How do I tell if my son is a "natural speller"...

[diaperjoys]

...if he's never done a spelling program?? It sounds to me like AAS is a terrific program. However, if he's a natural speller I'd prefer to hand him a spelling workbook that he can do on his own, since the younger kiddos still need so much of my attention. If he isn't a natural speller, though, I'd rather just begin with AAS instead of spending $$, trying, and failing at something else.

 

So how do I assess a young child's spelling ability? He's reading at approx. a 2nd grade level, and has begun 1st grade work in math, handwriting and the bju phonics/english program. But we were saving spelling and history to begin in the fall since he's still youngish to carry a full 1st grade workload.

[mamaof2andtwins]

Honestly, I didn't worry about spelling until they were reading. My natural spellers were the ones that picked up phonics quickly and once they learned to read they just took off. They were reading things I never taught them. They were the children who picked up conventional spelling from reading. My other two did not take to phonics well. It was a lot of work for them. Even though they both read well they tend to not notice the conventional spelling in a book.

 

Jennie

[diaperjoys]

Honestly, I didn't worry about spelling until they were reading. My natural spellers were the ones that picked up phonics quickly and once they learned to read they just took off. They were reading things I never taught them. They were the children who picked up conventional spelling from reading. My other two did not take to phonics well. It was a lot of work for them. Even though they both read well they tend to not notice the conventional spelling in a book.

 

Jennie

 

Ahhh. So perhaps he is a natural speller. He reads way, way behond anything I've ever taught him.

[KarenNC]

...if he's never done a spelling program?? It sounds to me like AAS is a terrific program. However, if he's a natural speller I'd prefer to hand him a spelling workbook that he can do on his own, since the younger kiddos still need so much of my attention. If he isn't a natural speller, though, I'd rather just begin with AAS instead of spending $$, trying, and failing at something else.

 

So how do I assess a young child's spelling ability? He's reading at approx. a 2nd grade level, and has begun 1st grade work in math, handwriting and the bju phonics/english program. But we were saving spelling and history to begin in the fall since he's still youngish to carry a full 1st grade workload.

 

If he's a natural speller and anything like myself or my daughter (both natural spellers), giving him a regular spelling workbook is probably the last thing you want to do. The problem for us has been that most workbook programs are nothing but sheer busywork. You are given a list of 10 words, of which you usually can spell the majority already (if not all), then have to spend a week doing all sorts of exercises with them. I would look to other subjects for independent workbook options---we are having good luck currently with Growing with Grammar and Vocabulary Vine for independent work (my daughter is 3rd grade, working at 4th grade level in these).

 

I see that you are still working on phonics. I would wait until you are done with that, as spelling is nothing but applied phonics. You are working on spelling through that and handwriting already. As the above poster mentioned, he will also pick up a lot more spelling from reading than from any workbook.

 

My daughter was about where your son is at the same age--reading second grade level at her 5th birthday, just before the school year began for kindergarten. We worked our way through Explode the Code for a phonics program (took us until mid second grade). By ETC 3, she was able to do most of it independently (workbook program) as she could read the directions and was used to the format. We switched to a non-workbook based approach for spelling, however.

 

We switched to Spelling Power in mid - 2nd grade, when she was finished with ETC. It uses a pretest-study-test approach---kids are given a list of words as a pretest, given immediate feedback on whether they spelled the individual word correctly and then they only study the ones they miss. The pretest part takes a max of 5 minutes and they have a max of 5 words to study (you stop the pretest after the 5th missed word or at 5 minutes). There are a few exercises to do to study the missed words and they are reviewed the next day until they are no longer missed. Great program, one non-consumable book that lasts to adult level and we got ours used for $15. There are also placement tests so that it will place the child at the level they need, not the one that is set by a grade level.