So, how is your school year going so far? Have you started the hard work yet? We are just beginning to start the part of school that my daughter considers the “hard work”. Of course, if it is related to language arts at all she things it is hard. And some of that is harder than other parts. Spelling is a really hard part for my daughter. We try lots of things to help her with spelling, since she finds it so difficult. We have tried games to make spelling fun. We have tried word ladders, and repetition using the white board. And those are the things that work, to a point. Oddly enough, I have found that letting a fellow home school mom present the words and run a short lesson with my daughter gets much better results than if I do the presenting. I’m not sure why this works, except that perhaps my daughter behaves better for her, and my friend doesn’t start the lesson with pre-conceived ideas of frustration causing her to be impatient. This was actually working pretty well for us, all it required me to do was present my child, and the spelling lists by grade. The problem was, that it worked so well, that my friend said it was kind of a waste of time for her to continue with the presentation because my daughter obviously did very well in spelling and had apparently overcome any problems she had in the past. What?! So, we are not continuing that experiment, even though it was successful. And, when I went back to presenting the spelling lesson, imitating the plan my friend had used successfully with my daughter, I ran into the same old roadblocks as far as my daughter making a reasonable effort with learning the spelling lesson. I’m beginning to think that my daughter’s spelling issues might have something to do with our butting heads. It’s enough to give a home schooling mom a complex! At any rate, we continue to experiment with things that work for spelling lessons. We keep the things that show promise, and drop the ones that will clearly be a failure. I suppose spelling may always be something my daughter struggles with. I hope one day she either gets better at it, or I accept the inevitable idea that she might never be good at spelling. In the mean time, we trudge on, trying to learn to spell, one letter at a time!

It is a commonly held belief that learning phonics helps children become better readers, spellers, and writers. Phonics are usually taught early on, in kindergarten and first grade, as the student is beginning to learn to translate spoken English to written English. Since my child is an accomplished reader, I thought we were past worrying about phonics. But I am beginning to rethink this, because she is still not a very good speller. Did I mention that she is entering  sixth grade?  This may be something she struggles with for her entire life. And I think I know where the problem began.

I pulled my daughter out of public school midway through first grade and began home schooling. Because I did not want to buy a full year’s curriculum for first grade since she had already done half of it in public school, I began her in second grade work. She had no trouble with that work, at all, and so I thought that we were home free. As she continues to have problems with spelling, I am beginning to wonder if she missed something fundamental during that half year of work she didn’t get exposed to.

Looking at some of the stuff that would have been covered in that half year, I discovered that continued work with phonics, and breaking words into syllables, or segmenting, occurred during that time. Around fourth grade I tried to have her go back and work on the phonics but honestly it is like that ship has sailed. She knows that work is for younger students and feels like I am treating her like a baby.

She does not sound words out, but she has a phenomenal memory. She can tell me if a word is spelled incorrectly, but she cannot tell me the correct spelling, though she will recognize it if given the correct spelling.

Since I cannot go back and solidify her knowledge of phonics at this stage, we are practicing other methods of improving her spelling. We have been doing word ladders for some time, and they do a good job of exploring word families. And of course, I have her play spelling games, using word lists from her other subjects. I’ve even found a primary science syllables game that lets her practice breaking science words into syllables. I have hope that this type of practice with science and other words will reinforce her ability to break words into syllables, and thereby learn to spell better.

I guess the basic lesson here for parents is…don’t skip the fundamentals, even if your child seems bored. The extra practice, solidifying the knowledge up front, might save you from having to play catch up at a later time.

I know, I shouldn’t be frustrated because my child doesn’t know something. That is the entire point of her going to school, is it not? If she knew everything, then there would be no point to her doing lessons. I’m going to take a deep breath and try to keep this in mind.

What is the latest problem? (Not really a problem…) My daughter wrote a paragraph, and in that paragraph, she made two spelling errors. I thought we were past those spelling errors. The words were actually very simple, and I know we have had these words. The words were “knot” and “their”. Here is the deal, she didn’t actually spell the words wrong, she just used the incorrect spelling for the meaning. Sound-alike words or homophones tend to be words that are not caught on spell checkers, generally, but the spelling of the words and the meanings associated with the spellings can be a place where students get confused. My daughter meant to use knot instead of not. And she meant to use their, but she spelled it there. I went out and checked, and for fifth and sixth graders there are many words that are on the list of homophones.

Here is another situation we ran into in a different paper. Capitonyms. Capito-whats you ask? I know, I had never heard of them either. Capitonyms are words that are spelled the same, but differ in meaning, depending on whether or not the word is capitalized. The classic example of this is Turkey and turkey, one is the country and the other is the creature we normally eat for Thanksgiving. Again, capitonyms are not found by spell checkers.

Here I thought we were making progress on spelling, and in the same month, I find two areas where we are going to have to step back and practice. And it reminds me that spell checker is not flawless. This situation reminds me that I need to hand grade her writing.  So, consider brushing up on the rules and examples of homophones, homonyms, and similar language arts issues, so that when your child runs into them you will be able to help her navigate that road.

One of the biggest problems with the traditional school year is the long summer break. During that break, many students do not continue to make academic progress. The three places that students fail to continue their forward progress are math, reading, and spelling. Some students lose as much as two months worth of knowledge in the three month summer break. Upon returning to the regular classroom, the first weeks and months of school are spent regaining and reviewing the knowledge that the students lost over the summer. By then, the school year is in full swing, and the push is on to complete a years worth of learning in the remaining time until the next summer break. Does this seem like a crazy cycle to you?

It certainly does to me!

The first year we home schooled we started second grade in January. My child was so hungry for knowledge, we finished second grade by June. And I was so proud of us, and what we had accomplished, that basically took the summer off. When we started back to home school in the fall, just like public school students, my daughter had “forgotten” stuff that I know she had learned. It was so frustrating, that I took a look at the way we did things, and we started year round school. We had shorter, but more frequent breaks all year long. Because it is so hot and humid in the summers where I live, I decided that we would continue working on school during the summer, and take breaks in the spring and fall, when the weather was more agreeable. And that is how we have done school for the four years that we have been home schooling.

For parents with children in traditional schools, or who home school, but adhere to the traditional school calendar, have no fear, there are ways to help your students retain the knowledge they have gained. Skills that are leaned by repetition, such as math and spelling , are the ones that are first lost, and easiest to maintain. Parents can use summer bridgework books, or other workbooks for math, but students will see that as work, and they are supposed to be off for the summer, right? Well, there is a way to get them to continue reviews, and not make it seem like school.

What am I talking about? GAMES! Kids love computer games. Here is an example, Unscramble is a game where their spelling words are given to the child in mixed up order, the child then has to pull letters, and rearrange them to form the spelling words. Random math games are another way to help your child stay in practice with multiplication tables, and other math facts that are learned by repetition. Math and spelling words games are two places that you can really find grade level appropriate computer games. Some places even let you make your own spelling lists so it is possible to tie the games directly to the summer reading list. Don’t forget that reading is another place where students need to stay in practice. Most local libraries have summer reading lists that are level appropriate. Then take vocabulary and spelling words from those books, place them in spelling games like Unscramble. As a parent you are helping your child stay up on their skills, yet you are not making them do drudgery repetition. These are just a few ways to beat the summer learning loss.

Words, words, words. Whether it is spelling words, or vocabulary words, increasing your child’s usable vocabulary is very important in fifth grade, and into middle school. There are lists in many books and workbooks that will help your child learn to spell better. Additionally, there are many resources online where you can find spelling and vocabulary lists. Recently, I mentioned math vocabulary. For fifth graders and students in middle school, learning math vocabulary will make it easier for them to understand the explanations of their increasingly more complex math. Some of the online sources also allow you to import your own lists, as well as view lists of spelling words imported by other parents and students. The more words you can expose your child to the better chance they have of becoming a good speller, and a fluent reader. It is important that you don‘t consider time spent on vocabulary or spelling words to be unproductive time. Consider that middle school is a time when your child will be building the vocabulary that he will be using for high school classes and college entrance test exams. Being able to spell many words, and being able to recognize and define many words will serve him well as he starts reading more difficult books, and as you ask him to write longer and more complex papers. You might also find that increasing the sheer number of words floating around in your child’s head increases and improves their spoken vocabulary as well. Be willing to help with pronunciation if necessary. One other way to increase your child’s vocabulary is to read to them. You might think that they are too old for this in middle school, but reading to them does several things. It allows them to be unplugged for a while, it builds memories, and it gives them something to talk to you about. I know that my child still asks to be read to, and on a regular basis she will stop me and ask to see a word that she hears read. Words, vocabulary, spelling…memories, and topics for discussions, can your child learn too many words?

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