Spelling Curriculum

Spelling curriculum is one problem area that I have heard homeschool moms discuss over and over during my 16 years of homeschooling my children.

The problem is.....

no matter what spelling books they use.....

their children CAN'T SPELL!

Teaching children to spell seems harder than teaching them calculus.

It shouldn't be this way. But, I do understand. Out of four kids, I only got one who was a natural speller and loved to spell. The rest....ugh!

I tried -

• many different spelling curriculums
• every trick in the book
• tips and techniques that guaranteed my children could spell
• drilling spelling rules into their heads
• making them memorize long lists of the "most frequently used words"

Guess what...it didn't work.

So, what did I do? Let me tell you.

• Latin vocabulary words
• Science vocabulary words
• History vocabulary words
• Literature vocabulary words

Now, you don't have to give them 10 words from each subject. Choose however many they can handle according to their age. Also, start out with a smaller number and then increase the number as your school year progresses.

Give your child the list of vocabulary words and the definition. For each word, they must spell the word and its complete definition correctly. In other words:

"virus - A virus is a non-living organism that infects your body and makes you sick"

They must be able to spell correctly every word to get it correct.

Is this cruel?

No.

It teaches them to spell. What happens when you use a traditional spelling curriculum, is that your child will learn how to spell the word for the test and then forget it.

By making them spell the word and the complete definition, they learn to spell all of the words in the entire sentence. This makes them learn to spell the words they use every day.

It doesn't do any good for your child to be able to spell "anthropology" but not be able to spell "what" and other commonly used words.

This probably seems like an impossible task - but it isn't.

I've used this method and turned every one of my children into excellent spellers. Yes, the ones who couldn't spell anything and cried every time I mentioned spelling.

Just start out with a small list and follow my spelling tips in the How to Teach Spelling article.

If you will do this with your child, you won't need to buy spelling workbooks or do lengthy spelling lesson plans. Just jot yourself a note when doing your lesson planning so you can remind yourself to do this.

Now, if you just absolutely HAVE to buy a spelling curriculum, try Spelling Power. It is the only one I will half-way recommend.

This curriculum starts each day with a list of words to that your child spells. Then for practice, your child only has to practice the ones he missed. This weeds out giving him a bunch of words he already knows how to spell and just concentrates on the words he doesn't know.

I've talked to many moms who have loved Spelling Power.

For me...it didn't work. The only child who did well with it was the one who was the natural speller anyway. He loved it because he could spell. It didn't help the others.

But - like I say repeatedly - you know your children better than anybody else. Do what works for your child. Don't forget when doing your spelling lesson plans to include some spelling games. I love games -- they add fun to what kids consider "boring, old schoolwork."

Check for spelling games in our games section.

Be sure to read How to Teach Spelling. This article explains more in-depth about how to use the method I mentioned above and teach spelling so your children will actually learn how to spell.

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