Should we be doing spelling tests?

[lgliser]

I think especially since it's our first year of homeschooling, I can't help but compare things with our friends in public school.  Our 1st grade public school friends are doing spelling tests.  I think mostly easy words that are very phonetical, but also some sight words. My kids are good readers but when they are writing for fun, they are always asking me how to spell things.  Sight word type words like "come," "said," etc.  So far our curriculum (we're doing MFW and also AAS) are covering just basic phonics.  Should I just have them work on memorizing words like this?  How do you go about this? 

[redsquirrel]

I've never bothered with spelling tests. I just don't see the point of it in our homeschooling. There is a LOOOONG time when skills are not generalized, so an elementary schooler will spell a word correctly for a test or in a spelling program, but then turn around and misspell it somewhere else. It is normal and with lots of words it just goes away with practice and time. 

 

I do have spelling as part of our language arts. It is something my kids do through 6th grade and then we switch to vocabulary study. I think it is important to work on, I just don't think studying for tests and drilling spelling words are the best use of our time together.

 

 

Now, my middle schooler, who is old enough to know better, he has to correct his misspelling. However, he has very few errors in his spelling. He figured it out.

 

 

pssst: one year I skipped spelling because we just didn't have the time. Guess what happened.  Nothing. I just picked up with our spelling program in the next year and carried on as if nothing had happened. The world did not end.

 

 

[boscopup]

You're using AAS. Just follow the instructions there. You are teaching spelling. You're just using an O-G method, which the public school is not. AAS does have you do dictation at the end of a lesson. I always considered that similar to a "test", though my kid didn't care whether it was one or not (he likes tests :D ).

 

I do give tests when I'm using R&S Spelling, as that's part of that program. It gives me an idea of how well he learned the words that week. R&S reviews some words each week and reviews a bunch of words every 6 weeks. Some weeks I don't get around to giving the test, and that's fine too. I just move on.

 

But no, you don't need to give tests if your spelling curriculum doesn't involve tests. AAS is very effective. Continue what you're doing. You will eventually cover all the same words that that the public schoolers are covering. You're just doing it in a different order, and you're mixing it with phonics instruction, which helps both reading AND spelling. :)

 

It's very normal for kids to misspell words in their writing. Tell them how to spell the words, and move along. They may remember some of the ones you told them. At that age, my oldest did not spell very well. Now at 9, he's a pretty good speller, just needing help on words that are above a 4th grader's typical spelling knowledge. Spelling started to mix with writing last year in 3rd grade. For many kids, it happens around age 9 or 10. I am a human dictionary during writing time, as I don't want him to switch from writing that someone was "tyrannical" to "bad" because he can't find "tyrannical" in the dictionary. I'd rather him write a strong noun, verb, or adjective and just help him with the spelling. As we go along, I have to help less and less.

[umsami]

I give pre-tests of the words in a spelling list, and then we just work on the ones DS doesn't know that week.  

 

If he misspells a word in his writing, I'll have him write it three times.  Depending on my mood, I sometimes have him look up the word in a dictionary (he's in 4th grade) or I provide the correct spelling.

 

If I keep seeing the same word misspelled over and over again, we add it to an index card he keeps near him of words he tends to misspell, so that he can check it himself while writing.

[Ravin]

I'm with boscopup on this one. Do what AAS calls for.