Building a Relationship with Spelling...

Spell to Write & Read

Recently, I shared my opinions on teaching spelling using Spell to Write & Read. In that post, I said I would revisit the topic and share how we merged Charlotte Mason's views on spelling in to this curriculum.

Before I could even digest how CM would conquer teaching spelling I myself had to actually understand it. I had to learn what the difference between whole language and phonics. I had to know what was meant by such fancy words as diphthong and phonogram. You see, I could spell. I don't remember ever learning phonics. I'm sure I learned something when I was little but I had no memory of it. I am the type of speller who can "see" the word and knows if it's right or wrong. So you can imagine my frustration when my then 6th grader (fresh home from public school) could not spell to save her life.
I clearly remember asking her, "Don't you see the word?" Her response was a resounding no!

What? How can this be? Everyone sees the word, right? Ah one of the first true lessons in becoming a teacher to my children. And so I began my spelling journey. In order to be a better teacher, I was going to have to immerse myself in spelling. I was going to have to become a better communicator. I was going to have to meet her where she was at. It didn't take long for me to find a curriculum that would help become my guide on this journey. I didn't want her to just be able to memorize words. We had been down that road and it wasn't working. She could get a list on Monday, test perfectly on Friday, and never remember how to spell it. We had to take drastic measures.

The first two years she and I both were learning side by side. I was finally understanding why we changed y to i when making a word plural. I learned why we have a silent final E at the end of the word little. A whole new world was opening up to me and I realized that the English language did indeed make sense and I could truly teach this subject. My confidence grew and I was ready to take on more.

We had spent time building a foundation. Now it was time to add another layer. First we began with accountability. When misspelling words we began to keep track of these words.

Our notebook:

1. One page per phonogram. If the phonogram had more than one sound we had a colomn for each sound on the page.
2. One page per spelling rule. We used the Chart Masters to help create this section.
3. Each time we had a misspelled word we went to the notebook and she would put it in under the phonogram or spelling rule that she had missed.

This idea came from modifying the Spelling Word Bank idea.

From here we began to incorporate Charlotte Mason's method of dictation. I asked her to choose a book that she loved. She chose Pride & Prejudice. Each week, I would select a passage and she would copy it in to a composition notebook. We discussed the words that we thought might be difficult to spell and analyzed them using the SWR method. Tuesdays and Wednesdays were her responsibility to study the passage and the words. On Thursday she and I would sit down for dictation. I would read the passage and she would write them down in her notebook. When the passage was completed, I gave her a moment to look over her work and punctuate where needed.

Then she was asked to check her dictation. The original copy and a highlighter were given to her to accomplish this task. When she came to a misspelled word or an incorrect punctuation she was asked to highlight it. On Fridays, she logged these words in to her notebook and we verbally went over the grammar errors.

Soon we began to see several rewards. First we went from, "Mom how do you spell...?" to "Mom, do you spell it this way...?" to "Never mind, I know it." This was a huge thing. She was finally seeing the word! Secondly we were able to isolate what phonetic sounds, spelling rules, etc. were giving her a hard time. This gave us a clearer picture of what to work on.

One of the big takeaways I got from reading Charlotte's work is that children need to build relationships with the words and have a mental picture of it as well. By using a favorite story my daughter already had the relationship with the words. That left us just needing to build the image in her mind's eye.

I don't think we would have been successful if I too had not built a relationship with the subject we were teaching.

Teaching Reading and Spelling...

A while back, I wrote about spelling. I shared which curriculum I favor and some reasons why I like it. But how does that apply to a more Charlotte Mason approach of schooling?

Mason's belief of living ideas can still be implemented even when using a curriculum. It just requires an understanding of the curriculum and the freedom to begin stretching yourself. Let me first inform you that I am just a mom. I do not have a special teaching degree. I am just a mom who believes that this is where God has placed me and therefore I must be a good steward of this role. I also believe in self-education and living by example which means I take this very seriously. With all that said, I needed a curriculum that would teach me how to teach spelling. I did not want a workbook to do the job for me but I would need some help along the way.

Enter Spell to Write & Read

My first few years of using this curriculum taught me just as much as my children. We trudged through relying on grace as I wrapped my brain around this new concept of phonics. Eventually I began to understand and felt more liberty with the curriculum. I was learning the how's and why's of spelling and this knowledge would help me in the next phase of teaching.

At the same time I was reading Charlotte Mason's view on teaching spelling. She spoke of a child's first reading lesson and using a letterbox. My youngest at the time was in kindergarden and expressing interest in reading and spelling. (side note: I think one reason for our success is that I waited on him. I did not push him) I used magnet letters and basic flashcards to introduce the letters. During this time I taught him the sounds of the letters and we played short games throughout the day and before bed. It was an ejoyable experience for him. As time progressed I began to introduce multi-letter phonograms.

Teaching Spelling
"But the fact is, the gift of spelling depends upon the power the eye possesses to 'take' (in a photographic sense) a detailed picture of a word; and this is a power and habit which must be cultivated in children from the first." CM

I wish I had read this quote prior to trying to teach my then 6th grader. She could pass a spelling test but after that she could not remember how to spell the words. In frustation one afternoon I asked, "Can't you see the words?" She replied back, "NO!" That was an eye opener for me.

Not everyone learns how to spell the same way but there are some core principles that can be applied. I finally reached the decision that teaching phonics was the key and found that SWR met my goals of learning how to be a teacher as well as teaching phonics in a multi-sensory way. The first year, we just filled in the gaps and strengthened the foundation for my daughter. We were still struggling with "seeing the words" but I was patient. The following year we began to implement Charlotte Mason's dictation method. Over the summer, I attended a class on teaching spelling the CM way. Putting myself in the student's position helped me to see that this was not an easy task. It would require discipline and study. This would be the next layer in our journey. I will try to share specifics in a different post but for now, we used dictation to intentionally build her mind's eye. We progressed from "Mom, how do you spell...?" to "Mom, do you spell it...?" She was beginning to see it!

Illiterate spelling is usually a sign of sparse reading; but, sometimes, of hasty reading without the habit of seeing the words that are skimmed over." CM emphasis mine

 
Teaching Reading
One evening while his sister was at basketball practice he told me he wanted to learn to read. I had heard this before but procrastinated starting anything official. Quite truthfully because I felt like my plate was rather full at the time and I had a great fear of teaching this particular subject. That night he persisted and so I wrote down on a scrap piece of paper some simple words that used the phonograms he knew. I touched each letter as I made the sounds. I spoke slowly and then repeated it quickly. After understanding what I was doing, he took on the next few words alone. By the end of the night we had made a collection of words and I informed him that he was reading! :-) He was so proud and so I knew that it was time to introduce the next phase.

We began our first official SWR spelling lists and also began using our Pathway readers. The first book was a primer entitled First Steps. As learned in SWR, we "marked" the words that he did not know. Then we began reading about this little family and their adventures. He enjoyed the stories so much that he never thought of this as work. After a while I no longer needed to mark the words. He would get a pencil and do it himself. We progressed through the series and now he is reading chapter books and his Bible.

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.