Monday, November 10, 2008

Why are we doing spelling, again?

This is supposed to be a Charlotte Mason-inspired blog, right?

And Charlotte Mason homeschoolers don't do word lists and weekly spelling lessons. Children learn correct spelling through their reading, through copywork, and through studied dictation.

Well, for our oldest Squirreling that worked well--she was an intuitive speller and just seemed to know how most words should be spelled.

For our others--it works better to be more systematic about it. They just seem to need that extra boost, especially in the early years of school.

So I'm using the grade one/two spelling words from Kathryn Stout's Natural Speller, and plugging ten of those a week into the Spelling City website. Crayons can practice, play games, and then do a final test using whatever words we choose. Not everything on the site works perfectly (there are some problems with the crosswords), and I still haven't found the button that's supposed to let you create handwriting sheets with your spelling words. But overall it's been a big help, and using the keyboard is easier for Crayons than having to print the words with a pencil.

And that's why we're doing spelling.

2 comments:

molytail said...

One the freedoms in home education is being able to make the choices that work best for your children - and that's exactly what you're doing. :-)

Anonymous said...

I also have included spelling that may not be C.M. style.
I'm using the Logos school Grammar of Spelling. Even with all the reading that my children do...they need the extra help with spelling.