For our eighth installment in the series on "What We Do" in our homeschool, today we are going to be discussing the language arts with a focus on spelling. Spelling is a subject that I'm not wholly satisfied with in our homeschool, does that surprise you? Come with me while I discuss what has and hasn't worked for us. If you haven't seen our other post in the series or would like to catch up
What We've Tried
Over the years I've tried several different resources to help the kids become better spellers. We first began incorporating spelling in with learning to read by doing the spelling exercises included in the Sing, Spell, Read, Write workbooks. The problem was that while these were words they were reading they weren't really ready to tackle spelling and as several of my students were dyslexic learners decoding words was hard work, but then puzzling out the sounds they were hearing to convert them back into letters in order to spell seemed impossible.
Then we tried a few different old workbooks that my mom had in her classroom that focused solely on spelling. The problem though were, these books were just random collections of words that they wrote over and over each week in hopes that it would stick somewhere in their brains. This method was what we used in school, and it didn't really help me. I was a lousy speller, infact, I still am. To my great distress something has been wrong for the spell check in Chrome for my last few blogs, and I've been studiously checking for words that might be misspelled. I'm such a poor speller, I'm often not even sure if a word has been misspelled.
Since that wasn't sticking and had no systematic way of learning words, we decided to try something different - All About Spelling. You might remember me mentioning this back when we discussed phonics and learning to read. It helped alot with learning rules to help us read better, it groups spelling words by English spelling rules (surprise there are some) and so you learn a group of words that all follow the same pattern. For example did you know that in English you only have "eng" in the four words: England, English, length, and strength? Otherwise the "ing" sound is always spelled with an i even though as southerners it sounds more like an e. Or have you ever heard of the floss rule. It says that in any short vowel, one syllable word where the "f," "l," or "s" sound comes immediately after the short vowel those letters should be doubled - for example floss, dress, doll, and off. I learned alot of interesting spelling rules. We stuck it out for three years, unfortunately the curriculum bored the kids to tears and still didn't stick long term. They might or might not get them correct for an oral or writen spelling test each week, but they still misspelled the words in their regular writing.
Since then we have primarily done spelling by incorporating it into our writing, just like we do with grammar. When they commonly misspell words, I give them the correct word, and after they are done correcting their writing they are to write the word so many times to help it sink in. If it is a word we've worked on before and they are still misspelling it, we write it even more often. We also try to discuss meaning as we do this, to be sure that we are expanding our vocabulary and not just writing "easy" to spell words. It is a lousy system, but the only one I've thought of so far. Maybe you all will have some good suggestions for me.
Moving Forward
I'm hoping next year to take the year off of regular writing and focus heavily on grammar and spelling with my highschoolers. I want a single intensive year to review all that they know grammar wise, while explaining the reasons why we do certain things. I also want to heavily work on their spelling. I'm not looking for a student who will win the next national spelling bee, just people who can get by in general written conversation skills, who aren't too freaked out (like me) when spell check goes down.
The fact that we do have this weakness in our homeschool gives me a chance to address gaps with you. Everyone has gaps in their general knowledge. Maybe your 8th grade class covered mitosis the week you were out with the flu. Or you changed schools in 3rd grade and covered the Ancient Romans in both schools but ended up missing out on ancient Egypt. Maybe you were just bored to tears in some class and zoned out and don't even have a clue what you missed out on. Everyone has gaps, even homeschoolers. We focus on some subjects heavily and others only get a cursorary glance into them. There is simply no way that we can cover every facet of every subject that has ever been discovered by mankind before a child graduates.
The solution to this problem is two fold. First, we try to recognize gaps and minimize them. That's what I'm looking to do with spelling. If I was completely oblivious in all other ways to the kids weakness in spelling, their Christmas list would give it away. So I've identified a weak point. Now I need to find a good resource that helps to bridge the gap. I'm on the look out for something that is not only systematic and can cover a lot of ground in a short amount of time, but will keep the kids attention in a way that will help the learning stick. But what if no matter what I try, they get to graduation and still spell like second graders? That's where the second solution comes into play. They will learn when they feel a need to learn. I am trusting the process that if I give them the tools to be self starters and independent learners, when they discover a gap in their educcation that they feel a need to fill, they will be able and motivated to finally teach themselves.
In Conclusion
While I'm not currently satisfied with our approach to or grasp of spelling, it's an area that we are working on. Currently we tackle it in a practical way, practicing spelling words that we commonly misspell in our writing and while extending our vocabulary. Perhaps the perfect curriculum is just a click away, and you'll be the one to suggest it. But if not, I trust that they will adapt this skill when they finally see a need for it and it will be all the more valued because they saw a need and worked hard to meet it.
Remember to check next week for the ninth and final post in the series What We Do: Electives.
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