Spelling Changes

Charlotte Mason has spurred me on to further action in dealing with our "dreaded" spelling. We've been pretty consistent with our SWR (Spell to Write and Read) and although I credit it with teaching my children to read and spell well, the multi-year repetition has taken it's toll! (To say the least!).

In the spirit on the newest member of our household, I have come to a few conclusions. The first thing I realized is that while mastery is all well and fine, mindless repetition causes more harm than good. Next, I realized that as a source of great discomfort, having son continue to battle this demon on his own (for he was doing spelling by himself) was not working; that I should take him, and it, in hand and love my son. Lastly, AND I REPEAT...being a slave to a curriculum will not stimulate a love of learning, it will squelch it...with tears, and hurt that you would never imagine could happen because of a little ole thing called "spelling".

Our new routine brought indescribable joy to the countenance of my boy! I dictate (no more cd's) the words and sentences and son spells them orally (no writing). Any that he misses, I write on 3x5 cards with all markings. Son then copies (from the cards, which he assures me is "way" easier than copying from the book. No more quizes.) each word one time (no markings--he "hates" the markings. This doesn't concern me because he "knows" them well. This is our 3rd year.)

The next day, I test him orally again (he has a lap-sized white board in case it's a difficult word that he would like to write out; he is very oral--audio learner). Any that he misses, he writes twice. As the number of words he is working on diminishes, we add from the next list and gently move from one to the next.

The following day, if he misses any for a third time, he writes the word with the markings once, and then twice as a word, while writing words missed for the first and second time, once or twice. He usually has all but the most difficult by this time.

We will continue to drill from the stack; use the diagnostic tests occasionally, and review. He really doesn't need more than that. After we complete all the lists in this matter, with sufficient progress during reviews as well, we'll discontinue the book. I fully expect that it will be this spring. Though the program encourages a fourth year. I think he's proven he can spell and we will be done.

Let me add here that daughter is in her 1st pre-year of beginning with SWR. She is doing wonderfully and I fully intend to follow the program with her pretty much the same way I did with son. Wouldn't trade it for any other spelling program!

So Much To Tell: The Rough Spots

Our roughest spots out of the gate these past three days, were undeniably math and spelling: two places we've achieved the most and had the best results curriculum wise.

First off, as we moved to Level E with RightStart, there was seemingly no review. Son panicked and did not handle his fear well. The lack of summertime practice took it's toll and patience became the order of the day as I watched him struggle to remember his tens facts. (It has begun to come back quickly now.) Needless to say, math took a good hour. There were tears and lots of hugs. We're over it now. :) Prayer helped immensely and then there was this...

I took the advice of the great Andrew Pudewa and used a white board for the first time. Success! Son loves the board and has asked to use it everyday so far. More than that, his attitude has done a complete about face. Of course, it may also have to do with the disciplinary tactic that I'm resorting to.

I'm calling it "positive reinforcement". Every time he whines or cries and utters words in the categories of "I hate..., I can't..., No...", he must write three things down that he loves about school. It will be a running list and no two items may be the same. The more he utters, the deeper he's going to have to dig. It's my most brilliant mommy moment in quite a while, if I do say so myself. He gets it and there's no room for misunderstanding.

Back to the math. It was just today (third day) that I heard it: "This is fun!" I'm recording it here for posterity so that I'll remember that, if even for a moment, math was fun. My cup runneth over.

The last tactic that I embraced was that of letting son decide when he would do his math. He has wanted it first thing when he is fresh. A bit of good wisdom that has helped. I think we're over the hurdle now, so we're going to try it after Bible. (I like to have Bible first thing, don't you?)

The second bump in the road was spelling. This makes little sense to me. He's good at it, it's not hard and there was nothing new. We continued the same routine (with Spell to Write and Read) and began with review words. Mentally, he's gotten into an attitude rut with spelling and he knows it. A couple of things will help: more prayer! use of the "positive reinforcement" tactic, and the use of the recorded spelling lists on the ipod. Also, he does like his new notebook pages for spelling. Today there was nary a peep from him about it. The conniption fit of Monday is just a faded memory. May it ever be so.

That's the extent of our rough spots so far. Well, unless you count daughter's "adjustments" into a learning routine...but that's a different story!

Spell to Write and Read: "Learning Log" Notebooking Pages

We LOVE our Spell to Write and Read! We are just beginning our fourth year with it and after so much "practice", I'm finding there are a few things I like my own way.

Though we loved the primary learning logs, we do not like the black 3rd yr+ logs. Too much work for the results. So, in an effort to simplify, I've made my own necessary notebooking pages. These include "collection" pages that were not originally in the learning logs, but were suggested. Such as abbreviations, homophones, etc. Son has enjoyed "collecting" these words and categorizing them.

I'm making these pages available to anyone interested. I've also put the link in my sidebar. I hope that they will be of benefit.

We keep them in a three-ring report folder with a clear front. Son creates his own cover for each year which makes things more appealing to him. Some pages may require more than one page, and it never hurts to have a blank for some extraneous word collecting.

Please let me know if you "grab" these, and what you think!
*Link has been edited. Please re-try new link to file.

*These pages are not endorsed by SWR. Nor are they absolutely true to the program. They are my expression of how we currently use the program with our 8yo son who is very much the reluctant writer. These pages may be used for any spelling program or notebook. They are my more relaxed attempt to add back in some of the content of what was in the black learning log that we skipped last year because of writing.