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Spelling help!


Gentlemommy
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Ok, background info.

Dd is 7.5, she has just graduated seven months of VT. She is catching up quickly on reading fluency and speed, and decoding skills. She enjoys reading and asks for it daily.:DHappy about that.

Writing things is a different issue. She hates it. Hates. I suspect she is a right brained learner, and also has add. I get that writing is hard for her.

We are using Phonics Pathways, ETC (about to start book 5), AAS, and LLATL. She has copywork sentences in grammar and history. This week I've started helping her make a journal. I told her I just want her to practice the physical act of writing, so I'm not worried about spelling yet. I want her to just write and be able to put her thoughts on paper. I'm doing a ton of kinesthetic and textile type activities-writing with shaving cream/gel/sand, body letters, do-a-dot spelling, ect.

However, her spelling is ATROCIOUS. It's bad. When we do the spelling/phonics rules (during AAS or etc) she understands them and applies them to the lesson. However, it's not carrying over to her journal writing.

So, what can I do to help her? Or is it just a matter of time? :confused:

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1. Listen to SWB's download on the writing process. It will help you realize that you need to . . .

 

2. Put away the journal

 

3. Keep plugging away will spelling rules, narration, and dictation

 

4. Repeat as necessary (like when you think you need to start journal writing again).

 

7.5 is young, especially for one who has been through VT. Give her time to develop the skills necessary for writing first. It will make getting thoughts down on paper much easier later on.

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Ok, I'll definitely listen to the lecture! I had initially decided to only do the WWE style of reading a passage (I'd pull from whatever book we were reading) have her do narration, and then give her a copywork sentence...but I felt like it wasn't enough physical writing for her. She's a bit behind on writing in general (she is in 2nd grade, but I'd put her at a mid first grade level in reading and writing) so I feel like she needs more practice.

It feels like she is so worried about spelling rules/handwriting that she takes the 'easy' way out in using simple words and sentences. She can narrate really well, it's just being able to get those thoughts down on paper is virtually impossible for her. I could have her dictate her writing to me, but that's not helping her spelling.

Her spelling makes sense, I can see why she spells words the way she does..lshe is spelling phonetically. Which is what worries me. Since I never (until we started VT, where it was suggested, and much to my chagrin, has been one of the biggest helps for her reading :glare:) did sight words with her, she is using her knowledge of phonics to spell. However, lots of times, that's just not going to work. For example, she spelled 'what' wut. Makes sense. She spelled 'they' thae. Again, makes sense. I guess that's why I feel like she needs more drill...I don't know. :confused:

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More writing will just make her hate writing more. (My oldest was allergic to the pencil. Seriously, she HATED writing. I've been there.)

 

Keep doing spelling. Every day.

 

Keep having her do narrations. Keep having her do copywork. (It is fine (great) to be doing this as part of history & grammar.) She will study how words are supposed to be spelled while she's writing these good sentences.

 

Keep having her read.

 

Did I mention to keep working on spelling?

 

Eventually, after you've pulled your hair out repeatedly, she'll start to spell things she knows how to spell correctly in her other work. (My 9 yr old dd#2 has finally started to spell "your" correctly vs. "yor.")

 

Good luck!

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Thank you for replying! So I'm gonna stop making her do the daily creative writing...we will definitely continue with spelling daily. She does well with AAS, we are doing it very slowly with a lot of review.

So, for your 'pencil allergic' (lol) daughter, how much writing did you have her do? If we do 8-10 spelling words, one copywork sentence, and 6-8 words in ETC per day enough? It feels like too little, especially when I look at typical 2nd grade writing samples. :001_huh: However, that's about her limit right now...she can manage that with minimal struggle and isn't totally discouraged and frustrated by that amount.

It's encouraging to hear that the spelling will at some point click, because right now..yikes!

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In my oldest's case, I had her writing about as much as you listed there (10 spelling words + copying a narration sentence) or less in second grade. On spelling test days, she'd write 20 to 25 words, but not do any copywork.

 

In third grade, she'd write more -- because I added a grammar workbook (Growing With Grammar) that sometimes had her copying or writing sentences. We also did about half of WWE 2.

 

In fourth grade, I added Writing Tales I. This was a great introduction to writing (similiar to Classical Writing's Aesop) for a reluctant writer. It had copywork, a little bit of spelling, some grammar, narration, and she had to rewrite a short (growing to a long) model. She was finally ready for it, although we did have to ease into it with a tape recorder (her saying her whole story & then writing it from the recorder) for some models. (We did Writing Tales 2 in fifth grade.)

 

She's a young sixth grader now and is writing "across the curriculum" in Science and History as well as learning more writing techniques in Classical Writing's Homer A. I'm amazed when I see what she'll do WITHOUT COMPLAINING (most of the time, :lol:).

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Spelling is always the last thing to come along.

 

For struggling spellers catching up, I like Spelling Plus, and in your case, it looks like you would need to add Spelling Dictation. It is quick and efficient and focuses on the most common 1,000 words, and the dictation sentences help practice the words is normal writing. (Not great sentences from a literary standpoint, but they are grammatically correct and they pack a lot of spelling words in each sentence.)

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