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dd really struggling with spelling. Help!!!
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Okay ladies, I am re thinking cm. I cant get my daughter to grip spelling. She is 9 and I feel like she is behind in spelling. Words like shave, rule, grow, and even easier words too. I feel like a failure as a mom. Why wont she get this. We use explode the code and she does a ton of copy work. Also, is it normal for my ds to be done with his school in 2hrs? This year is not going the way inplanned it to go. Tyring to work with a6 yr old dd and get what she needs and all the other stuff. Maybe I need help with scheduling. 🙂 I made planners this year and it just seems so confusing and caotic. Thanks for the support.
How old is your ds? 2 hours would likely be fine up to about age 9…. and not much longer for a couple of years past that.
It was when my son was about 9 and we started to work on spelling that I realized he had dyslexia…. he couldn’t spell the simplest words at all. I am not saying this is necessarily the case for your daughter. You said she does a lot of copywork – but when she does copywork, is she doing it letter by letter? Copywork should proceed to being able to do a word or a few words at a time before a student is ready for dictation… Did you do CM style word building that focuses on word families? These are all steps towards being able to spell well enough to start prepared dictation.
jrs5kids If your daughter’s reading and writing are good I would not be to worried. My oldest was the same way at 9, actually she couldn’t spell well until about the age of 12 (she is 13 now). It may just be a readiness issue.
2 hours seems about right for a child of 9. Mine youngest is 8 and we never spend more than 2hrs on school work.
April
My dd is also 9 and also frequently misspells words that I would think would be easy. Notice I did not say that she “struggles” with this. I can promise that you’re having more difficulty with this than she is. 😉
I am a believer in delaying some language arts, like prepared dictation and formal grammar. Having two children very close in age has been a benefit to my teaching. The lessons that I’ve learned with my older child I’ve been able to implement with the younger one. And one lesson has been that sometimes just being patient and trusting in the living books, copywork, and narration will eventually produce real results. I don’t push spelling here. If they do a written narration or even write a story on their on free time, they will surprise me by misspelling simple words (like which “wich” or more commonly using the incorrect form of a word, such as “there” instead of “their”, etc.) and equally surprise me by correctly spelling more difficult words. If they ask how to spell a word, of course I tell them.
Their only spelling practice is twice weekly dictation exercises. This is dd9’s first year for that, and she’s doing beautifully. You probably could do some word building exercises or point out misspelled words in her writing and have her correct them, but I fear you risk burn out for either or both of you or even causing frustration for her that may not be there. I don’t mean to make it sound easier than it is in reality, but I do think there’s a lot of truth to just trusting that reading good books and seeing correctly spelled words will eventually produce fruit, and copying good words will eventually produce fruit.
Blessings,
Lindsey
I tend to think that some kids may need more practice with spelling than others. I know my oldest daughter, who is nine, tends to see words as whole things, rather than as parts, and so it makes it more difficult for her to spell, and she was beginning to be frustrated. We’ve tried Sequential Spelling this year, and so far it seems to be helping, and it is dead simple and quite quick. Also, she likes doing it, which is really nice.
My son is 11, almost 12, and struggles with spelling. We started sequential spelling last year, per a recommendation, and he’s doing much better. It’s still a challenge with even simple words but I see progression. He’s excited about his improvement and the lessons are very simple. We’ve done copy work for years but it just didn’t click for him. I’ve had to be very patient and try different programs to find a good fit. What a blessing to have this freedom to listen to their needs and adjust!
I’ve been in your shoes and I’m here to encourage you that it can get better.
We’ve used many different approaches to spelling but I feel what really had to happen was for her to just mature and me to have more patience 🙂
People would say, after I asked for advice, that she needed to know all the rules so she could apply them. We tried that route in the past but I thought I’d give it another go. Trying it just made me realize I knew the answer and had to be patient, and going with all the rules wasn’t the route to take.
We are using Spelling Power again this year and along with her just maturing some, 12y.o., it is going well. S.P. is good for her because she only works on words she misspells and at that it’s only up to 5 words per day. It goes slow, not a new set of 20 words per week.
But I think the most helpful thing was that I realized she just needs more time to grasp the spelling issue and to let it take its course. This came after much frustration on both our parts and me feeling like I failed somewhere. If there was any failure it was only in my lack of patience 🙂
Right now we are going at the speed of dd, which is as long as it takes, taking a break from it now and again if need be, but continuously plugging away at it but still doing so gently.
Other things have been incorporated that are helping as well, like her blog and writing letters to her friends. She likes letter writing since she can look forward to a return letter. The blog has taken off and she loves to post. It’s completely private so it’s almost like email for family only. I edit both of those most days but not always.
When she does her copywork, does she copy letter by letter, word by word, or phrases?
How are her reading skills?
Doug, just curious what advice you have for a letter by letter vs. word by word speller that has very good reading skills…
When doing copywork, kids will progress from copying letter by letter to word by word to phrase by phrase (called transcription). This usually happens naturally. Transcription is a foundational skill for learning spelling by prepared dictation. You can use mastering that skill as an indicator of when your child is ready to start formal spelling lessons.
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