An oracle of the gods?

"This is the most anoying speling test ever."

This cryptic message was found written on an eraser several weeks ago. What could it possibly mean?! Who could be trying to communicate with me? Well, the last one was easy--it's obviously Nathan, since there are 2 big spelling errors in the message! Yes, spelling is his big bugaboo, and it's been frustrating for me too. Sometimes he will get the words right on Friday for our spelling test, but by the next week, it's as if he has never seen the words before. Sometimes he doesn't even get them right on Fridays! So I have really been looking for a new spelling program for him, one that would just turn the spelling key in his mind. Several people told me that once he really learned how to read, spelling would just come naturally, since he would see all those words in print. This never happened though. He is an excellent reader now, with a huge vocabulary, and he still can't even spell "they", which has to be one of the most common words in any book! I mean, he ALWAYS spells it "thay". Ack!

The past 2 years I have really wanted to go to the HEAV homeschool convention because I saw in their schedule that Andrew Pudewa was teaching a session called, "Spelling and the Brain". Maybe he could help! But 2 years ago we were in Colorado during it, and this past year, I was still nursing too much to be able to go and enjoy it. Finally I got smart and just ordered the CD from the HEAV website! It finally came, and I was able to listen to it last night. First, let me say that now I can agree with all the people who have told me about what a wonderful speaker he is. He was so funny and interesting! I wasn't all that excited about listening to what is basically a lecture after the boys went down, but it just flew by. Now I wish I had also ordered his session called, "How to teach boys who would rather by building forts". LOL--that also sounds pretty applicable!

He did have some good points about spelling. One thing he said was that I should be mainly doing oral drill with Nathan. Auditory pathways develop sooner than visual pathways. Also, auditory input is sequential, as is spelling. So when you spell out loud, the brain stores the input in the sequential order. This is very counter-intuitive for me. I am very much a visual learner. If I see something, I will really remember it, like a map. But if someone just tells me directions, I have a very hard time remembering them. And I also have a hard time hearing words spelled out and putting the word together from that. But apparently I am in the minority, especially considering boys! So we have been doing exactly what he said we should not do--have a workbook-based spelling system, with games and stuff, and then have them copy the spelling words each day. Whoops! But for me, that would have been very helpful! So I've started drilling him orally. We'll see if that helps cement things in his memory. In a side note, I have also started drilling math facts orally. That was also something that he mainly did on a speed drill worksheet every day, and there's not been much improvement in his speed there. Hopefully oral drill will help there too. It's so interesting how we can all learn so differently!

He talked about the methods of storing information in the brain. There are 3 of them--frequency, intensity, and duration. The repetition must be sufficient to permanently store the material in the brain. If the stimulus is powerful, then you don't need as much frequency (but spelling is not very exciting or whatever, so this probably won't apply!). Duration means you stretch out the frequency, and this is the most effective way to remember things (be reminded of things over the course of a fairly long period of time). He said that most spelling plans simply teach kids how to not learn words. They get a list of words, practice them, miss 20 percent on the test, and then get a new set of words. He said really you should keep giving the same test until the child gets 100%--then move on! There's not enough duration.

He also said we needed to help the child categorize the words based on the letter blends (esp. vowels) that just don't make sense, so they have a system of storing info and retrieving it. For example, you would have a separate list for each vowel pair and sound. "'EA' says EEE" would be one category, and you'd list words that fit there--spear, leaf, bean, etc. Then as you learned others, you could add them to that "house". But you'd have another house for the "'EA' says eh" words, like bread. And so on. This makes it seem a little more organized and less random, although, as he says, we have a language built on spelling anomalies, so anomaly becomes the norm!

I think the Lord has been putting all this together for me. A few weeks ago, my friend Christine (who also has a very poor speller) showed me a new spelling curriculum she was planning to use this year called "How to Teach Spelling". It basically teaches each vowel sound separately. Then a few days later, my friend Amy P. let me borrow a book she'd just ordered called, "ABCs and All Their Tricks". This book also talked about each letter and all the possible sounds that it could make, and what words have what sounds and spellings. The goal of both books is to help people see that spelling is not as random as it seems. I had already ordered both of those books by the time my CD finally got here, but listening to it just confirmed my order. I guess this year will be the year of breaking down spelling words into categories. Vowels are a big problem of his, but he also has lots of problems for example remembering that an "er" sound at the end of a word is an "Er", not just as "r". Or that an "el" sound at the end is usually "le", like mumble. So we have lots of sounds to work on. I'm sure it will be a lot more time-consuming, especially for me, but hopefully it will bear some positive fruit. Now I'm just not sure what to do for Luke! He is obviously doing just fine with a traditional spelling program, since he learns mainly like me. I'm afraid he might be a little bored going back to the basics like I am planning with Nathan. When my new books finally come, and I really have a chance to put together a plan, then maybe I'll be able to figure out what to do for him. I already have the next Bob Jones spelling book, so he could just go ahead and do that.