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Invented Spelling
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I was wondering if anyone that has a bit more knowledge on CM’s thoughts on spelling, know what she thinks about invented spelling? I know that she recommends not looking at words spelled incorrectly, and I see the wisdom in this, so was wondering where invented spelling falls into this for the younger ones.
My daughter is coming up to six, and she writes, A LOT. She writes everyday, all day. She writes notes, names, bible verses, just whatever she can. She absolutely loves to write. I started copywork with her quite young only because she was writing so much that she started to cement really bad habits. We keep it really short, because of her age, but I just wanted to address proper formation of letters. Her writing is very neat for her age, probably just from the sheer amount of practice she gets. Despite all of this writing, she will not, not ever, invent spelling. She will either write a word correctly, or ask me. I’ll often have her sound stuff out, and correct where necessary. But she just doesn’t write it down if it isn’t correct. She was like this with speaking. She didn’t speak for years, but my husband and I would sometimes catch her on her own practicing saying words. She just wouldn’t say things until she knew how to say them properly. I’m torn between wanting to encourage her to just try spelling things out, just so she can get her thoughts on paper (my day is literally filled with “how do you spell this?”) and with not wanting her to spell things incorrectly, and then be constantly rereading what she wrote and visualizing the word incorrectly. If it’s not a letter or note to someone else, then she keeps what she writes and rereads stuff and carries it around, and stores it and pulls it out daily, so she would definitely be seeing the words again and again.
I was reading through CharlotteMasonHelp and Lindafay was saying that invented spelling was okay, but it was a very brief mention, so I wasn’t sure how to interpret that in my situation.
Any advice? Thank you kindly in advance,
Rachel
Hi Rachel,
I’m at the opposite end of the spectrum with my youngest…he’s 6 and my only boy. He’s still challenged with recognizing his letters and their sounds, never mind writing.
I’m sorry to say I do not know what Charlotte would say about invented spelling (other than the suggestion of not focusing on misspelled words), but my first thought after reading your post is that it doesn’t seem that your daughter’s love of writing is being squelched by her desire to spell correctly; I would perhaps suggest that you keep doing what you’re doing. It seems that she loves writing to the point of carrying her writing with her. What a great picture of an emerging writer!
But if it is really frustrating her to be wanting to write something but feeling that she just can’t let it out unless it’s absolutely perfect, maybe you both can begin a little “word bank” of index cards that she might use frequently that she can refer to on her own. And maybe also emphasizing the idea that we all make mistakes and we learn from them and that’s it’s OK.
I know there are so many ladies on here who have read much, much more on Charlotte Mason’s thoughts on various subjects, so I’m anxious as well to hear what others might say.
I agree that they should always see the word correctly. I am not sure on invented spelling in CM. My dd7 has taken to writing. She is very inventive with her spelling. But I really wish she would ask or look to see how to spell better. I had not done any spelling programs or tests with her, only copywork. She reads well but I have recently began to give her some spelling tests once a week on 7 – 10 words in her phonics book, Explode the Code. It has made her more attentive to spelling. I haven’t been able to get her to take the time to look up spellings yet, but you could try a children’s picture dictionary like My First Dictionary by DK Publishing.
Thanks for the response, ladies. Wings2fly, I don’t know why I never thought of a picture dictionary for her! It would definitely be a help at the very least.
Rachel
She may be too young for this (it says 3rd-5th), but maybe there’s something out there for younger kids?
http://www.amazon.com/Merriam-websters-Elementary-Dictionary-Corrector-KID-1250/dp/B003CP11IU
My son has a version for older kids. This one has you type how you think a word is spelled and it corrects you…say if you type in ‘jiraf’ it will show ‘giraffe.’ Then you press the speak button and it says the word so you can verify it’s the one you want. Just a thought:) Blessings, Gina
One of my favorite parts of school for me (and now that a few of the girls are older) are the primary lined composition notebooks they started in Kindergarten. They used them as a journal. And I had them use invented spelling, as their first writing experiences. Goodness me, if the house was burning, I would so have to find these! They kept writing in the same notebook until 3rd or 4th frade. So, we can see the progression in letter writing, and illustrations! Oh are they treasures.
Please dont’ suggest for me NOT to have them do invented spelling. I love these books so much, I think I’d till have them do it regardless!
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