she can spell and the fact that she can and does use a dictionary for what she can't figure out. I guess I am just wondering if we should continue to do spelling or if we should drop it, and let her naturally continue to improve in spelling by reading and writing. Does that make sense? Thanks for your advice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NanceXToo Posted August 14, 2011 Share Posted August 14, 2011 Why don't you drop a formal spelling program, but pay attention to what words she spells wrong in her writing assignments in a given week, and then the following week, assign some or all of those (depending on how many there were) for review? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted August 14, 2011 Share Posted August 14, 2011 With a 10 yo dyslexic? Keep going. Just because she's doing better now and age-appropriate (thanks to your efforts) doesn't mean she'll continue on to the next level as the words get harder and less common. Take a word like accommodate. She needs to be able to spell it, but it's not going to come up commonly in her reading, kwim? So for kids like ours, you end up needing to make some intentional effort to move them forward. At least that's my experience. And for what it's worth, I'm putting my dd in the R&S 7 spelling this year. Jen the RD made a persuasive case for it, and I think it's worthwhile. The 6 and earlier books are in cursive (blech). But if you can get over that, they'd be fine too. I like the looks of the 7 and think it will be a fine step for us, just enough to keep her moving forward intentionally without making a huge hassle for me. I already got the 8 and plan to continue into that next year as well. (We'll see how that goes, haha.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HSMom2One Posted August 15, 2011 Share Posted August 15, 2011 Dd's spelling is not the best, but we're going to do remedial phonics this year in combination with SP, and I have high hopes that with that focus we're going to get her to where she needs to be. My plan is to continue with formal spelling through the end of this school year (7th grade), then we'll likely just work on words she needs help with when she does her weekly writing once she's in 8th grade. As I listened to SWB's audio on "A Plan for Teaching Writing: Focus on the Middle Grades", I remember her suggesting that at about that level in middle school you can drop the concentrated spelling program. Blessings, Lucinda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted August 15, 2011 Share Posted August 15, 2011 With a 10 yo dyslexic? Keep going. Just because she's doing better now and age-appropriate (thanks to your efforts) doesn't mean she'll continue on to the next level as the words get harder and less common. :iagree: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted August 15, 2011 Share Posted August 15, 2011 Unless we are seriously crunched for time, and spending time on spelling is going to prevent us from working on something that is both foundational AND more important, we should continue to study spelling, until we can spell well enough to teach it to others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted August 15, 2011 Share Posted August 15, 2011 Ironically, I had someone tell me she can teach spelling (she was an elementary teacher) and still not spell, haha. Today my dd decided she didn't know what a multi-letter phonogram is. We've done this for *7* years, folks. Whatever you think they know, well let's just say it's gone in a heartbeat, re-organized, lost, filed in some dusty, dank corner. Remember, they have more important things like the type of food eaten in ancient Greece to remember. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PenKase Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 I knew it was time to stop spelling instruction when I found myself using it as busy work, but I have natural spellers in my house. A solid vocabulary program will better serve my dd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amyco Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 I think that's a great suggestion. And kudos to her for actually using the dictionary. My children seem to think "dictionary" is the definition of "mom." I knew it was time to quit spelling when I just couldn't take one more spelling lesson! So we switched to vocabulary at that point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankcassiesmom Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 My 10yo isn't dyslexic. She's just not a great speller. We're continuing on with Sequential Spelling for years to come :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.