Does Classical Writing teach spelling? We are often asked that question.
Spelling Instruction
Everything we do we do in light of the weekly stories the kids analyze and write about, including spelling.
Do I have to have a separate spelling program? That is another question we get often, and the answer is, it depends. It depends on your kid and what your kid is capable of.
If you have taught him or her to read via the phonics method, basic spelling rules are going to be part of his or her experience, and if he or she is of typical/normal ability, those words are beginning to make sense in terms of spelling.
We recommend an additional spelling curriculum, Spelling Work Out or Spelling Power or some such, if you find that your student frequently has issues confusing words that he or she has been exposed to often, but the spelling just does not stick.
Spelling Method
Otherwise, teach spelling in light of the stories you are reading, copybooking, and retelling. In the Classical Writing curriculum, we choose the most difficult or the most frequently confused words in the passage. Study the syllables, study the root words, do a quick quiz on the spelling, and then move onto the next story.
With my kids (years and years ago) I took the idea of the ‘word locker’ from the curriculum Spelling Workout.
You write the words you get wrong in a composition notebook (your word locker). Any word that is in your word locker is part of your weekly spelling quiz along with all the new spelling words from your weekly list. When you spell a word from your word locker correctly three weeks in a row, it gets liberated from your word locker as a word you now know.
A Weekly Spelling Routine
So, to be more systematic, your weekly spelling routine would look like this:
1, teacher chooses 5-10 words from the weekly reading that the student needs to learn how to spell.
2. the student writes the word 3 times (copies)
3. the student divides the word into syllables and spells it syllable by syllable.
4. the student looks the word up in a dictionary to define the word, to see what root words the word comes from, and to make sure he or she knows exactly how the word is used.
5. The student takes a spelling quiz where the teacher dictates each word, and the student spells the word from memory.
6. Any word that is not spelled correctly goes in a notebook (the word locker) and is part of the student’s spelling quiz until the student spells the word correctly three weeks in a row.
There are many good spelling programs out there that you can choose from. The reason I prefer this method over just slavishly doing a spelling book is that
1. spelling books are often for classrooms and they cater to the words most students get wrong. Your students may only need to practice 10% of the words on any given workbook page
2. This way spelling is tied to the curriculum you are already doing rather than a separate activity
3. It allows you and your student to focus on the words that he or she is struggling with, thereby moving through spelling faster.
Spelling Lists
I used to use the Bluedorn Bluebacked Speller, which was an 19th century spelling book for public schools to test my junior highers and up for the tougher spelling words. I don’t see it any more on the Internet. I only see their Decoder/Encoder which is oldfashioned spelling and phonics, still on the Internet.
What I do recommend you have at hand is age or grade or ability appropriate spelling lists, and this website has a good list for every grade level through high school: Spelling Word Lists
The point here is that you can check to see if your student is spelling at, above, or below grade level. With that check to see if you actually need to go through a spelling curriculum, or if your reading and spot checking words with your reading assignments is sufficient for your student to progress in spelling.
I would suggest testing your student in the words for the grade level he or she has just completed. If those are 90% or better, you are probably on track. If your student is below grade level, probably a separate spelling curriculum that rigorously teaches spelling may be in order for a year or so and then you can see whether you need to continue.
For most of us, spelling lets up around 7th grade or so when the student simply does not need this any more.