Spelling Conundrum

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

My dd, almost 9, is an advanced reader and writer. Spelling, she can ace every test. However when she writes her spelling is atrocious. We have tried many different spelling curriculums, both word family based and phonics based, plus word list generated by her misspellings. The misspellings, when sounded out, will sound like the word so she is trying to apply phonics.

Things we tried:

Abeka Spelling

BJU Spelling

Natural Speller (Kathryn Stout)

Ruth Beechick's way of doing spelling from You Can Teach Your Child Successfully

Spelling Skills by Harcourt Family learning

 

I am looking at All About Spelling but open to suggestions either for a curriculum or ideas on getting her to spell better. I do think some of the problem stems from writing fast, she wants to get the words down and is not thinking of spelling correctly.

 

Any thought would be helpful.

[lewelma]

We use Spelling Wisdom for just this reason.  It is studied dictation.  The words must be spelled correctly in a paragraph, not as isolated words. 

 

Ruth in NZ

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

Thanks. I looked at Spelling Wisdom and like it for an addition to a spelling program, something that will teach why a word is spelled the way it is spelled.

[lewelma]

I have used SWR with my older and know all the rules.  So I just have him mark up the words like SWR does and then we add in the SWR reference pages.  So I guess I really use 2 programs concurrently.  Sorry, I can't be of more help.

 

Good luck,

 

Ruth in NZ

[MerryAtHope]

My dd, almost 9, is an advanced reader and writer. Spelling, she can ace every test. However when she writes her spelling is atrocious. We have tried many different spelling curriculums, both word family based and phonics based, plus word list generated by her misspellings. The misspellings, when sounded out, will sound like the word so she is trying to apply phonics.

Things we tried:

Abeka Spelling

BJU Spelling

Natural Speller (Kathryn Stout)

Ruth Beechick's way of doing spelling from You Can Teach Your Child Successfully

Spelling Skills by Harcourt Family learning

 

I am looking at All About Spelling but open to suggestions either for a curriculum or ideas on getting her to spell better. I do think some of the problem stems from writing fast, she wants to get the words down and is not thinking of spelling correctly.

 

Any thought would be helpful.

 

I love All About Spelling, and it really helped both of my kids. However, before you buy something new, I would first assess whether you have a spelling problem or an editing problem.  But do it in such a way as to not put any damper on things she writes creatively or just for fun outside of school (or even that might make her school writing become a big chore--I think it's important to find ways to work on spelling without sucking the joy out of writing, if that makes sense!)

 

If she is polishing a piece for school (and not every piece has to be polished), is she able to find and correct many of her errors when given a separate day to edit her work?

 

Here is a blog article that has some ways to address spelling in the context of their writing, whether or not you use AAS--you may find it helpful.

 

AAS provides an incremental approach to learning spelling rules and other concepts and skills that help students become good spellers, and it has scaffolding techniques like dictation and a Writing Station exercise that help kids begin to develop automaticity with spelling in their writing. It helps them develop the tools to analyze any word and know how to learn and master it's spelling. So, if your child does need incremental and more indepth help with spelling, it's a great choice.

 

HTH some as you decide what to do! Merry :-)

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

I love All About Spelling, and it really helped both of my kids. However, before you buy something new, I would first assess whether you have a spelling problem or an editing problem.  But do it in such a way as to not put any damper on things she writes creatively or just for fun outside of school (or even that might make her school writing become a big chore--I think it's important to find ways to work on spelling without sucking the joy out of writing, if that makes sense!)

 

If she is polishing a piece for school (and not every piece has to be polished), is she able to find and correct many of her errors when given a separate day to edit her work?

 

Here is a blog article that has some ways to address spelling in the context of their writing, whether or not you use AAS--you may find it helpful.

 

AAS provides an incremental approach to learning spelling rules and other concepts and skills that help students become good spellers, and it has scaffolding techniques like dictation and a Writing Station exercise that help kids begin to develop automaticity with spelling in their writing. It helps them develop the tools to analyze any word and know how to learn and master it's spelling. So, if your child does need incremental and more indepth help with spelling, it's a great choice.

 

HTH some as you decide what to do! Merry :-)

 

Thanks Merry

Great article. Over the next month I am going to try and determine if it is just editing or the need for a different spelling program. I know with all her writing, fun and school, she can whip out a full page extremely fast. Spelling is not the only problem on those papers, grammar she knows quite well will be forgotten.

 

 

[Ellie]

My dd, almost 9, is an advanced reader and writer. Spelling, she can ace every test. However when she writes her spelling is atrocious. We have tried many different spelling curriculums, both word family based and phonics based, plus word list generated by her misspellings. The misspellings, when sounded out, will sound like the word so she is trying to apply phonics.

Things we tried:

Abeka Spelling

BJU Spelling

Natural Speller (Kathryn Stout)

Ruth Beechick's way of doing spelling from You Can Teach Your Child Successfully

Spelling Skills by Harcourt Family learning

 

I am looking at All About Spelling but open to suggestions either for a curriculum or ideas on getting her to spell better. I do think some of the problem stems from writing fast, she wants to get the words down and is not thinking of spelling correctly.

 

Any thought would be helpful.

 

 A couple of thoughts:

 

You've used a bunch of different methods in a short amount of time. I would guess that you didn't use any of them for more than a year, and sometimes you have to stick with something on a more long-term basis to see consistent improvement.

 

And you probably started with her when she was pretty young, an age when most children aren't spelling well anyway, and then you tried something else, which may have been confusing, and then you tried something else again when *that* didn't seem to help, either, and so on.

 

Many children will improve their spelling skills even if you don't do anything special. :-)

 

Before jumping into something else, you might try just making her slow down, and to impress on her the fact that when she misspells something in, say, her history assignment, it counts as a spelling mistake.

 

Y'all might know that I generally recommend Spalding, and if you decide to do something Official for spelling, that would be my recommendation. But it might not be necessary. :-)

 

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

 A couple of thoughts:

 

You've used a bunch of different methods in a short amount of time. I would guess that you didn't use any of them for more than a year, and sometimes you have to stick with something on a more long-term basis to see consistent improvement.

 

And you probably started with her when she was pretty young, an age when most children aren't spelling well anyone, and then you tried something else, which may have been confusing, and then you tried something else again when *that* didn't seem to help, either, and so on.

 

Many children will improve their spelling skills even if you don't do anything special. :-)

 

Before jumping into something else, you might try just making her slow down, and to impress on her the fact that when she misspells something in, say, her history assignment, it counts as a spelling mistake.

 

Y'all might know that I generally recommend Spalding, and if you decide to do something Official for spelling, that would be my recommendation. But it might not be necessary. :-)

 

 

True on all accounts :early start and jumping. Sigh, this is something similar to what hubby said, "why not stick with one thing". The boys all used BJU and spell great, maybe i should just stick with that (I have most of the guides). Thanks Ellie, will relook at what we have tried and maybe stick with one she knows.

 

[ElizabethB]

Spelling Plus with Spelling Dictation.

 

The words are used in dictation sentences so you are writing them in sentences and later paragraphs to work on carry over into writing. Simple, cheap, uses most common 1,000 words.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Spelling-Plus-Words-toward-Success/dp/187947820X

 

http://www.amazon.com/Dictation-Resource-Book-teacher-ed/dp/1879478218/ref=pd_sim_b_1

 

You can see sample pages on her website:

 

http://www.susancanthony.com/bk/-browse.html

[Hunter]

Spelling Plus with Spelling Dictation.

 

The words are used in dictation sentences so you are writing them in sentences and later paragraphs to work on carry over into writing. Simple, cheap, uses most common 1,000 words.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Spelling-Plus-Words-toward-Success/dp/187947820X

 

http://www.amazon.com/Dictation-Resource-Book-teacher-ed/dp/1879478218/ref=pd_sim_b_1

 

You can see sample pages on her website:

 

http://www.susancanthony.com/bk/-browse.html

Once you have read the Dictation Resource Book you can pretty much accomplish it on your own without the book. It really is a nice handy book to use though.

 

I also recommend this book.