Spelling not important? This bothers me

[Janeway]

I have a kindergartener. He is really taking off with the spelling. Apparently though, at school, when he asks how to spell a word, they refuse to tell him. They tell him to sound it out and it doesn't matter if he gets it wrong. I think if a child asks a question like that, he should get an answer. This bothers me.

 

Opinions?

[HomeAgain]

That's why we don't like public school methods.  It's not about attention to detail, but a result of any kind.  That's why you see capitals mixed with lowercase, floating, odd-sized letters, words without vowels..bah.

 

We go slower.  Copywork.  Then copywork & introduction of a spelling rule/use of the rule during prepared dictation.  Playing with magnetic letters of red/blue to learn vowel rules.  Dictation with instant correction.  Finally, dictionary skills.

 

Nope.  Don't like half-baked results due to poor planning and not enough time for the child to develop.

[MinivanMom]

The reality is that the kindergarten teacher can't spell out words for every single child. She needs the children to sound out words in order to work independently. This is especially important during morning journal writing time when half the purpose of the activity is to keep the children occupied and productive while the teacher is taking attendance and handling other morning responsibilities. 

 

As long as your child has gotten phonetically based reading instruction and will get spelling instruction at some point (some schools start spelling in kindergarten for kids who are ready while other schools wait until 1st grade), then it will probably work out fine. Trust me, most 4th & 5th grade teachers have a very low tolerance for misspelled words. The expectations will shift over time.

[Tanaqui]

Apparently though, at school, when he asks how to spell a word, they refuse to tell him. They tell him to sound it out and it doesn't matter if he gets it wrong.

 

Sounds to me like they're working right now on the correspondence between letters and sounds, and not so much on straight memorization. Whether this is good or bad is another issue, but that sounds like the reasoning. Not laziness or "poor planning", just a different approach and different priorities.

[maize]

Sounds to me like they're working right now on the correspondence between letters and sounds, and not so much on straight memorization. Whether this is good or bad is another issue, but that sounds like the reasoning. Not laziness or "poor planning", just a different approach and different priorities.

 

I agree. They want the kids to use phonetic spelling and not to get caught up in right and wrong according to spelling conventions.

 

There are both pros and cons to this method. 

[purduemeche]

Spelling is important and teaching kids otherwise is a problem.

 

 

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[Dramorellis]

When my oldest went to PS in Kindergarten, this was the method they used. The goal was to have them become comfortable with expressing thoughts and ideas without worrying about the details. That's a separate skill. Plus if the child is stopping at every word to make sure they are spelling it correctly, then they don't really produce much in the limited time they might have for free writing. Now should they be required to write that much anyway is another topic. First grade is when he started spelling. Still not correcting directly when they were writing on their own but definitely working toward that goal. If he asked me directly, I would sound out the letters for him instead of telling him directly how to spell it. No harm really in the long run for him, just a different direction.  When forced to think about it instead of me just telling him, he would refer to those spelling and phonetic rules and usually spell it correctly or at least come pretty close.. We do copywork and dictation and I correct immediately with my 6 year old but when she is free writing I do not correct the spelling at all unless she asks. In that case the answer is to ask her, "How do you think it's spelled?" I want to encourage her to sound it out and remember her spelling rules for the most part. 

[vonfirmath]

Spelling is important and teaching kids otherwise is a problem.

 

 

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There is a time for correct spelling and a time when getting your ideas on paper is more important.

[Tanaqui]

Plus if the child is stopping at every word to make sure they are spelling it correctly, then they don't really produce much in the limited time they might have for free writing

 

And they don't really enjoy writing, which is hopefully a goal at this age.

 

The reality is that the kindergarten teacher can't spell out words for every single child.

 

An excellent point. One parent with one or two kids can easily spell everything. One or two teachers with 20 - 35 kids just can't. I'm reminded of Ramona the Pest, when her mother went to buy her new shoes and had her struggle into her hand-me-down boots to prove they fit over the shoes. The salesman pointed out that if her teacher spent all her time putting boots on, she'd never get anything done!

 

[Janeway]

I think that forcing writing while withholding the tools for writing is fruitless, empty, and develops bad habits.

[Tanaqui]

I think that forcing writing while withholding the tools for writing is fruitless, empty, and develops bad habits.

 

Wait, is this a JAWM post? Or are you interested in other opinions?

[Farrar]

I think there can be benefits to doing it both ways. Different approaches, different contexts. However, there are good reasons for the teacher to do it this way and it's one of those things you have to let go of if you send a child to school. They have a different, also legitimate philosophy. You're not going to change it. And at this stage in the game there's probably not a specific reason to for you child.

[Guest]

If it makes you feel any better, my dd's public school had her entire class in a pilot program that never taught spelling at all. They all spelled like rednecks for a few years but then it leveled out around 3rd or 4th grade and you could no longer tell a difference. She has never had a spelling class in her life and spells quite fine now. I know it's anecdotal, but I think if your kid is reading good books and enjoys writing it will all work itself out in the end. If it bothers you to the extreme I would either after school it or pull the kid- but aren't you HS'ing him next year anyway?

[Dramorellis]

I think that forcing writing while withholding the tools for writing is fruitless, empty, and develops bad habits.

 

The reality is the a high volume of writing is required in the lower grades. There is a high focus on content and expression. In order to achieve that, they need to let some things go. Spelling with very young children is what gets put aside. There are so many components to writing that it seems unrealistic to nitpick 5-6 year olds when they are working so hard at simply forming letters and getting a thought out on paper. I assume this refers to when he is doing things like journaling, questions of the day and morning work? If your child is going to be in a brick and mortar school, there really doesn't seem to be a way around this for a majority of teachers. It's not laziness, they really actually do believe this a stepping stone on the path to greater writing skills. Is that true? For some kids yes for some no, but this is the predominate reality in the school system. Writing is forced in that environment and there will be lots of it. Yes the content ends up being formulaic. That's the price. The problem is with the amount of writing required.The spelling will be worked out over the course of the next few grades and would be the least of my issues.  

[OlgaLA]

It probably wouldn't bother me too much, but it would bother my son. He refuses to write if he doesn't know the spelling. Luckily, he only has to ask once.

[OneStepAtATime]

OP, how much actual independent writing is required in your kid's kindergarten class?  And is he actually getting solid phonics instruction or is it mainly whole word/sight word instruction?

 

(Honestly, I think most kindergartners should NOT be required to do a ton of independent writing when many don't yet have the basic skills in place.  They can develop bad spelling habits, bad letter formation, etc.  Trying to unlearn a bad spelling habit can be exceedingly difficult.  I misspelled "maybe" for YEARS because I initially spelled it incorrectly and was not corrected for a very long time.  Even after people started correcting me it was so ingrained in my head I still misspelled it.  Drove me nuts.)  

[Peaceful Isle]

I used to teach at a school, many moons ago :)

 

What I used to do, when a student asked me how to spell a word, was write it on the chalkboard for them. That way, if any other child needed that word spelled, it was already done.

It was also a quick fix, because I could write it out quickly, rather than wait for the child to write each letter I said. That would be insane.

It usually only happened during Journal time or answering short answer questions.

 

I have taught kindergarten before, and I remember it happening in other grades I taught, but not kindergarten. I would teach 5 year olds how to write a certain letter, blends, and small words, but they did a lot of their worksheets with me as I taught them.

Edited May 18, 2016 by Peacefulisle

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I used to teach at a school, many moons ago :)

 

What I used to do, when a student asked me how to spell a word, was write it on the chalkboard for them. That way, if any other child needed that word spelled, it was already done.

It was also a quick fix, because I could write it out quickly, rather than wait for the child to write each letter I said. That would be insane.

It usually only happened during Journal time or answering short answer questions.

 

I have taught kindergarten before, and I remember it happening in other grades I taught, but not kindergarten. I would teach 5 year olds how to write a certain letter, blends, and small words, but they did a lot of their worksheets with me as I taught them.

 

This is a nice way to deal with the question, since it also then allows them to use visual memory when they are trying to spell it again later.  

[maize]

If it makes you feel any better, my dd's public school had her entire class in a pilot program that never taught spelling at all. They all spelled like rednecks for a few years but then it leveled out around 3rd or 4th grade and you could no longer tell a difference. She has never had a spelling class in her life and spells quite fine now. I know it's anecdotal, but I think if your kid is reading good books and enjoys writing it will all work itself out in the end. If it bothers you to the extreme I would either after school it or pull the kid- but aren't you HS'ing him next year anyway?

 

 

I would be interested to see large scale studies on this.

 

My understanding is that some children pick up spelling naturally (my oldest two children have done so) and some need explicit teaching. I suspect that this depends significantly on visual memory; a child who has good visual memory will likely remember words just from seeing them a few times, while a child who struggles with visual memory may not. I found for myself that typing from a model (basically typing copywork) helped my spelling immensely.

 

One concern I have with allowing children to use invented spelling if they are doing a significant amount of writing is that they can develop a mistaken visual memory; I'm pretty sure I've seen research indicating that allowing children to write words the wrong way can be detrimental to spelling. At the same time, I can understand in a kindergarten classroom where the teacher is trying to get the kids to make basic phonological associations with letter sounds it could be helpful to encourage the children to spell phonetically as best they are able.

 

My personal preference would be to not require writing in the lower grades with the exception of handwriting practice and some copywork.

[lllll]

I don't know the best way to teach it in a classroom setting.  It sounds like a difficult thing to do. 

 

At home, teaching my own, I eventually figured out that each child developed each of these skills at different rates.  So that means my dc learned phonics, spelling, handwriting, composition, and grammar all separately, with some overlap here and there.  They mostly learned these things from books, so when they asked me a question about any of it, I always answered them.  It never occurred to me not to.  

 

I remember learning spelling in grammar school.  I hated it.  Random lists every week, no review.  I'm amazed I learned to spell at all.  :tongue_smilie:  It only made sense to me when I began teaching my own kids all of the above.

[fdrinca]

I don't spell words for my children unless they are writing a card or another piece of work that is intended for someone else or public viewing.

I ask them to spell the word to the best of their ability.

 

Then, in correcting their work together (if appropriate - not all writing demands correction), we can talk through some of the phonics rules for spelling words.

 

I also have one kiddo who hates to be wrong, and for a while would ask about every single word as she did her daily journal entry. It was not a good writing experience for her or for the family. 

[Guest]

I would be interested to see large scale studies on this.

 

 

Me too. They discontinued the pilot when she went into 5th grade and then they became an ESL campus, and we never heard another peep about it. We chose to move at that point as I was tired of my kids being social experiments for the powers that be. I think a lot of it was funding related. Be the guinea pig and get extra $$$ for a school with decreasing enrollment. We were skeptical about it, but it definitely did not seem to negatively impact dd- but as for the class as a whole I honestly have no clue. 

[Bluegoat]

I think in  K class that requires journal writing, it's the only method.  They practice sounding out, and tehy get teh words on the page.

 

I personally prefer not to ask kids that age to compose and write at the same time, I would tend to go with other forms of composition, mainly oral.  UNfortunaly oral composition doesn't satisfy the busywork requirement.

[Haiku]

I regret that I was a stickler on spelling when my ds was young. It taught him to be afraid to write anything lest he spell it wrong (and it wasn't like he got punished if he spelled things wrong, but I did mark his misspelled words and have him correct them). It took a long time for my ds to accept the idea that he could put words on paper and they would be valuable even if they weren't spelled correctly. As he is dyslexic and has phonological processing issues, this is especially important because spelling is very hard for him.

 

I agree that a teacher in a classroom can't spell every word that every child asks about; there just isn't time. I also do think it is a valuable skill to be able to work out for oneself the correlation between sound and letter. It was a big leap forward for my son when his misspellings actually began to be phonetic and not just weird and random. Once he was able to produce a phonetic approximation, the gulf between misspelled and spelled correctly was less wide and teaching him the correct spelling was easier.

 

Reaching a higher reading level also helped with his spelling.

 

I'd say that as long as your student will also begin receiving spelling instruction in first grade, it's not worth worrying about in Kindergarten.

[sassenach]

Have you ever taught a group of 5 year olds? The teacher would spend her entire day spelling words for kids if she didn't have them try themselves. It's not an undervaluing of spelling, it's the reality of classroom education.

[sassenach]

I think that forcing writing while withholding the tools for writing is fruitless, empty, and develops bad habits.

Maybe you should homeschool him.

[MEmama]

It was laziness on the part of my son's K teacher. I remember having long conversations with him about it after school, he upset and bewildered why she wouldn't do her job and teach him already, and me feebly trying to come up with excuses for her.

 

When I worked in a K class, it was the same. The poor kids would be in tears because they wanted to do their work correctly and you know, learn, and the teacher wouldn't help them. "Sound it out" is meaningless at best and damaging at worst to 5 yos left to do work they aren't ready to do independently.

 

In later years I do ask DS to sound words out and try to tease out correct spellings, but at 5 it strikes me as a silly and useless endeavor, particularly for non natural spellers and kids who pride themselves on doing their work correctly.

[MEmama]

Have you ever taught a group of 5 year olds? The teacher would spend her entire day spelling words for kids if she didn't have them try themselves. It's not an undervaluing of spelling, it's the reality of classroom education.

Yes. I spelled the words for them. :)

 

Why else have them write? 5 year olds know that scribbling garbled letters on a piece of paper isn't writing, they know it's ugly and wrong and totally unworthy of praise. They know they aren't learning.

[Mergath]

Yes. I spelled the words for them. :)

 

Why else have them write? 5 year olds know that scribbling garbled letters on a piece of paper isn't writing, they know it's ugly and wrong and totally unworthy of praise. They know they aren't learning.

 

 

 

Good grief. I hope you never have a child with dyslexia or some other LD. Telling a child who can't spell that their efforts are ugly and unworthy of praise is downright cruel.

[Tanaqui]

5 year olds know that scribbling garbled letters on a piece of paper isn't writing, they know it's ugly and wrong and totally unworthy of praise.

 

Effort and progress is always to be commended, even if the results still aren't perfect.

 

[RenaInTexas]

I give my kids the same response as the teacher and we are 1-on-1. They have learned to stop asking and now spell every word that they don't know phonetically. It lets me know that their phonics are sticking and that they know how to use phonics rules. It also allows them to write more freely and express themselves using more sophisticated language than they would if they felt they needed to master spelling before using a word. 

 

I have to write technical documents for work. They would likely sound amateurish if I were required to know how to spell every word before I could use it.

[OlgaLA]

I would have a meltdown if I refused to tell my son how to spell words he doesn't know. Or he would only use words he knows how to spell. It's just the way he is. So, he would rather use less sophisticated language than misspell words. It all depends on the child.

[Bluegoat]

I give my kids the same response as the teacher and we are 1-on-1. They have learned to stop asking and now spell every word that they don't know phonetically. It lets me know that their phonics are sticking and that they know how to use phonics rules. It also allows them to write more freely and express themselves using more sophisticated language than they would if they felt they needed to master spelling before using a word. 

 

I have to write technical documents for work. They would likely sound amateurish if I were required to know how to spell every word before I could use it.

 

I do think it is a little different with kids who are old enough to know at least the fundamentals of the phonics, to ask them to sound it out.  My dd11 will still ask me for words, often ones she could figure out - it is easier for he than thinking about it or looking it up, so I sometimes need to insist on her using her skills and resources.

 

I feel though that K students who are trying to write a journal entry are between a rock and a hard place - they may not know enough, or be comfortable enough, to make a good attempt with sounding out the word.  And if they want to write any amount, they would need to ask for a lot of help, o spend a lot of time thinking about spelling, and it would be slow no matter what they did if they really want to try and get it right.

[Farrar]

Philosophically, I started out thinking that it was better to encourage them to just write and not worry about it and teach spelling separately, letting them integrate it as they were ready. For one of my ds, this was an incredibly anxiety producing method. Being told to just sound it out would have made him have an internal, self-hate filled meltdown. Of course, journaling was a bad idea for this kid. This is part of why I can see both sides. I think there's merits to saying no writing other than copywork/dictation until kids can write something without the misspellings. I think that's good for many kids. On the other hand, the you're writing, just love what you're doing, don't worry, feel confident approach works for other kids as long as there's also phonics and spelling instruction happening.

 

Again though, if you can't see the other side and think the teacher is just lazy or mean or wrong, then you should be homeschooling. It'll drive you mad in the end dealing with this sort of thing and he's only in kindy and this is a method that has a lot of reasoned proponents. Think of what it'll be like after you've been dealing with it for years and encountered the methods that aren't reasonable, the teachers that are lazy.

Edited May 18, 2016 by Farrar

[MEmama]

Effort and progress is always to be commended, even if the results still aren't perfect.

Of course. If THEY see it that way. Which my son certainly doesn't, nor did the kids in my class who would be in tears because no one would give them a straight answer on how to spell, but expect them to make it up.

 

I'm not a fan of make it up as you go along. We don't do that with math, why should we with words?

[MEmama]

Good grief. I hope you never have a child with dyslexia or some other LD. Telling a child who can't spell that their efforts are ugly and unworthy of praise is downright cruel.

That's now how I saw it, it's how the kids saw it. They were plenty smart to know the difference between real words and imaginary nonsensical ones. And yes, they let me know (they liked me and confided in me because I actually helped them, go figure).

 

Obviously not all kids care and that's fine (and obviously LDs are an entirely different consideration), but I haven't seen any myself who were fine with not getting help when they ask for it.

[Haiku]

In later years I do ask DS to sound words out and try to tease out correct spellings, but at 5 it strikes me as a silly and useless endeavor, particularly for non natural spellers and kids who pride themselves on doing their work correctly.

 

I think that there are different definitions of "correctly" at play. If you're working on spelling, then yes, spelling things correctly is the correct thing to do. If you are working on teaching kids to get their ideas on paper, then, imo, spelling is secondary, and kids should not be made to feel their work is "incorrect" if they have misspelled some things. My son works very hard on his written/typed work. He still makes mistakes. He has still done his work "correctly" if he has met the objectives of the assignment and learned something. Spelling is a work in progress for lots of people (my husband is still a poor speller), and a rigid emphasis on correct spelling downplays the gifts and strengths of people for whom spelling does not come naturally. And I used to be a professional editor, so this realization was a hard-won lesson.

 

Why else have them write? 5 year olds know that scribbling garbled letters on a piece of paper isn't writing, they know it's ugly and wrong and totally unworthy of praise. They know they aren't learning.

 

Wow. That's really ... sad. Why else have them write? Because writing is a joyous, creative form of self-expression that should be available to all people, regardless of age and spelling ability. Kids can learn a ton from the act of writing, and that learning needn't be tied to correct spelling.

Edited May 18, 2016 by TaraTheLiberator

[Haiku]

It also allows them to write more freely and express themselves using more sophisticated language than they would if they felt they needed to master spelling before using a word. 

 

Exactly! It was torturous when my son thought he couldn't write unless he ran every word past me first. His creative voice flourished when he wasn't anxiety-ridden about only using words he could already spell (which seriously limited his written vocabulary).

[Haiku]

My dd's first written words were ABL and SAML.*

 

I still have the scraps of paper she wrote them on, and I treasure them. I treasure the books she painstakingly assembled about Struthiomimus (her favorite dinosaur, because "he's a very fast runner") when she was 4 and 5 years old. They are beautiful, and lovely, and creative, and most definitely worthy of praise. The joy she derived from these creations is immeasurable. The joy I derived from them is immeasurable. I can't even fathom someone saying that they are ugly and wrong and totally unworthy of praise because she spelled things incorrectly. It just doesn't compute.

 

*apple and sawmill

 

Edited May 18, 2016 by TaraTheLiberator

[lllll]

I was thinking more about this thread and about what I saw happen with my own (average) kids in hs'ing them.  So this would be just one random example, I suppose.  But what happened was that as they each progressed at their own rates through all the areas - phonics, spelling, handwriting, grammar, and composition - they went from very slowly learning each individual area in the early years ....  to becoming more confident in their abilities in the areas and slowly combining them .... to more or less mastering the areas and finally combining them all into one useable whole. 

 

It was a slow process, full of stops and starts, with some of my kids going slowly, and others speeding along.  But they all ended up at the same place, albeit at slightly different times, usually by their late teens, knowing how to write good compositions using correct spelling and grammar.

 

The only reason I post this is that I think it was easier to see the whole process having hs'ed our dc all the way through.  Versus in an institutional setting with many different children and switching teachers (and curriculum??) every year where it all gets somewhat chopped up and fragmented, making it harder to see the child's process as he pulls it all together.   

 

IOW, it might depend on the child himself, and where the child is in this progression as to whether or not the teacher/parent would answer any of the child's questions in any of these areas.  At least, that's what seemed to work best in my tiny experiment at home.  ;)

 

fwiw

[RootAnn]

My kids are almost all pretty bad spellers because they have low visual memories. While working on spelling as a separate subject in school, they are absolutely free to write whatever they like in their free time and I don't stress, in the lower grades, about them correcting their misspellings. I have two natural writers among my five. Both started very early to write stories. I am convinced that my older writer wouldn't be turning out creative & wonderfully-written (but poorly spelled) books now if I would have criticized her spelling or enforced properly spelled writing for her free writes.

 

If they really want to know how something is spelled, I'll spell it out. Normally, they just sound it out. The misspellings are usually very phonetic, although the youngest kiddo usually misses figuring out syllables & leaves out letters. He'll get it since we spend time on spelling separately.

[chocolate-chip chooky]

In my understanding, there are different stages developmentally when it comes to spelling.

 

When children are in the phonetic stage, they naturally sound words out phonetically and it will often end up as invented spelling. At this stage, I wouldn't correct for spelling. The point at this stage is to be linking sounds to letter shapes and enjoying the new skill of putting this on paper.

 

But, when they move to the developmental stage of realising that there are correct ways to spell things, it's a whole different ball game.

 

It's great if a child has a go at spelling something, but if they ask 'is this right?', then I'd definitely tell them, either in a classroom situation or at home. Sometimes there just isn't time to encourage sounding it out, using a word chart, using a dictionary etc and then checking it for them. In that case, I'd just offer the correct spelling, usually written on a whiteboard.

 

Also, in my opinion, it is completely valid to ask someone how to spell something. It isn't necessarily lazy. It can just be the most efficient strategy at that point in time to reach your immediate goal. We all do it as adults all the time, for all kinds of things. "Did you pay the phone bill?", instead of looking it up ourself on the bank website. We even do it regarding spelling. A great source of info may be sitting right beside you. Sometimes the goal at hand is best served by the most efficient strategy.

 

 

[Ausmumof3]

It's a common primary school strategy. I think which approach is a better fit depends on the kid a bit. My ds hated being told to just write it anyhow. He prefers perfect small output. My dd would cheerfully write screeds but you might not have any idea what she is saying. The voluble output is a bit like baby babble in some ways - they are playing with expression and speech sounds and in time it forms into something comprehensible though sometimes with a lot of effort on the parents part. My sons writing improved a lot when I shifted from a lets produce something and get it down on paper to a copy work approach.

 

You can really take either direction in a kinder classroom - I don't know that there's any proven method that is more successful and even if one way is overall more successful it won't always be the best way for each kid.

[OlgaLA]

It's a common primary school strategy. I think which approach is a better fit depends on the kid a bit. My ds hated being told to just write it anyhow. He prefers perfect small output. My dd would cheerfully write screeds but you might not have any idea what she is saying. The voluble output is a bit like baby babble in some ways - they are playing with expression and speech sounds and in time it forms into something comprehensible though sometimes with a lot of effort on the parents part. My sons writing improved a lot when I shifted from a lets produce something and get it down on paper to a copy work approach.

 

It is an interesting comparison. My son didn't talk beyond a few words until he was able to talk in full sentences with correct genders and declensions. As you can imagine, by that time I was really worried. He still doesn't like producing output if he is unsure of quality.

 

That is the beauty of homeschooling - we can give the kids exactly what they need how they need.

[fourisenough]

I got very worried a few months ago when my advanced-reader DD6 was still spelling very phonetically, despite almost 6-months of using Sequential Spelling. She never asked how things were spelled; she would confidently forge-ahead with her decipherable but incorrect (albeit cute) spellings. I had her evaluated by a reading specialist in our area who tutors many homeschooled children. She felt like my DD just needed some explicit instruction in spelling rules and suggested AAS, which I already owned. We've since completed Steps 1-20 of 24 in Level 1. She's picking it up fast, and I'm already seeing transference in her 'free' writing.

 

Maybe these kids just need some explicit spelling instruction. I realize most K children in a classroom setting may not be ready for it. But, in your case, OP, I would definitely begin it at home as a summer or after-schooling subject. My natural spellers didn't need it, but AAS is working well so far for my child who could read well, but didn't seem to intuit spelling from her reading.

[gstharr]

I've been involved with the growth of two boys.  One I started  with  when he was in the 4th grade.  He and his mother already had a routine.  She would check all school work before he handed it in. Corrected everything.  If she did not like it, he had to rewrite.  The routine lasted to about the 10th grade.  He got "A"s on everything he turned in, but now struggles to write 5 paragraphs on a college level. 

 

   The other I started with in pre-k. got her to stay out of the process. Only to check if his assignment was completed on time.  Even had to bite her tongue, when he wrote such folly as how she had flown him to the Super Bowl for the weekend.  This kid is now in the 5th. He can write pages with no effort.

 

 Writing is a long process.  Can't get bogged down with the details at the beginning. All of the writing programs (Athena, L3, Attuneup) , even at the middle school level,  emphasize that they are more concerned with getting the words flowing, than with the mechanics  or perfection.

[mamamoose]

I have two very different but equally intelligent kids. My daughter is a natural reader and speller and my son is younger and dyslexic. When dd was in public school they had the same philosophy you are talking about. I became very frustrated at the terrible spelling and grammar in dd's writing because she was several years ahead in reading but they didn't hold her to any higher standard in her writing. With ds, I still don't ask much because of his disability. The problem with schools is they have so much on their plate, they rarely identify learning disabilities early on, and they can't offer individual instruction of any kind. Our situation was even more maddening though, because it was a rural school with 5 kids in. 3 grade classroom--no different than what I am teaching--and I still can't see how they were too busy to deal with and identify any of the issues I described above.

[Janeway]

My issue is, not that they expect it out of him, but rather that he wants to know and they refuse to tell him. I don't care personally if he spells something wrong at this age, but he does. And I feel if he is so interested in spelling, then this is his window to learn it. If they keep turning him down and telling him it is not important, he might lose all drive and desire.

[Tanaqui]

If they keep turning him down and telling him it is not important

 

You keep using this phrase. Are they actually telling him "It's not important"?

 

[Janeway]

Yes.