| Author | |
amyable
Forum All-Star
Joined: March 07 2005
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 3798
|
| Posted: April 06 2005 at 12:54pm | IP Logged
|
 |
|
I thought I had read somewhere that C. Mason pushed only perfect spelling (in order to not see it incorrectly and get in bad habits) - I can't remember where I read this and can't find it again...
However, my 7.5 year old's spelling is horrific! (She is not a good reader yet either, we are going at her pace with that, slow and steady so she'll hopefully gain back a love of reading) She LOVES to write her own little stories though! I don't want to correct them unless she asks me, but I also hate the thought of her seeing the words like that (i.e. wrong or missing vowels, reversals, etc - Birds have beaks is "brds hav deks") I don't want to quench her spirit for writing, but I don't want to encourage bad habits either.
Any advice? I do already type in many stories for her, but she likes to do them on her own too.
__________________
Amy
mom of 5, ages 6-16, and happy wife of 
The Highly Sensitive Homeschooler
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Meredith
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 08 2005
Location: N/A
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2355
|
| Posted: April 06 2005 at 5:07pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Amy, Itried to post this earlier and lost it due to computer users error  , Anyway, I'm not sure if this is what you're looking for but it was very helpful for us this year and it has been quite effective for my 1st and 3rd grader. In _A Charlotte Mason Education_ by Catherine Levison she has a chapter on spelling and I think it's what you may be interested in. Keep in mind, this follows the CM concept of short lessons (10-15 minutes tops). "According to CM, spelling depends upon a photographic, detailed picture of a word. This is a power of habit to be cultivated in the child right from the start."
Spelling
How to: "If you want to teach how to spell a word the CM way then write it on the white board (with black marker) and let the children look at it. The children look at the word and shut their eyes to see if they can still "see" it. If they can't, have them open their eyes, look all they want to, and try again. When they think they have it, erase the board and have them write (or spell aloud) the word. There will rarely be an error. If there is, have them erase or white out and write the word correctly over the space. This works. We want to prevent false spelling as much as possible by not looking at mispelled words. This is why dictation, used without prior preparation, is bad for spelling." She goes on to say that like many of us she had used dictation for the purpose of exposing words her children did not know along with capitilization and punctuation errors, but she says, remember that we don't ever want them to see words spelled wrong if possible. (This was Chapter 9, Spelling)
Now a question I have is where is your daughter at in her phonics work? Are you still doing some of that along with the spelling and writing? Also have you tried dictation with her yet? I would give the spelling method a try and see if you are happy with it.
HTH a little bit. In addition to the title I mentioned above, I would also recommend Catherine's other books, _More Charlotte Mason Education_ and _A Literary Education_ as they are also very good.
__________________
Meredith
Mom of 4 Sweeties
Sweetness and Light
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
amyable
Forum All-Star
Joined: March 07 2005
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 3798
|
| Posted: April 07 2005 at 7:28am | IP Logged
|
|
|
Thank you for your thoughts. I had actually just reread that spelling chapter in Levison's book a few weeks ago. It works in the immediate for my dd, but a few days later she has completely forgotten and falls back on her old patterns of error.
We are doing some phonics alongside - but she struggles and hates it, so I keep it short and try not to push right now.
I guess my basic question (hidden among all the rambling) was whether or not I should quell her love of writing on her own by harping on the spelling and correcting it, or whether it was OK to let her continually see errors and in a way "think they are OK".
Thanks for the book recommendations too!
__________________
Amy
mom of 5, ages 6-16, and happy wife of
The Highly Sensitive Homeschooler
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
MichelleW
Forum All-Star
Joined: April 01 2005
Location: Oregon
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 947
|
| Posted: April 08 2005 at 11:41am | IP Logged
|
|
|
I bought Sequential Spelling this year. It teaches spelling patterns in a very logical way. When my kids write, I only ask them to correct the words I KNOW they know. I want to encourage fluency, but I also want them to use that knowledge they have taken time to learn.
Spelling has helped all my kids read, but the really exciting thing was that it has helped my oldest with speech problems. Now that he can understand the spelling rule, he can understand the pronounciation of words much better.
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Leonie
Forum All-Star
Joined: Jan 28 2005
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2831
|
| Posted: April 08 2005 at 6:43pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Personally, I separate the spelling and mechanics part from the writing issue.
I let my dc write and we worry about spelling in the editing process - and then, not necessarily in every piece of writing. We approach spelling conventions ( rules) related to their personal reading and writing.
In this respect, I like the suggestions made by Karen Andreola in A Charlotte Mason Companion and in the books by Ruth Beechick.
I am not sure if this is CM or not, but it *has meant that my boys mostly enjoy the writing process. They can get their ideas on paper and look at mechanics later.
As the older ones have grown, the mechanics and the writng parts have come together.
Just one idea!
Leonie in Sydney
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
cathhomeschool
Board Moderator
Texas Bluebonnets
Joined: Jan 26 2005
Location: Texas
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 7303
|
| Posted: April 09 2005 at 7:23am | IP Logged
|
|
|
I agree with Leonie. My 9yo isn't the best speller, though he has improved drastically over the last few years. I encourage him to read and write narrations/stories. (He almost always prefers to type on his own instead of dictating to me.) Now we go over his errors together and talk about spelling and grammatical mistakes before I print the narration. When he was younger I usually just made the corrections for him without mentioning each one and then we reread it together after it was corrected. If he was misspelling a frequently used word, however, I would point it out to him.
__________________
Janette (4 boys - 22, 21, 15, 14)
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
|
|
4Real Forums : Language Arts Come Alive
Topic: What’s the general consensus on spelling?
