Spelling bypassing reading skills

[My4arrows]

I typically don't begin teaching spelling until my child is through AAR level 1 (as they suggest), but 5 yo DS request he learn so he could write like his brothers. I figured he'd want to stop after simple cvc type of words, but he loves it and is excelling. Because spelling moves more quickly than reading lessons, is there any harm at having him continue with spelling with it bypasses reading?

[forty-two]

I did a teaching-reading-through-spelling sort of thing with my middle dd, and she spelled all her reading words before she got to them in her reading lessons - the spelling worked as pre-teaching. She spelled the words and then read them back to me. It was very successful.

 

Can he read the words he spells to you? Or is he able to spell but not to read what he spells? If he can read back to you what he spells, then his spelling is actually helping with his reading. If he can't, then I don't think it's doing any harm, since he enjoys the process, though it might not be worth spending overmuch time on.

[PeterPan]

Simply have him read and practice to fluency anything he spells. It's totally fine. Spelling your way into reading is the whole point of programs like SWR and WRTR, and they work GREAT. It's how I taught my dd to read. Go for it. :)

[ElizabethB]

Actually, reading was historically taught through spelling with Webster's Blue Backed Speller or other Spellers.  In the preface to Parker's first reader, there is a warning against allowing a student to read a word they cannot spell:

 

 

I have one remark, however, to make, which, though it may seem at variance with the plans proposed and carried out by some with apparent success, I have little doubt will be found true, and that is, that it is scarcely possible to devote too much time to the spelling book. Teachers who are impatient of the slow progress of their pupils are too apt to lay it aside too soon. I have frequently seen the melancholy effects of this impatience. Among the many pupils that I have had under my charge, I have noticed that they who have made the most rapid progress in reading were invariably those who had been most faithfully drilled in the spelling book. A good hawk is better than a whole bag-full of game; and the fable of the hare and the tortoise applies as forcibly and as closely to the child's first endeavors as to any subsequent efforts. In the earlier stages of education, no better advice can be given than that which is conveyed in the quaint adage, Make haste slowly. Fruits and flowers produced by forcing in hot-beds rarely possess the raciness or the value of those which are properly and naturally matured. It is in vain to endeavor to sweeten or to gild the pill. The roots of learning are undoubtedly bitter, and the rudiments of letters possess few attractions to the child. Let him then advance boldly to the task. Let him learn, in the onset, that he has labor to undergo. There is no royal road to learning. Plunge him at once into the thickest of the fight. Teach him at once how to overcome difficulties, and his subsequent contests will be less discouraging, and his success will be complete.

 

In the use of each of these volumes, it is recommended to the teacher to assign no larger portion of each Lesson as a Reading Lesson than can also be learned as a Spelling Lesson; and that the pupil should be made distinctly to understand that whatever portion he is required to read he will also be required to spell.

 

Here is the link with his full introduction to the reader and a picture of the cover of the book:

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Spelling/spelling1851.html

 

I allowed my children to progress in reading past what they can spell, but found that working on spelling during phonics only helped the process,  enhancing the learning and speeding the process.

 

I also found that they could both spell words before they could blend, and that working on spelling before reading helped them learn to read those words easier.

Edited September 15, 2017 by ElizabethB

[My4arrows]

Actually, reading was historically taught through spelling with Webster's Blue Backed Speller or other Spellers. In the preface to Parker's first reader, there is a warning against allowing a student to read a word they cannot spell:

 

 

Here is the link with his full introduction to the reader and a picture of the cover of the book:

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Spelling/spelling1851.html

 

I allowed my children to progress in reading past what they can spell, but found that working on spelling during phonics only helped the process, enhancing the learning and speeding the process.

 

I also found that they could both spell words before they could blend, and that working on spelling before reading helped them learn to read those words easier.

This is reassuring as I've only done it the other way around. I guess I have noticed it's helped him with the reading process much quicker. I'll just keep letting him go at his own pace for each.

[lllll]

nm

Edited September 21, 2017 by lllllll

[MerryAtHope]

Sometimes there are kids who find spelling easier than reading, especially with the early words in AAS. When you get into more of the visual patterns, you might see some issues if his reading hasn't caught up by then. Reading provides a lot of visual reinforcement for those types of patterns. For those kids who do find AAS easier, usually somewhere in levels 2-4 you'll see reading pulling ahead again (which makes sense because there are more spelling levels, and spelling does get more complicated for longer words.) By doing the programs separately, you can take each one at your son's pace. Have fun! Good for you for following your little one's interests!

[My4arrows]

Sometimes there are kids who find spelling easier than reading, especially with the early words in AAS. When you get into more of the visual patterns, you might see some issues if his reading hasn't caught up by then. Reading provides a lot of visual reinforcement for those types of patterns. For those kids who do find AAS easier, usually somewhere in levels 2-4 you'll see reading pulling ahead again (which makes sense because there are more spelling levels, and spelling does get more complicated for longer words.) By doing the programs separately, you can take each one at your son's pace. Have fun! Good for you for following your little one's interests!

Thanks! I am wondering as he goes into AAS 2 if it'll slow down significantly. He's only been at it a month and is almost done with level 1 (in the same time he's about Half way through AAR level 1, so not too far apart). He may just be a natural speller like one of his brothers.

[...................]

It's actually ideal and supposed to prevent reading problems later on, SWR is built on the idea so go for it :)