Can we talk spelling (again, LOL!)

[annettemarie]

I know it's come up before. Last year, we just kind of took it as it came and mostly garnered spelling words from his writing. However, he has a goal to go to National Spelling Bee, and I'd like to try to support it. I did buy the book/DVD How to Spell Like a Champ, but it's not really a curriculum, you know?

So, what would you suggest? I'd like something that starts to get into "language of origin" type stuff as well-- prefixes, suffixes, things like that.

And with four kids, I need something that fairly put together already. And not too too expensive. I don't ask for much.

[frogguruami]

We LOVE Sequential Spelling. They don't do -fixes though. It is all about the natural patterns of the language (believe it or not English actually has patterns! LOL).

[LilyGrace]

I don't know if this would fit your needs, but Word Roots from the critical thinking co. focuses on the -fixes and roots, especially Latin/Greek. It's mostly a vocabulary program - but spelling comes from learning the parts of vocab, right?

[Ruthla]

So only one of the four children wants to particiapte in the spelling bee, and you want something affordable. What about the dictionary? There's usually all that information about prefixes and suffixes and stuff in there, followed by HUGE lists of correctly spelled words.

[annettemarie]

Originally Posted by LilyGrace

I don't know if this would fit your needs, but Word Roots from the critical thinking co. focuses on the -fixes and roots, especially Latin/Greek. It's mostly a vocabulary program - but spelling comes from learning the parts of vocab, right?

That looks great! And I've heard Sequential Spelling rec'd before as well, too, so I'll check it out.

I'm thinking of starting some Latin this year as well. That's probably another thread though.

[1stTimeMummytoLore]

I recently found Natural Speller and I'm impressed. We'll see how it actually works out with my child this year, but I'm hopeful. One book for around $20 for grades 1-8 is pretty sexy cost-wise. And it discusses Greek and Latin roots.

[mamanOiseau]

My dd loves perusing the dictionary, so I would second that suggestion