Name: Thrive! NCHE Homeschool Conference
Start: 2025-05-22T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-05-24T23:59:59-05:00
Location: Winston-Salem, NC

Tagged: spelling

This topic has 8 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 15 years, 8 months ago by csmamma.

Viewing 9 posts - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)

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August 20, 2009 at 7:53 pm
Misty
Participant
Ok so I do EIW for spelling which is dicated to them, they write it, there’s a jingle to help them remember the rule, then they listen to the word spelt correctly. Now it’s not the way they are learning that I’m questioning, it’s the how often. We do this daily, and for some of the boys it takes a entire month to learn 15 words spelt correctly. But they also find this subject the most draining.
So I guess the question is this: Do you think cutting back to 2 days a week is enough? I have also heard people say they don’t teach “spelling” per say, there kids read a lot and they find that with all the reading they learn to spell on there own?
What are your thoughts? Thanks in advance. Misty
August 21, 2009 at 12:49 pm
briedell
Member
Misty,
What is EIW spelling?
August 21, 2009 at 1:10 pm
Jodie Apple
Participant
We haven’t taught spelling as a separate subject (this is our 6th year of hs). Last year we found this website as we were searching for help in trying to fully implement CM methods for our home. We used Sonya’s Spelling Wisdom twice a week last year and this proved to be sufficient for us. Our children seemed to come out of the womb enjoying books! So perhaps listening to great books and then reading them as they become able truly is part of the way to good spelling.
I believe EIW is Excellence in Writing…
August 21, 2009 at 7:08 pm
csmamma
Participant
Hi Misty,
We did IEW (Institute for Excellence In Writing) Zoo spelling program a couple of years ago and it became very cumbersome for my then 11yo ds at the time. Thankfully we found SCM and decided to replace it with Spelling Wisdom; what a breath of fresh air – my son loved it and still does! He also keeps a spelling notebook where he writes down any misspelled words from his weekly written narrations. After several years of homeschooling, I can finally rest knowing that copywork, dictation, written narrations and reading lots of good books are enough for spelling.
Blessings,
Heather
August 21, 2009 at 7:25 pm
LindseyD
Participant
We do spelling 3 days per week. I believe I read in Karen Andreola’s book, A Charlotte Mason Companion, that one of the ways CM did spelling was by writing the word very clearly on a small chalkboard, having the student say the word, look at the word, then taking the board away and having them spell it from memory. I bought some poster board and made my own flash cards using a black Sharpie. My ds is young enough that our word lists are rhyming words right now (i.e. light, bright, night, sight, etc.). Spelling is one of his favorite subjects!
We use our homemade flashcards with the selected list for that week on Mondays and Wednesdays. Then on Fridays, I dictate the words to him as he rights them down. In the 11 weeks we have been using this method, he has only misspelled one word during dictation, which I had him correct immediately. We use a different list each week, usually between 4-10 words, depending on how many I could find that rhyme.
I don’t know anything about IEW or Sonya’s Spelling Wisdom. I just know this has worked for us both academically and economically. Timewise, we usually spend about 5 minutes on the flashcards and about 5 minutes on dictation of the words. So 15 minutes a week has my ds5 spelling really well!
Hope that helps!
August 21, 2009 at 7:58 pm
Tristan
Participant
We’re enjoying All About Spelling. We do spelling daily too, for about 15 minutes. I love that it uses tiles for a hand on component, which really helps some kids.
Are you teaching more than one word each day? Or all 15 each day? maybe if you break it down to just a few words per day over and over they might cement them faster? I’m not familiar with the spelling you are using, sorry if I’m not more help!
August 22, 2009 at 1:12 am
Misty
Participant
Those that use Spelling Wisdom what do you like about it? What don’t you like? How often do you use it? What ages?
Thanks Misty
August 22, 2009 at 1:54 pm
Jodie Apple
Participant
We use Spelling Wisdom twice a week with our 11 and 17 year olds. Things I like about it: I only have to do spelling twice a week , the passages to be dictated come from great literary works (some of which have inspired our children to read the whole books where the excerpts come from), it’s a multi-tasker (handwriting or typing practice, spelling, punctuation, all while working on the habit of attention), it’s laid out for me so I don’t have to do the task of finding passages to dictate, and in many ways it has inspired our children to take pride in their work (they have a separate composition notebook for dictation and they enjoy going back and looking at the progression they’ve made in keeping a clean, neat looking journal-as opposed to lists of spelling words that get tossed in the trash once they’ve ‘mastered’ the words).
Things I don’t like about it:………I can’t think of any…..
HTH,
mj
August 22, 2009 at 3:24 pm
csmamma
Participant
Misty, have you seen this link on how to use Spelling Wisdom?
http://simplycharlottemason.com/books/spelling-wisdom/how-to-use-spelling-wisdom/