Mid-Shore Life

There are many different ways to approach spelling. It's possible I've tried them all. The most popular are grade-appropriate spelling lists; unrelated words the child spells, defines, and memorizes. Except one of my children doesn't. She cannot memorize spelling words - even with games, physical movement, rewards, and so on. She gets very, very upset that her younger sibling can easily memorize and repeat the words.

I abandoned spelling lists a year ago - just because it seemed like I was setting her up for constant failure. I still BOUGHT spelling curricula, mind you - I just didn't use it. I kept hoping that by spelling out the words she asked for - she would eventually learn to spell. Except it didn't work. She can't spell. 

Last week, in desperation, I pulled out my brand new copy of "Sequential Spelling 1". I had ordered it last year, but after discovering the book primarily consisted of pages of word lists - and nothing else except a few "what to say" pages at the beginning - I put it away in disgust. But desperation does strange things to a homeschooling mother.

I began working with my two youngest children last work. The very first thing they had to do (I actually followed the directions - for once in my life) was to write "We are all beginning to be good spellers." My kids lost it - especially once they realized I was NOT going to spell the words for them. There were tears, gnashing of teeth, and so on. It wasn't pretty. The sentences they produced weren't that pretty, either. A few words were spelled correctly - but others were way off.

Luckily, the lesson became easier. Using a white board (after they wrote the words on their paper) they spelled (without help) in, pin, sin and spin. They messed up on spin, so we corrected it and reinforced that each word had, at it's root, the word in. The next day they asked to do spelling - and the day after that. The list got a bit longer and a bit harder (day four they had the word "begins" and "skinned"). But by always hearing the "in" and learning that the /n/ gets doubled before they add an ending they were able to spell the words.

 On day five both of my children (age 7 and 9)were able to spell, among other words, "beginning" and "disagree". They were not memorizing the spelling of the words - they wrote them correctly by breaking them down and following the rules they had already learned. Then we looked at the sentences they wrote on day one and acknowledged how much they had learned in just five lessons!

Our family is convinced that "Sequential Spelling 1" is a fantastic tool. The book was written by Don McCabe to teach dyslexics how to spell and read through a multisensory approach. Because it's so simple, children can easily improve their spelling in minutes a day - and no spelling tests!

Who could ask for anything more?

*We've been using Sequential Spelling 1 for most of the school year - although we now do only 2-3 lessons per week. It's still working well - and the kids no longer hate spelling! Yay!!! - Cyndi Johnson