Some spelling techniques that are working for us

And please share your own!

Not many homeschooling families actively enjoy spelling. It seems to be one area where plain old rote learning is required, and it’s hard to make it fun. For all but the most broad-minded, it’s essential. Yes, you can be an excellent writer and thinker and still be a terrible speller. But some people will judge you based on your spelling (I know, I’m one of them). Spell-check technology has been around for decades, but I still spot typos and errors all the time. It drives me crazy. For the sake of all us typo-spotters out there, our children have to learn to spell.

With my daughter (8), I was rather slow out of the starting blocks, maybe because she was a reluctant reader for a while. I can’t really remember what we did to begin with, but she didn’t make much progress, and she hated it. There were tears. But now we’re in a nice rhythm, and it’s actually become quite enjoyable. She’s making progress. I’ve started the same thing with my son (6), who is also coming along nicely. What follows isn’t rocket science, but it took me a while to work it out for myself, so maybe it will be helpful to a few other families.

Here’s what we do.

First, I realised that spelling tests don’t actually help children learn to spell. They help you to memorise, yes, but to know how to spell a word you have to see it over and over again, write it over and over, and look at it really carefully. A test will show you what a child has memorised that week, but it won’t tell you what they have internalised and deeply understood. I’ve heard from both adults and parents of school children that you can get top marks in your weekly spelling test and still not be great at spelling.

I use these lists from Oxford Owl to give me an idea of what words the children should be learning. Each day, I write a word for each child on the blackboard (or, if it’s a word that follows a particular pattern, like he, me, be, she, we, or break, steak, great, I’ll put up a group). We talk about the word, about anything that’s unexpected about it, and I ask the children to ‘take a picture with their brains’. We talk about a mental image they could use to remember a tricky spelling. I use different coloured chalks. It’s very visual.

Throughout the day, I’ll ask them to look at their word(s) on the board and remind them of anything notable about the spelling. Later, I either ask them to see if they can write it down, or if we’re out and about they just spell it out loud. If they’re not sure, they can look at the board or I’ll remind them.

Each child also has a lucky dip jar full of spellings on brightly-coloured paper. Lots of them are fairly easy, with a sprinkling of newer, more challenging words. The child can take a word out, look at it, and then write it down, or ask me to read it aloud so they can see if they know it from memory. They enjoy this more than you’d imagine—I think it helps that the jar is their own, and that they’re in charge of pulling out the words. I don’t ask them to do a set number, and they often amaze me and do the whole jar (which might be twenty or more). I don’t mind at all if they simply copy the words. It’s all good practice, and it takes the pressure off. I take out the easiest words periodically and replace them with the next batch. Unbelievably, they often ask to do their ‘spelling lucky dip’ as the first piece of work each morning.

When they ask me how to spell a word, I always ask them to have a go at spelling it themselves first. They can often manage it, but if they can’t, at the very least they can tell me what letter it begins with, and can often work out more than they thought they’d be able to.

Doing these things almost every day is making a big difference. We get better at difficult things the more we do them, and breaking them down into tiny bits makes them much more manageable. When the children take a break over the summer I hope to keep up the spelling work, just for a few minutes a day.

But although these tactics are working, I also think that both children have reached some sort of developmental level where they are more receptive to noticing spellings without any obvious effort. Some of the new words I’ve given my daughter recently she has known how to spell already, just from seeing them in books, on food packets, and generally out in the world. Forcing her to do more spelling work when she was younger would probably have been pointless, or even counterproductive.

If you have spelling books, apps, or tips that work in your own family, please share in the comments. In a previous post, readers recommended a letter tiles app from All About Reading, an Oxford University Press programme (possibly only available in Australia?), and the app Sir Linkalot. If you’d like to add your own suggestions or praise of these recommendations, please do!

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Regular readers will have seen me mention

Eloise Rickman

’s forthcoming book, It’s Not Fair. Eloise is holding two London events and a launch day at East Kent Sudbury. (You need to book all three in advance):

Waterstones Trafalgar Square, 19th June, 7pm-9pm. In conversation with Emma Svanberg, author of Parenting for Humans.

Parade’s End Books, Richmond-upon-Thames, 27th June, 6.30-8.30pm.

At East Kent Sudbury you can go along for a day of conversation on children’s liberation as Eloise launches her groundbreaking manifesto for children’s rights.

For new readers, Eloise wrote a guest post for me about what home education with her daughter looks like when putting children’s rights and her daughter’s consent at the heart of her education.

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(The photo for this post is by Ryan Wallace on Unsplash.)