What do you do for Spelling?

[MissRubyandKen]

What do you do for Spelling? I've mostly been considering copywork our Spelling, but am thinking dd, 10, could benefit from something else. She does really well. We've used SpellingCity.com sometimes and she pretty much always gets the words I give her right her first try. I'm not really sure if a workbook would be something she would get into or not because I worry it would have activities she and I would feel were busywork. Maybe I'm more looking for a something with lists or challenging words with maybe copying or a short activity, idk, lol. I think I've read there are programs that group the words to rules, maybe that would be beneficial.

[chaoticzenmom]

We read phonics pathways at night. My daughter loves to go through the book and find sounds she doesn't know. Then, we read the rule and practice all the words. Very easy.

[AAK]

Currently we use Spectrum spelling, but I am borrowing a copy of Spelling Power and think I will switch to that. DD doesn't like mindless workbook activities so I think spelling power will be better for her.

Amy

[MovingMomma]

We're using All About Spelling & we love it!

[MissRubyandKen]

I'm looking into all of those options. Thanks!

AAK- Would you mind sharing some more about Spelling Power? It is a bit pricey, but it sounds really nice. I have three kids, 10, 8, and 2. So really if its good and can be used for different levels the price would be worth it.

[dotnetdiva]

We use All About Spelling as well. We started Level 2 last week.

[MyLittleWonders]

I'll third All About Spelling. We love it here. Ds#1 is reviewing the 3rd level and ds#2 is reviewing the 2nd level. It is a wonderful program and teaches the why's of spelling instead of just giving lists to memorizing or lumping words into "these don't follow patterns" lists.

[AAK]

Originally Posted by MissRubyandKen

I'm looking into all of those options. Thanks!

AAK- Would you mind sharing some more about Spelling Power? It is a bit pricey, but it sounds really nice. I have three kids, 10, 8, and 2. So really if its good and can be used for different levels the price would be worth it.

It is pricey! I wouldn't have considered it without viewing it first since I have the tendency to buy and then not really liking things.

I am just getting "into it" but the first thing is an assessment test so that you know which level to place your child. Then, you go to that particular section. My 10 yr old is starting on level E. There are many lists for level E. Everyone starts with the first list. You give the words, after each word you correct it. (They have a reason for this). The kids will only study the words they miss. The next time you give a list, you start with the misspelled words from before, then begin a new list. There is a time limit on testing so you might not make it through the list and need to mark your place. Several of the lists have repeats (intentionally, as they are 'often misspelled' words and it provides another opportunity to review). There is a whole section in the book of learning activities. Many are multi sensory activities and as I understand it, you look through them and pull out what you think your child will benefit from. This part, I am still figuring out.

What I like is that I only have dd work on words that she doesn't know. I like that they don't depend on workbook activities. It also seems to be easy to change things to fit individual children. So, tentatively speaking, I think it would be great for a family who has more than one child and can get their money's worth.

[elizawill]

we currently use spectrum spelling as well. for next year, i'm plannig to use a reason for spelling or CLE spelling. i love a reason for spelling, but CLE incorporates everything - so i'm leaning that way for the mere simplicity of it. i bought the first light unit to check it out & see what my daughter thinks. hth.

[jrabbit]

I use life as an opportunity to learn spelling. My dd10 spells and reads far better than 12yo public schooled neighbor. We do crossword puzzles and play scrabble with her. We also taught her how to use a dictionary, starting with a children's version. 6yo dd is learning to read now, and we have been spelling words for her more lately.

I found a Spelling Bee word book from *my* childhood, and I plan to use it as a supplement. (as soon as I can find it again ... it's around here somewhere ...)

I tend to be more unschooling, though, so maybe that changes how I approach these things.

[zjande]

I keep thinks pretty eclectic with regards to spelling over here, to prevent my 6th grade son from getting bored. About every other week I'll give him a spelling list on Monday. I get the list either from a list of "commonly misspelled words", or a list of homonyms, or words I've been noticing him misspelling, and/or we use our Wordly Wise vocab workbook. I have him write sentences or a story with the words. A few days later I'll have him write the list in cursive for spelling and cursive practice. On Friday he has a spelling test.

We also do copywork but not as often anymore.

[tankgirl73]

We use Sequential Spelling and love it. There's no activities, no busywork, no random lists to memorize. It's just learning to recognize patterns. The patterns aren't even TAUGHT -- words are just organized in a way so that kids will see the patterns.

Similar to Spelling Power, you read a list and they write each word and you correct each word as you go. There will be several words using the same pattern, so after a couple the kids are like "oh, I got this". That's all you do, no further studying or testing. Then over the next few days, the same words are reinforced with variations, like "-s" and "-ed" and "-ing". Then it moves on to a new pattern.

But it also builds on itself in cool ways. For instance, right at the beginning, they start with "in", then "pin", then "sin", then "spin". Even if it was a young child unsure of how to spell 'pin', by the time he gets to 'spin' he'll likely spell it correctly. Then a couple days later it does "inning", "pinning", "spinning". Then it has "be". From that comes "begin" -- using both those patterns. Then "beginning". By day 8, even the youngest kids are spelling "beginning" correctly the first time they try it, because they understand the parts it comes from.

Because it goes from little words to big words all the time, they recommend always starting at level 1, even for older kids who can spell reasonably well. What I did (DS is 11) was leave out some of the repetition when it was a pattern he obviously knew, and condense a couple days' lists into one day. We did that for the first few dozen "days", then went to just going straight from the list. There are enough easy words that he stays confident, enough tricksy words to keep him on his toes (they often bring up homophones, for instance), and enough more challenging words (which are easy by the time they're introduced) to keep him proud of himself.

It's also very affordable, the downloadable e-books are very cheap.

[MissRubyandKen]

tankgirl73- with Sequential Spelling do you need to use the student response book?

[tankgirl73]

No, you don't need it, and they're very open about that. You can write the words down anywhere. All the response book is, is an organized collection of blank lines to fill in each day.

We do use it -- it came included with the download purchase anyway. I printed it out and keep it in a binder. Because the days' lists are numbered, we always know where we were, I don't have to mark it in my book or anything (and often I'm just reading it off the pdf on the computer or my pocket pc anywy).

And it's kind of neat the way it's organized. Each 2-page spread has 6 days' worth of line columns. But you only use one of them, then you turn the page to get the next one. This prevents them from just copying yesterday's words into today's variations.

So it was easier for us to just use it, to help us stay organized. I find it useful. But is it necessary? Nope!

[tankgirl73]

Oh, and we downloaded the sample first -- I think it's the first 8 days worth -- to try it before we decided to buy it. For the first couple dozen days where I was consolidating lists, we did not use the response book -- because we weren't following their lists per day.

Once we started following it more exactly, then we started using the response book.