4Real Forums: Spelling by memory???

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Topic: Spelling by memory???

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cfa83
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Joined: July 19 2007
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Posted: Aug 19 2007 at 5:16pm \| IP Logged

I'm curious. Over the years (and it's been some), I have read threads like these: My child knows all the spelling rules by heart and still is not a good speller. Another one is: Either they are a good speller naturally or not (hence no amount of rule memorization will ultimately change their nature)or My child aces the spelling tests but when it comes to real world writing, what happened???

Anyone have similiar experiences? I know WRTR and SWR would agrue over these observations and say it aint so <g>.

We have not used a formal spelling curriculum. Our eldest dd is a good speller. She recognizes immediately when something doesn't look right. I find in her margins the word spelled out numerous times until she finds what "looks" right. When she was younger, her spelling was terrible. I've noticed a huge improvement with nothing more than time. Personally, I am a terrible speller. Time has not been my friend. It's embarrassing to always ask my dh "How do you spell blah blah"!

He always obliges (sp?)me. See what I mean???

So...should I order a program or not???? I know, I know. It couldn't hurt. Does anyone teach spelling "naturally" as they write??? I remember vividly working mindlessly through endless workbooks in school. I feel like I need to be on someone couch paying them for this! <g> But hey, I don't want to short change my kiddos either.

What DO YOU DO for kids like myself who no amount of workbooks or memory work will utimately help? Let me guess, spell check?

ALmom
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Joined: May 18 2005
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Posted: Aug 21 2007 at 8:06pm \| IP Logged

Actually one of my children does use spellcheck - and that is great for all the times we never get to the WRR since it is mom intensive. My approach has been rather interesting and does vary with the child. I have not been a "spelling has to be done every year" type of person and am pretty laid back with general competence.

My oldest dd seemed to do a lot naturally - but aced spelling tests and never seemed to spell words correctly in her work. (That is also how I am to this day. My dh catches tons of spelling mistakes). We attempted WRR for a brief period but I hadn't a clue what I was doing and we both hated it and just dropped spelling. She'd done a few spelling workbook type of things. Personally, I think those are pretty worthless unless you are interested in using them for handwriting practice. Her spelling was spellcheck but I never let them have the computer automatically correct - they had to look and correct each word. After misspelling enough over and over, she eventually began to improve some in her regular work. She still knows she'd better look carefully before handing in papers as she does tend to misspell. She even misspelled her own name once on a moving box

.

I do know that certain visual skills help spelling and lack thereof makes spelling more difficult.

Second dd, I cannot say I really cared about her spelling for a long, long time. She couldn't even write her letters in the correct direction or get her numbers in the correct sequence. Other things were critical - spelling wasn't much of an issue when you could barely read, and couldn't even form the letters properly. Once her vision was corrected, we used WRR with her for 1 year and nothing else ever. She is our best speller and is quite good at it both in regular work and the few spelling tests we gave her during her 1 year of WRR. We loved this program for this child. It did help that I learned how to use it my way!

My son came along and spelling was a major challenge for him. We assumed he would be like dd above and just come out of it when his vision was corrected with a year or so of WRR. Well, that never happened and his spelling was so bad that spell check wouldn't even help, so we went to trying different programs. I thought WRR would involve a lot of my time and he preferred working on his own so we tried various things - Spelling Power, creating a running list of misspelled words (but this was really discouraging and obviously was not a good choice for him as copying took him forever - visual memory problems). It did finally dawn on me that traditional approaches to spelling just wouldn't work with a child who doesn't have good visual memory - a kind of duh moment where I felt like an idiot. WRR doesn't rely on visual memory and we don't make our child memorize spelling rules. What we do is dictate a word emphasizing in our pronunciations, etc (sometimes even telling him how you think to spell it)and analyzing why it is spelled the way it is. We mark the word, discuss it and especially talk about any potential problem areas. He has been set up for success from start to finish and he is improving in his spelling. He is not a great speller but he is now able to also use spellcheck. This has been huge for him because he is so embarrassed by his spelling and now spellcheck is actually a useful tool for him.

Next ds, seems to spell without thinking - just comes to him. I haven't really done anything formal yet, but since I'm doing WRR with his brother, I might as well be doing it with him. I am also using this as more of a last phonics review as he taught himself how to read on Lord of the Ring and didn't get a lot of phonogram work. The WRR does a lot of things with prefixes, suffixes, recognizing base word and gives some special phonograms and hints to spelling words depending on the language from which the word is derived. I think there is enough good in it for him to benefit. I do them seperately.

Next ds is just beginning to read and we haven't done much formal work with him yet. I might use CHC for the early reading/spelling (mostly to get dc to write not really for the spelling) whenever I cannot get to Montessori presentations or they are not engaged in Montessori work. I'm hoping to have RBG kits ready shortly so we can begin and follow through with that approach. I won't jump into WRR (though I think it is the best spelling program out there) unless I really need to as it is so time consuming.

My almost 5 yo - haven't even thought that far yet. Obviously I'm working on Montessorish approach with him.

Janet

Jennifer
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Joined: July 14 2007
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Posted: Aug 22 2007 at 4:48pm \| IP Logged

Spelling comes naturally to my husband and me. But somehow we created a 9 year old who can't spell to save her life. We use the CHC spellers - just to have something formal. Both my 9 and 8 year old enjoy working through them and it doesn't hurt that we throw in 50 cents for every 100% on a spelling test. I also have the kids keep journals. They add to them about 3 days a week. I check for any spelling mistakes and then they write out the word a couple of times. It does help me know which words are really (rilly) giving them fits. They seem to misspell the same words over and over again. I believe spelling is natural and learned. Some have the gift and just have to refine their skills and others do not have the gift, they just have to learn how to use spell check, dictionaries and to surround themselves with good spellers.

Jennifer
Camp Homeschool

ALmom
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Joined: May 18 2005
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Posted: Aug 22 2007 at 5:54pm \| IP Logged

Oh, one thing I found interesting with WRR is that they periodically test spelling by dictating sentences. Ie the child is tested for spelling correctly when using words in context. Now you could do this with or without a formal program simply by stringing their spelling words together in a few sentences. (They are not dictating huge quantities and the sentences are mostly the spelling words, but still the idea of practicing this skill (as distinct from getting the word correct in isolation)seems like a good one to me.

Also, with or without WRR, I find myself analyzing misspelled words with dc using much that I learned from this program. I know that we have made major improvements every time we've used it so it must work well for us. It is time intensive.

Janet

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