nervous about lack of spelling??

playschool · Post by **playschool** » Sat Aug 01, 2009 8:49 pm

Okay, I admit it. I'm still concerned about giving up spelling and using dictation in its place. I keep thinking that I need one especially for ds (3rd grade) to really cement down those spelling/phonics rules. I do not know why I keep worrying about this. He has used Abeka over the last 3 years and has had nothing but rules pounded into his head. For those of you with younger elementary-aged children (3rd gr. and down), what do you do to make sure that those spelling rules are taught/reinforced?

mamaloves4 · Post by **mamaloves4** » Sat Aug 01, 2009 9:07 pm

Okay--I will admit that I don't make a big deal of spelling rules and what not. But I can only say that in the homeschooling circles.....
Honestly, I have immersed my kids in great books and I have used 'big' words with them from the time they were tiny. Reading great books and dictation is wonderful. I have one child in Beyond and I love the spelling ways there. No rules (that I have noticed), just a wonderfully, simple, yet powerful way of learning those spelling words. My dd loves spelling!
I would encourage you to try spelling the dictation way and trust Carrie's spelling times in the younger guides!
HTH,
jess

Daisy · Post by **Daisy** » Sat Aug 01, 2009 9:34 pm

I have spelling rules books. I figure when we come across a word in dictation that gives us some trouble, we'll grab the book and look up a rule. I've always done that anyway.

A few books include...

Handy English Encoder Decoder by Harvey Bluedorn
The ABC's and All Their Tricks by Margaret Bishop

AnaDawson · Post by **AnaDawson** » Sat Aug 01, 2009 10:55 pm

I also have a hard time giving up the spelling/phonics rules as well. What I have planned for us this year is to go over the spelling rules that Ruth Beechick mentions in her book "The Three R's." I also found a website that lists the main spelling rules www.mcpclan.us/toolbox/learning/spelling/rules.htm I am starting a binder with two sections in it that I plan on adding to every year for the next couple of years. The first division will be the spelling rules that are mentioned in Dr. Beechick's book. There are only six rules she mentions, so we may add a couple more rules later. Each page will have a rule and a list of words that are examples of that rule. We will not do this everyday, perhaps once or twice a month. The second division will be frequently misspelled words. The frequently misspelled words, I will test my dd on periodically to make sure she is mastering them. Again I only plan on doing this once or twice a month. I also bought for my dd the workbook "Spelling Workout B." I am not sure if we will use it or not, but my thought was that I would use it in her first 30 min. time block for school. During those first 30 min. I will be working with her brother who is doing LHFHG. My dd does not have much independent work she will be doing and I need her to be busy while I work with her brother. I am not sure if her copywork, dictation practice, and cursive will keep her occupied sufficiently for those 30-45min. If anything I will just use the workbook as extra practice when we are covering the corresponding spelling rules. I wholeheartedly agree with the practice of dictation, but I still believe it is important to cover a few of the basic rules in spelling. I don't want to be legalistic and expect my children to learn each and every variation in spelling rules or to have endless spelling lists. I have never taught before and while it may be easy for some to teach the basic spelling rules to their kids as part of their dictation, I don't have a clue as to what the spelling rules even are. I need a guide to tell me because I did not learn them myself growing up. I guess what I am trying to say is that I understand your insecurities and just want to share our way of compromising.

Blessings,

Ana Dawson

my3sons · Post by **my3sons** » Sun Aug 02, 2009 6:37 am

playschool wrote:Okay, I admit it. I'm still concerned about giving up spelling and using dictation in its place. I keep thinking that I need one especially for ds (3rd grade) to really cement down those spelling/phonics rules. I do not know why I keep worrying about this. He has used Abeka over the last 3 years and has had nothing but rules pounded into his head. For those of you with younger elementary-aged children (3rd gr. and down), what do you do to make sure that those spelling rules are taught/reinforced?

Good morning, playschool!

I could have written your post years ago because I used to feel the same way about spelling. Here's a link to a post I wrote over a year ago that might be helpful:
viewtopic.php?f=12&t=1246&p=9550

I am still seeing the benefits of teaching spelling through dictation. It makes a lot of sense to me that learning good spelling within grammatically correct sentences = children that spell better within writing their own sentences. With my Wyatt's speech difficulties early on, spelling was doomed to be his weak point - but he just wrote a LONG story on his own the other day that had fantastic vocabulary and very few spelling mistakes. I'd encourage you to give dictation a fair shake - it works great when done right.

In Christ,
Julie

mariaw · Post by **mariaw** » Sun Aug 02, 2009 9:14 am

I felt the same way! I say just try it. If it's not working for you, you can always add back a spelling curriculum. We are 3 weeks into using dictation for my 3rd grader, and I've seen dramatic changes in her spelling already. The big key for my dd is that the words have meaning to her because they are in context. For instance, "does" gave her trouble consistently, and 3 days of correcting it herself (another key component for us), she can spell it correctly. I've been giving her oral "pop quizzes" occasionally to make sure.

For some reason, she is much more motivated to move on to the next dictation phrase than she ever was to get a "good grade" on her spelling test.

playschool · Post by **playschool** » Sun Aug 02, 2009 1:05 pm

Thank you ladies for the reassurance and ideas on what to do to still incorporate Spelling rules. Thanks Ana for the link to the Spelling rules on the internet. I also have the 3 little booklets by Ruth Beechik and have found the spelling rules you mentioned in one of those books. Thanks, Julie, for the link to the previous thread on this subject. I think we will just try dictation by itself and then if we run into problems we will incorporate some of those Spelling rules.

heartofdakota.com

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