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On my A2z
Homeschool Yahoo Group... thought I'd let you read it...
Ann Zeise
A to Z Home's Cool
http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com
Welcome back, Tammy. I know I'm about 4 digests behind in my
reading, but I just wanted to comment on the above with respect to
the preferences of individual learners. My son, who will be 10 in
September, decided about a year ago that he would never write
again. He had been pushed to write in school above and beyond his
abilities and became very discouraged with the whole writing
process. This summer, though, he decided that writing might be a
useful skill to have afterall, and that he wanted to start working
on some writing skills. I asked him how *he* wanted to approach
learning to write, and he said that the part he finds frustrating is
that he has an idea, but he doesn't know how to *spell* the words
that he wants to write down.
His school used an "invented spelling" approach which he never felt
comfortable with. He always wanted me to spell everything for him,
and we ended up having him dictate to me, I wrote down what he said,
and he copied it down for the final draft. So, he and I researched
spelling programs together on the net. We found a spelling program
for him which doesn't require memorizing lists of words and then
taking tests. Someone dictates a word, the learner writes the word
down the way he/she thinks it's spelled. The one who is dictating
the words then writes the word with the correct spelling on the
board, or on a piece of paper so that the learner can see it. The
dictator (ha ha) also gives some phonetic cues as he/she writes the
word. Then the learner corrects the word on/his paper, if
necessary. The learner spells 25 words per day this way - all
without studying and memorizing. The words are grouped logically by
sound families. Within days my son was spelling multi-syllabic
words, and was able to start extrapolating from previous learned
spellings, how to spell words not yet learned.
In this program, In 180 days, the child has learned to spell
thousands of words, rather than just the few hundred children
usually learn with a traditional public school spelling program.
(www.avko.org - and no, I don't get a commission or anything! LOL!
It's just been a great program for my son).
The interesting thing is, by just working on spelling, my son is now
writing. Of course, he knew that spelling is what he needed to work
on - we followed his lead, and it's working for him. Sometimes
working on discrete language skills can be just the ticket that is
needed for certain kids to begin to be willing and able to write.
Laura in
Santa Cruz