Marvelous Monday – Spelling & Handwriting

I have four children.  Two of my children are fairly natural spellers, and two have a difficult time with spelling.  You’ll not wrangle which two are which out of me!  Though I’ve used some graded spellers in the past, I am now completely sold on Spelling Power.  Though the initial $60 investment may seem pricey, this is a one time purchase that will see your entire family through all of their spelling needs.  Beverly Adams-Gordon’s approach is simple, yet very, very effective.  Your child masters lists of words by applying basic spelling rules.

Yes, I know, no one likes learning spelling rules.  Yes, I know, none of us like spelling lists.  However, none of us want to be poor spellers either.  Spelling Power makes this approach fairly painless for parent and child.  The bottom line is, it works!  Allow yourself a couple of hours to familiarize yourself with the program’s outline and you’re all set.  Each daily lesson takes less than thirty minutes.  Though the book claims the lessons should take no longer than fifteen minutes, we generally need twenty minutes or so to finish.

Your student begins the lesson by copying the current spelling rule.  Then a five minute “test” is given from a word list that follows the spelling rule.  Your child self-corrects his test as you correctly spell each word from the list.  The next step is the one that I think really makes this program work.  After correcting the daily test, the student is directed in a ten step guided exercises to learn to correctly spell each missed word.  Write the word, spell the word aloud, look at the word, spell the word aloud, cover the word and spell aloud, check the word, trace the word while spelling aloud, check the word, write the word.   The final step is using the word in a sentence.  (My bunch like to try to use all missed words in one sentence!).  Missed words are reviewed daily until they can be spelled correctly.

Spelling power is non-graded, and includes placement testing so that each of your children can be plugged in exactly where he needs to be.  Advancement is at a steady pace.  Your struggling spellers may never become “natural” spellers, but at least they’ll know why words are spelled as they are.  The program even covers those odd words that don’t follow the spelling rules, and incorporates words that your children misspell in other daily work as well.   Spelling Power has plenty of built in periodic and cumulative review, too.

All you’ll really need is contained in the main book, including blank copies of the daily test forms; but we enjoy the convenience of the student notebooks.  You might see mention of a set of Student Activity Cards.  I bought these, and I don’t use them.  Stick with the book.  It’s a one time investment in building spelling skills for your child.

Handwriting is a matter of personal preference.  Some love to teach their children a lovely, italic hand that transitions seamlessly to an italic cursive.  Others prefer the more traditional printing – cursive route.  I fall into that second category.  Legible handwriting takes practice, but there’s no reason for the practice to be meaningless.  That’s why I love the Reason for Handwriting series.  Other than the Kindergarten book, the series is non-graded, which makes it nice for families with late bloomers.  I have always just started my children in Book A.

Book A will introduce your child to the printed (manuscript) alphabet, with plenty of guided practice.  Book C will do the same a couple of years later by guiding your child in learning a beautiful cursive hand.  (I’ve never used Book T – Transition.  My children have done quite well with the ample transition work found in Book C.)  The first half of these two books are filled with plenty of letter by letter and then word by word practice.  The latter halves of these books, and the majority of the rest of the series are what we love.

The premise is simple and child-friendly.  Each week a new Bible verse is used for the week’s lesson.  Monday through Wednesday your child uses the printed, guided practice to write a few words from the verse.  On Thursday, the child writes the entire verse onto practice paper.  Friday is the day they’ll look forward to!

On Friday, your child will choose a “border sheet” from the back of the book (lined paper with attractive black line drawings around the borders), and he will carefully write the week’s verse on the border sheet.

The border is then colored in, and your child chooses someone to receive the finished page.  My children have given these to pastors, mailed them to friends and family, and even blessed me with one from time to time.

The Teacher’s Book is nice, I suppose, but I don’t think you’ll need it.  A copy of whichever student book your child needs, a sharpened no. 2 pencil,  and a nice set of colored pencils are all you’ll need.  The Reason for Handwriting series is widely available from the publisher and many homeschool vendors, but I’ve found the best price at Amazon.

If you haven’t already done so, please visit Kendra’s site to see her Marvelous Monday recommendations for Spelling and Handwriting.

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