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Spelling in 1st and 2nd grade
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If we’re not doing spelling class or dictation in 1st and 2nd grade, how are we to handle misspelled words?
Also, along these lines, would it be completely anti-CM to do All About Spelling alongside our All About Reading program at this age? I’d actually prefer to streamline things and not do it, but I keep thinking that AAS might help strengthen his reading abilities as he’s getting rolling in that while also helping with the spelling end of things. Any thoughts on that?
I ended up combining them in a homemade program using the McGuffey Readers. I will show my son the new words in the lesson and tell them what they are. Then have him look at them till he can picture them in his head. Then I have him make the word with letter tiles. Then he reads the passage and later copies them for copywork. I will do this for the first 2-3 days then on Thursday ask him if he remebers how to make the words without looking at them first. If he does well then on Friday I do a dictation excersice with the lesson he has been reading and coping for the last week. I do have him read out of the I Can Read readers as well for more practice and he reads his math problems and a poem every day and he reads random stuff throughout the day. I figure while he is learning to read the words he can learn to spell them correctly too.
I think it would be “anit-CM” to do spelling in 1st and 2nd grade.
That being said, it is your homeschool and you can do what you feel is best. From my experience with my older two girls, spelling didn’t really help with reading ability because they are usually spelling words that they already know how to read. The spelling words are lower than their reading level. I think that phonics and reading practice are more helpful at that age than spelling.
I’m not doing spelling with my youngest who is in first grade this year. It takes a little bit of faith! But, I’ve read enough of Charlotte Mason to believe that it will work.
Well, I’m doing All About Spelling with my 2nd grader – because when I tried to start spelling with my 4th grader, I discovered (due to problems he had with spelling) that he was dyslexic. The CM methods of learning spelling were not working for him, and neither did a “traditional” method. AAS is working for him so far. My 2nd grader has a few dyslexic tendancies so I startted her on AAS too.
I think that Charlotte reccommended INFORMAL dictation to cover spelling in first and second grades.
Just my .02
Alicia, what is informal dictation?
I’ve been going through Planning Your CM Education. It says that Charlotte started formal dictation late in grade 3 or in grade 4. I’m curious now, though, about informal dictation.
I have a daughter “finishing” 1st grade. We’ve used the words oncGuffey’s and from Ruth Beechick’s list (The Three R’s) informally. By that, I mean we practice oral, manipulative, and written spelling of 4-6 words until she can spell them all three ways. I don’t have a spell by Friday deadline. Some words she learns quickly. Others take longer. It’s working for her. She does simple copywork from Primary Language Lessons. I feel like this is buildin a foundation for formal dictation later.
Becca<><
I only just started doing this with my son a few months ago and we are at the end of our 2nd yr. He is reading pretty well on his own with just a bit of help from me. We focused on basic phonics and sight words for the first year and the beginning of this year. I don’t always have to have him know the words by Friday but he usually does. Occasionally there are a few words that do carry over into the next week.
If you don’t want to start teaching spelling yet but are concerned about his spelling in other lessons or free writing, I would just tell him this is how you spell that word when you see a misspelled word.
A great way to do spelling during those early grades is to mix it in to their reading lessons by using letter tiles (as demonstrated in the Delightful Reading video) or their copywork time by telling them to pay attention to the words’ spellings as they copy because when they are done you’re going to ask them how to spell one or two of the words. Those informal activities encourage them to start developing the habit of looking carefully at how words are spelled as they read and write and lay the foundation for formal dictation later.
Bumping these ideas. My 2nd grader likes to read and write, but is not good at spelling. I will “test” her on a few words from her copywork. Thanks.
This one was very helpful too:
https://simplycharlottemason.com/scmforum/topic/learning-spelling-through-copywork
That being said, it is your homeschool and you can do what you feel is best. 
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