Spell To Write And Read

Every week I give the girls a new spelling list of 10 words. I get the spelling words from the spelling curriculum we are using, Spell To Write And Read.

The Spell to Write and Read Program took alot of effort on my side at the beginning, reading and rereading all the material and trying to understand how the program works. I actually spent the first semester of this year reading and rereading and feeling very overwhelmed because I wasn't understanding the program. The teacher's book, Spell to Write And Read actually tells you, "Your first goal is to get a general overview. A more solid mastery will come as you teach." (pg 18) "Complete Understanding is not expected at first. . . .Understanding grows for both the student and teacher as key insights are repeated in application to a variety of words over a period of time." (pg 19) I wish that I would have listened to that instead of trying to learn it all first. I took 3 months to learn it, and when I started teaching it I still didn't feel like I knew what I was doing. I have discovered that I have learned the most and easiest when I was teaching it to the girls. It all fell into place and made sense.

Now that we have started the program I am loving it. It is easy to use and the girls are learning a lot! I wish I would have started using it when Mia was in Kindergarten instead of waiting until she was in 2nd grade and Emma in 1st. There is a great simplicity in the way the program presents spelling rules and phonograms. Even I am learning things that I never learned, I knew things were spelled a certain way but I didn't know why. Now I do!

The program is actually pretty economical. I know that about $100 sounds like a lot to pay for a spelling curriculum. But, when you realize that I won't have to pay for another curriculum for 6 years or so, it actually works out to be quite cheap!

This week I started anew thing that for their bonus words each girl picks one word they want to learn how to spell, or that they have had trouble with, etc.

Here is their spelling list for this week. I like the site kidsspell because I can create customized spelling lists, that the site then incorporates into the spelling games on the site. The girls then visit this site throughout the week and play games that help them practice their spelling words. You can use this site, even if your kids attend public school. Just upload their spelling words for the week, bookmark the link, and then you child can visit and practice their words!



Sanseri, Wanda. Spell To Write and Read. Milwaukie, OR: Back Home Industries, Inc., 2007.