Long ago, when I was more fixated with approximating a 'real school,' and when we were under the supervision of a local religious school as a satellite, I tried it. I got a second grade book for five-year-old Renee and we opened to the first unit. She glanced at the words, and then said, “I know them!” And she did. We went further into the book, and each word list we tried came easily and quickly to her. She aced the book’s post-test about ten minutes after we opened the book.
Of course, she was an anomaly. Most kids don’t learn to spell that way. They need lists and drills and tests and more tests...right?
After watching four of my six learn to spell without anything resembling spelling lessons, I’m beginning to wonder.
Claire hated the few spelling lessons I tried to do with her. She learned the words easily enough, but since they were unconnected to anything that she could see in her life, she resented the time spent. With Evan and Ken, I didn’t even try. But they’re all excellent spellers. How did this come to be?
When they needed spelling, they learned to spell. For all of them, the turning point came when they wanted to communicate with someone through print. Claire wanted to send letters to a pen pal, and later emails to friends. Evan wanted to write stories and send messages online. Ken wanted to write song lyrics and look up information. Even then there was no 'studying' involved. They just used the sense of the printed word that they'd gained in reading.
My experiment is continuing. Neal, who is nine, reads voraciously, but he writes as little as possible right now. He does have a good sense of whether words are misspelled, though, so there is hope. Alanna, at six, is fascinated with spelling, and often asks me to spell words for her to print.
Of course, we're all wired a bit differently, and maybe some kids don't have the 'spelling gene'. For them, a basic course in the mechanics of spelling may be just the trick. But for many kids (and their multi-tasked parent/teachers), maybe one less workbook would mean a few more minutes to play Legos!
