spelling for a 4th grader

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  • February 5, 2015 at 8:50 pm
    Corrine
    Participant

    I am in need of some help.  I have a 4th grader (9 yr old DD) who I am using Spelling Wisdom 1 with for the 2nd year in a row.  I love it, she is not so much in love with it :-(.  She absolutely dreads it!  She doesn’t like writing that much to begin with.  She was telling me today that she doesn’t like that she has to remember where all the punctuation goes (even though I am not requiring her to do that, I am simply wanting her to focus on spelling) and she doesn’t like having to write out the paragraphs.  HOWEVER, she said if they were ALL poems, then that would be fine because there is a pattern to that.  Oh, this was rather odd.  She said she didn’t like the excerpt paragraphs from the books because she didn’t know who the characters were.  She said it frustrates her because she wants to know who these characters are and she doesn’t know.

    Sigh.  I don’t want her to hate spelling……  as a 9 yr old 4th grader, does anyone have any ideas of where I can go from here or what I should do? I was looking at some of the posts for other spelling programs and it looks like those might be for more beginner spellers, although I haven’t gone to the sites to check them out yet.  I have always pretty much stuck with what SCM recomends.

    Also, someone recomended The Logic of English to me.  I don’t think it’s CM, but I’m not sure.

    Any help would be appreciated!

    Thanks,

    Cori

     

     

     

    February 5, 2015 at 9:47 pm
    missceegee
    Participant

    I am using Bravewriter Arrow, Quiver, and Boomerang. I bought several of each on Homeschool Buyer’s Co-op and chose books we have read or will read before using. These are working well for us and the kids don’t mind them. I like French Dictation outlined for beginners, too.

    February 12, 2015 at 9:42 am
    mtnmama
    Participant

    My 4th grader complained about our traditional spelling program (a list of 20 words each week) and now he complains about spelling wisdom. If I ask how he wants to learn spelling, he says not at all.

    Sometimes his spelling lists come from his writing. I proof his essays and make lists from that in place of Spelling Wisdom for that week.

    February 12, 2015 at 7:20 pm
    JenniferM
    Participant

    I used Spelling Wisdom with my fourth grade daughter for a little while and also felt the disconnect.  Instead, I began using passages from the books she is reading, particularly a passage she read that day.  I do like SCM products and don’t want to discredit this resource, but also wanted to reassure you that you (and your daughter) are not alone.

    February 12, 2015 at 8:44 pm
    wife2agr8man
    Participant

    I could have written a very similar post! I told my daughter on Monday she could take the rest of February ‘off’ from spelling wisdom as long as I didn’t hear any complaints when it was time for written narrations (1-2 X a week). The two she wrote this week were phenomenal- go figure.

    My daughter has recognized many of the passages. She even started laughing last week when we got to one from Five Little Peppers, as she remembered the burnt cake. It didn’t give her motivation to copy it though.

    My daughter has also preferred to copy the poems. She made a similar comment about the format. It puzzled me….

    This same child is tired of copy work, so I am sensing a need to re-evaluate her school day, not necessarily change programs.

    She is naturally a strong speller, so I consider this the best method for her. My next child, struggles with visualizing, so we are trying to improve that part of her brain, and will probably not use this program with her, at least not as soon.

    February 16, 2015 at 8:11 pm
    Corrine
    Participant

    Thank you ladies so much for all your feedback, it’s good to know that I am not alone.  I think I am going to try what another mom did (I saw it on the posts from a long time ago). Practice the words several times/ways. Mine use the dictation passage as copywork on day 1. They choose their spelling words from it on day 2 and copy those, plus spell orally. (Ideally, the copying of these words is done onto index cards for practicing. Day 3 they practice their words (have someone read the card to them, they spell it. Also write on the dry erase board for another practice. Look at punctuation of the passage this day. Day 4 they really should have the spelling down hopefully. They focus in on punctuation, maybe writing the passage as copywork again if they want to. Day 5 we do the prepared dictation.

    Hopfully, this will work better :-).

     

    Cori

     

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