I’ve had a hard finding a Spelling curriculum that’s easy to use and improves my children’s ability to spell.
The rote curriculums with lists, a week of activities and the quiz on Friday are traditional, OK, but kinda’ boring.
The super-duper “only spelling curriculum you’ll ever need” books have broken my heart more than once with their false promises.
While Beka was making me lunch the other day, I had a light bulb moment. Are you also saying “light bulb” with a German accent? Then you haven’t seen Despicable Me.
Anyhoo…. back to spelling and my light bulb moment.
The day my daughter volunteered to make lunch, and then I had to pay for it, she spelled words wrong on her menu,
and on her bill.
It made sense to use these words for that week’s spelling list. After all, these are words she uses and misspells.
The day’s English worksheet added more spelling words. I orally tested her on the months and dotted the ones she spelled incorrectly.
I made a quick worksheet using Microsoft Word. Quick. No clip art, no borders, no nothing. Got ‘er dun.
She filled in the words in the blanks.
“did you mean _____________?”
She loved using the computer to find the correct spelling. Along with the traditional entries, there’s an option to hear the computer pronounce the word.
Scrabble board and tiles were used to spell the words for the next day’s spelling activity.
My teenage son Jon grabbed my camera at this point and said, “Hey Mom, we never get pics of you. You’re always taking the pictures. Since you’re dressed and lookin’ good, not that you don’t look good every day… (hmmmm learning to back peddle already, this is good) lemme’ take your pic.”
Aw, I love that kid. So glad I kept him.
I also decided this is the perfect pose for a woman who is conscience about her humongous scar on her neck and her growing double chin.
Not to mention the hair growing on my chin, but they usually don’t show up in pictures.
The traditional Friday spelling quiz.
How do you spell success?
Wow, I wish I'd read these ideas during our homeschooling days when the kids were younger! What a way to make it fun!You look so pretty and can't see any chin hair so you're safe, lol! My brother has the neck scar too but guys like that kind of stuff, lol!
You know, the dictionary.com is a great idea even for a 16 year old who is a slow speller because he was slow learning to read, and mixes letters up in a dyslexic fashion. And…I had to really laugh about chin hair…If you find some herb, or some food (chocolate, right?!) that makes 'em go away…blog it!! 🙂
I love that idea of the Scrabble board for when the kids are older.
Kendra, that makes SO much sense! I do like spelling for the younger years, but couldn't put my finger on why – it comes along with the phonics curriculum and word families. Speaking of word families, maybe if she misspells a word, I should look for other words with the same phonetic makeup….ya' got me going girl….UGH, can't even leave a comment on my own blog!BLOGGGRRRRRmomma mindy
We do spelling for the big kid that way. Her words come straight from her work or reading. The little ones are still learning word families, so they just do one family a week (or so). I always have felt that school should all be about learning what you use, not learning just for the sake of a list…ya know!
Great idea Mindy! Spelling can be fun!!