Spelling

[LibraryLover]

Thank you for the suggestions. :)

[Sharon in SC]

Have you looked at Spelling Power? It works with the 5,000 most misspelled words in the English language by spelling rule. The student only studies the words they DON'T already know how to spell. I'm using this for my 15yo non-natural speller.

[Pam "SFSOM" in TN]

My 15 yr old is a reader, and very bright. She reads several 'quality' books a week and has an excellent working vocabulary. Spelling remains a huge challenge. Huge. Gigantic. I can't blame public schools...she never attended a public school. I hate to blame myself...but ok. We need to get to the bottom of this and I am not sure what to use now. I am sure there is a brain glitch, but how to get around it/work with it at this age?

 

Barron's Painless Spelling was great for us, as well as working through Phonetic Zoo. (Spendy, though.)

[Susan in IL]

I used Megawords (all books) for my then 12 yo ds. It teaches phonics and syllabication (and I probably didn't spell that right - LOL!!). Worked wonders for him.

[Claire]

My 15 yr old is a reader, and very bright. She reads several 'quality' books a week and has an excellent working vocabulary. Spelling remains a huge challenge. Huge. Gigantic. I can't blame public schools...she never attended a public school. I hate to blame myself...but ok. We need to get to the bottom of this and I am not sure what to use now. I am sure there is a brain glitch, but how to get around it/work with it at this age?

 

My dd is a remediated dyslexic and was an *extremely* poor speller. I tried many programs, and the first one that actually helped her was Sequential Spelling from Avko. They have an "adults only" version of this program that seems to get good results with teens. My dd did the first two books of the regular program. At that point she could spell well enough to place into Spelling Through Morphographs.

 

I *love* Spelling Through Morphographs. It covers tons of words in a year. The daily lessons are entirely scripted and take 20 to 25 minutes to complete. STM helped my dd a lot.

 

There is an online placement test for STM. Just Google Spelling Through Morphographs Placement Test and you will find it. Give it to your dd and see how she does. If she doesn't test well enough, I recommend starting with the adult version of Sequential Spelling. Once she can test into STM, though, I recommend switching to that program because it covers so many words.

 

The biggest downside to STM is its cost -- about $300 for the Teacher's Guide (all the scripting is in there, so you have to have it) and a student workbook (buy extra so you can re-sell the set as a package). Also SRA, the publisher, requires proof of homeschooling before it will let you order the TG.

 

Here is the SRA website. To find STM, click on "direct instruction".

[hmsch4me]

using all the usual spelling programs. Last year we started using Sequential Spelling and saw some improvement. This year we are doing If It Is To Be, It Is Up To Me To Do It (the adult version of Sequential Spelling) and Megawords. It has made a HUGE difference. He is finally starting to get his guessing of how words are spelled correct. I wish I could tell you which program is working better and why, but I really don't know. Megawords makes more sense to me - forces words to be broken down into syllables and teaches basic rules of spelling as they are encountered. I think we will continue Megawords next year and drop the other, as Megawords is something he can do on his own, except for the occasional test from me.

[Dee22]

I also suggest Megawords :) I have a very bright 12 year old ds who struggles in spelling.

[LibraryLover]

Dd and I have been checking out the suggestions. We think avko might be good for the situation.

 

Thank you, all!

[GreenKitty]

Another vote for Megawords. You may just have to keep trying things out to see what will work. Maybe some computer spelling games too?

[Deb in NZ]

This program has made a difference in my 15yod's spelling. We changed from Spelling Power when I saw how Sequential Spelling (bk. 1) was helping my 13yos's spelling & it was one of the best moves we made last year. It takes under 15 minutes a day to test & seems to have just the right amount of review built in. At least now when my dd writes, her spelling is close enough for spell check to suggest corrections.

 

JMHO,

[Ellie]

it works with learners of all ages, of all learning styles, who have all sorts of learning difficulties.

[Robin Hood]

My 9yo has trouble, too, in all subjects, with putting things in order. She can pick out any mispelled word, but she often spells things in the wrong order herself. All these spelling curriculum fatigue me so I'm sticking with one no matter what, but I found a fun little book at the library that is helping me with my attitude and approach towards teaching spelling.

 

It's called Everyday Spelling by Laurie Rozakis, Ph.D.

She says in her introduction, "that there is little evidence to suggest that spelling aptitude has anything to do with basic intelligence. Some of the world's sharpest people are lousy spellers." She said the she herself was a lousy speller but then drives home the importance of spelling by saying, "Spelling matters.......a mispelled word can destroy the effect of an entire document."

 

This little bit has helped me not to stress over it and to have confidence that there is all kinds of help out there when trouble hits. You would do well to check out your library for ideas, as well as what has been suggested here.