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DS2 is 8 and is in BHFHG and we are loving it! However, spelling is testing me. Last year, in Beyond we finished 1st grade words and got about 1/2 of the second grade words done. The plan was to finish 2nd grade words and then move to dictation. I decided to review the 2nd grade words the first week or so, thinking it would be skills reinforcement. Well...ds doesn't seem to remember the words at all. He did a good job with them last year, but now, it is like they've popped out of his head. We're on week 3 of Bigger, but on spelling for week 8 (he knew some the the lists). Do I continue moving to the next list each week or should I just finish those we didn't do last year and assume that as we get into the year he will remember those words? Dh is no help in this decision - he waffles more than I do.

If it helps, he is a great reader. We didn't do 1st grade words in 1st grade, we focused on phonics and reading, so that is why the grades / lists don't match up.

Thanks so much for your help.

We have a sluggish return to school in the spelling/writing department after summer sometimes. But then, they do just fine. Spelling has been an area of struggle at the start for oldest who had speech therapy early on, but his spelling has soared with the years of CM spelling methods and dictation in HOD! My middle ds has always done well with spelling, and continues to thrive with it for dictation. So, it's been good for my not-so-natural-speller, and my natural speller.

I found it very important to do all of the activities that were in the LA box of plans for the spelling words though, as they were a huge help in retaining the learning, as well as preparing for dictation. I'm wondering if you were able to do all of those plans last year? I thought maybe since you got through a list and a half you may not have done some of them, unless you are super mom and doubled up days! If you didn't do them all (see them noted here in this post below), then I'd go through all of Spelling List 2 with him from start to finish doing the plans in their entirety before attempting dictation:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5645&p=41357#p41357

If you did do all of the plans as they are written, I would just move on to the next list and finish it out, unless he is continuing to miss words each time, in which case, I may backtrack and do all of Spelling List 2 from start to finish with all of the plans anyway. You will know best what to do here - but those are a few thoughts!

HTH!
In Christ,
Julie

Julie,
Thanks for taking the time to reply. I wasn't clear in my original post. I quizzed him on the 1st grade words (during the summer) and where he stopped getting all of them right is where we started last year. So, I only did a years worth of words last year, but from 2 lists. We do all the activities, and at times I've added in a word search or online activity if he finished super early. I just finished doing a pretest for the next set of words from unit 9. He got them all right, first time, no hesitation. I moved on to the unit 10 words and he had trouble remembering if it was a "c" or "s" in nice and slice. So, I guess we'll do unit 10 words next week and just keep going.

Unless I change my mind, we will not stop spelling during summer break. Of course, that is months away, 160 school days to be exact, and I may change my mind.

khbmom,

The ladies have already done a great job of helping you! I'll just pop-in to mention what I've found to be true from my public school teaching days where we pretested kiddos every week. We discovered that pre-testing is a less than accurate read on whether our kiddos actually "know" the word or not. Sometimes they may really know it, and other times they may just have guessed and gotten it right or have "known" it in the short-term only to have "lost" it in the long-term. So with any of our guides, we actually don't recommend pre-testing. We feel the words in List 1 and List 2 are so important to know that we like all kiddos to go through them, whether they seem to know the words on the list right on the first day or not.

At our house, we don't pretest the kiddos but rather have a first grader do List 1 and a second grader do List 2, no matter whether that child is a terrific speller or not. This is because these words are so important to know that it's good practice to go over them and to practice the activities that are designed to help a kiddo visualize the word in his/her mind at the same time. Both of my oldest two sons were terrific natural spellers. They went through the lists anyway, and it didn't hold them back in their spelling abilities or spelling scores in end-of-the-year testing at all. It taught them to visualize words and to "see" them in their minds before spelling them. My oldest son only missed one word all year! Yet, for me it was worth it to be sure the techniques were practiced prior to the visualizing needed for studied dictation.

My third little guy is not a natural speller. His hearing issues have made it hard for him to hear the sounds. He did all of List 1 as a first grader and will do all of List 2 as a second grader too, moving steadily forward each week. Anyway, you get the idea. So, in your situation I would recommend doing the spelling plans as written, with no pre-testing, as the visualizing technique is as important as knowing the words themselves.

Blessings,
Carrie