Spelling...

 I guess I knew at some point this had to be done. If you know me at all you know that I deeply love history and yet the Lord decided to ignite a different passion in me...spelling! Or rather phonics.

My oldest son, unbeknownst to me at the time, taught me about whole language and the ability to memorize what words looked like. While my oldest daughter taught me that the typical style of spelling (list on Monday, test on Friday) produced no true long-term memory for her. So with these polar opposites in mind I began my quest for a way to teach spelling that would cover all the bases. I found that the more I researched Spell to Write & Read the more I could identify with what it was trying to teach both my children and myself. And so began my love affair with phonics.

So what are a few things I loved about Spell to Write & Read?

• One program teaches preschool through high school
• Phonograms & spelling rules give you the tools needed to spell-it takes the mystery out of spelling
• It uses all forms of learning, visual, auditory, & kenestitic
• We could ALL do certain portions together
• Reading came organically, not forced
• I learned so much about phonics

Some of the ways I have used Spell to Write & Read in our home.

• When we first began, I was learning just as much as my children so it was important to stick to what the author had laid out. As I began to develop a strong foundation, I could be a bit more creative without losing the core of the curriculum.
• For early learners, I used this to play games and gently introduce the phonetic sounds. I also made sure that the youngest child was nearby when teaching my older children. Sometimes even pausing to see if he could answer a simple question and praising his success.
• As development progressed we used magnet letters and dry erase markers to continue reinforcing the phonograms. We also enlarged some of the first charts to work on with the magnet letters.
• For remediation, we had different reinforcement tools.
• We made it a part of our "homeschool life" When some one asked how to spell something, I used fingergrams to spell the word.

To keep from being too overwhelming I will share in a different post my thoughts on SWR and merging it with Charlotte Mason's philosophy.