About spelling...
The Scanlons
It seems that most people I meet are either "good spellers" or "bad spellers". I've always been a good speller. I just seem to know that words are right or wrong. In the last few years, I've had to think about spelling some words a bit more than I ever did before.
Sandra's husband became a better speller. Are there many more out there who have learned this ability? Both my husband and I were just born with it and I have yet to meet a person who is a good speller and wasn't born to it.
I've always been curious about this.
Sandy
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Sandra's husband became a better speller. Are there many more out there who have learned this ability? Both my husband and I were just born with it and I have yet to meet a person who is a good speller and wasn't born to it.
I've always been curious about this.
Sandy
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Fetteroll
on 10/30/03 4:49 AM, The Scanlons at scanlon36@... wrote:
now I'm better. I think a part of the reason I didn't care as much about
spelling in school is that I knew the effect a few misspelled words would
have on my grade wasn't worth the irritation of looking them up. But now
it's myself I'm putting out there when I write so I'm motivated to spell
properly. When I'm writing for just myself I do the best I can with
spelling, but when I'm proofreading it, I get pretty anal about spelling.
Joyce
> Are there many more out there who have learned this ability? Both my husbandMy sister and father are natural spellers. I used to be okay, not great, but
> and I were just born with it and I have yet to meet a person who is a good
> speller and wasn't born to it.
now I'm better. I think a part of the reason I didn't care as much about
spelling in school is that I knew the effect a few misspelled words would
have on my grade wasn't worth the irritation of looking them up. But now
it's myself I'm putting out there when I write so I'm motivated to spell
properly. When I'm writing for just myself I do the best I can with
spelling, but when I'm proofreading it, I get pretty anal about spelling.
Joyce
[email protected]
In a message dated 10/30/03 03:24:29 AM Central Standard Time,
scanlon36@... writes:
Sandra's husband became a better speller. Are there many more out there who
have learned this ability? Both my husband and I were just born with it and I
have yet to meet a person who is a good speller and wasn't born to it.
I've always been curious about this.
Sandy
###############
I am a good speller. I wasn't five years ago or any time before that. I have
become a better speller with the help of spell check! There are common
misspelled words and words that I commonly misspell. With spell check I have learned
what those words are and when I come across them now, I can spell them. Five
years ago, or even fewer, I couldn't do that. The constant review, for me, was
what did it. Someone would then ask if this worked, then why didn't the
constant review in school work? I have an answer for that! In school the review of
spelling is done in lists. Ten new words a week with a test on Friday.
Absolutely no use of the words in everyday application. Here, I use a word, I always
misspell it, spell checker catches it, after a few times I see that word
spelled correctly and I begin to spell it correctly. After a few more times, I don't
see that word on the spell checker again. If I were the school at home type,
I wouldn't use spelling programs. I would take words from the books my kids
were reading and words from their journals from other subjects and have them
keep a common place book just like people used to do hundreds of years ago. But
that is just me. <g>
~Nancy
He felt that his whole life was some kind of dream and he sometimes wondered
whose it was and whether they were enjoying it.
Douglas Adams
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
scanlon36@... writes:
Sandra's husband became a better speller. Are there many more out there who
have learned this ability? Both my husband and I were just born with it and I
have yet to meet a person who is a good speller and wasn't born to it.
I've always been curious about this.
Sandy
###############
I am a good speller. I wasn't five years ago or any time before that. I have
become a better speller with the help of spell check! There are common
misspelled words and words that I commonly misspell. With spell check I have learned
what those words are and when I come across them now, I can spell them. Five
years ago, or even fewer, I couldn't do that. The constant review, for me, was
what did it. Someone would then ask if this worked, then why didn't the
constant review in school work? I have an answer for that! In school the review of
spelling is done in lists. Ten new words a week with a test on Friday.
Absolutely no use of the words in everyday application. Here, I use a word, I always
misspell it, spell checker catches it, after a few times I see that word
spelled correctly and I begin to spell it correctly. After a few more times, I don't
see that word on the spell checker again. If I were the school at home type,
I wouldn't use spelling programs. I would take words from the books my kids
were reading and words from their journals from other subjects and have them
keep a common place book just like people used to do hundreds of years ago. But
that is just me. <g>
~Nancy
He felt that his whole life was some kind of dream and he sometimes wondered
whose it was and whether they were enjoying it.
Douglas Adams
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
nellebelle
I was just telling someone that my mom has asked me why I don't do spelling lists with my dd. I explained that Lisa learns to spell words as she needs them. She learns how to spell a word she needs NOW, rather than a word she might need someday.
Mary Ellen
Mary Ellen
----- Original Message ----- Here, I use a word, I always
misspell it, spell checker catches it, after a few times I see that word
spelled correctly and I begin to spell it correctly. After a few more times, I don't
see that word on the spell checker again.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[email protected]
In a message dated 10/30/03 2:24:35 AM, scanlon36@... writes:
<< In the last few years, I've had to think about spelling some words a bit
more than I ever did before. >>
Me too. I used to know by sight. Maybe my memory bank of sight-stuff is
overflowing after all these years, because I used to look at it, and if I wasn't
sure, I'd write it a couple of ways and decide *by sight* which was the one
I'd seen a bunch, and then I'd check a dictionary if I needed to.
Now sometimes I just am not sure. If I'm at the computer I open a word
file, put the word in and let Word's dictionary convince me. And I usually end up
playing around with that really fun function where as you type another letter
in it guesses which word you're after. <g>
<<Sandra's husband became a better speller. Are there many more out there
who have learned this ability? Both my husband and I were just born with it and
I have yet to meet a person who is a good speller and wasn't born to it.>>
Keith still misspells "coming" as "comming." So did my dad. My dad could
see NO sense in single or double letter situations where there was no chance
for confusion. I have a letter he wrote me when I was a teenager, and he signed
it "Dady." (There being no long-a word, he figured once there are enough
letters to pronounce it correctly, he'd done his job.)
Both Keith and my dad were lefties. Unfortunately, my dad was trying to be a
leftie in a West Texas one-room schoolhouse in the 1930's. Ooops on that
one. They forced him to use his right hand, and I think it scarred him for life.
He feared and avoided reading and writing.
Keith was a music-minded, math-minded pattern-seeing guy. His handwriting is
jerky lefthanded small writing.
Some words he's learned because he uses them a lot. "Committee" finally
settled for him. AND I think the ei/ie problems are helped, with him, because his
name is Keith. So he can sort words into exception/not more easily than
others because he has a personal stake in the ei/ie world.
Schwa gives him trouble, but it does most people. Probably most spelling
errors I see (or make) are an e for an a or vice versa in a word where the vowel
is making its lowest, unstressed boring noise. "Separate/seperate." So my
boyfriend from college had a rule I still use: "there's a rat in separate." A
Jr. High English teacher in Toronto had given him that gift. He was an
English a second language case, and so much of his spelling was trick-based. He
was useful that way.
I think Keith just learned one or two words a year, and since he was
misspelling the same little batch of words, he's doing well with everything but
"coming." (I'll note his writing and report back.)
Sandra
Sandra
<< In the last few years, I've had to think about spelling some words a bit
more than I ever did before. >>
Me too. I used to know by sight. Maybe my memory bank of sight-stuff is
overflowing after all these years, because I used to look at it, and if I wasn't
sure, I'd write it a couple of ways and decide *by sight* which was the one
I'd seen a bunch, and then I'd check a dictionary if I needed to.
Now sometimes I just am not sure. If I'm at the computer I open a word
file, put the word in and let Word's dictionary convince me. And I usually end up
playing around with that really fun function where as you type another letter
in it guesses which word you're after. <g>
<<Sandra's husband became a better speller. Are there many more out there
who have learned this ability? Both my husband and I were just born with it and
I have yet to meet a person who is a good speller and wasn't born to it.>>
Keith still misspells "coming" as "comming." So did my dad. My dad could
see NO sense in single or double letter situations where there was no chance
for confusion. I have a letter he wrote me when I was a teenager, and he signed
it "Dady." (There being no long-a word, he figured once there are enough
letters to pronounce it correctly, he'd done his job.)
Both Keith and my dad were lefties. Unfortunately, my dad was trying to be a
leftie in a West Texas one-room schoolhouse in the 1930's. Ooops on that
one. They forced him to use his right hand, and I think it scarred him for life.
He feared and avoided reading and writing.
Keith was a music-minded, math-minded pattern-seeing guy. His handwriting is
jerky lefthanded small writing.
Some words he's learned because he uses them a lot. "Committee" finally
settled for him. AND I think the ei/ie problems are helped, with him, because his
name is Keith. So he can sort words into exception/not more easily than
others because he has a personal stake in the ei/ie world.
Schwa gives him trouble, but it does most people. Probably most spelling
errors I see (or make) are an e for an a or vice versa in a word where the vowel
is making its lowest, unstressed boring noise. "Separate/seperate." So my
boyfriend from college had a rule I still use: "there's a rat in separate." A
Jr. High English teacher in Toronto had given him that gift. He was an
English a second language case, and so much of his spelling was trick-based. He
was useful that way.
I think Keith just learned one or two words a year, and since he was
misspelling the same little batch of words, he's doing well with everything but
"coming." (I'll note his writing and report back.)
Sandra
Sandra
Mary
From: <SandraDodd@...>
<<So my boyfriend from college had a rule I still use: "there's a rat in
separate.">>
Thank you so much for that one. I'm pretty good at spelling, but that word,
no matter how often I ues it, always gives me trouble.
Mary B.
http://www.homeschoolingtshirts.com
<<So my boyfriend from college had a rule I still use: "there's a rat in
separate.">>
Thank you so much for that one. I'm pretty good at spelling, but that word,
no matter how often I ues it, always gives me trouble.
Mary B.
http://www.homeschoolingtshirts.com
Lisa M. Cottrell Bentley
> << In the last few years, I've had to think about spelling some words abit
> more than I ever did before. >>Myself, as well. I use http://www.dictionary.com a lot.
-Lisa in AZ
Tia Leschke
>This is about the same for me. And it totally doesn't work for Lars. His
>
>Me too. I used to know by sight. Maybe my memory bank of sight-stuff is
>overflowing after all these years, because I used to look at it, and if I
>wasn't
>sure, I'd write it a couple of ways and decide *by sight* which was the one
>I'd seen a bunch, and then I'd check a dictionary if I needed to.
spelling is phonetic and often wrong. I'm curious how other people on the
list or their kids, who aren't sight spellers, were able to learn to spell
better. Lars is embarrassed by his spelling and avoids writing at least
partly because of that. He *is* quite visual, so now that he's started
reading more his spelling might improve.
Tia
[email protected]
In a message dated 10-30-2003 3:00:37 PM Mountain Standard Time,
SandraDodd@... writes:
So my boyfriend from college had a rule I still use: "there's a rat in
separate." A Jr. High English teacher in Toronto had given him that gift. He was
an English a second language case, and so much of his spelling was
trick-based. He was useful that way.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Oh I love spelling *tricks*! Like piece of pie and finite in definitely.
Most of my spelling is sight related, the words have to *look right*, for
others, I have to have a separate *spelling* pronunciation so they will stick in my
head (macabre).
I can't wait for my kids to write prose, however it may come out. At this
point, they dictate stories for *me* to write down. Hayden (5) is my list maker
but he still asks how to spell each word he writes or he substitutes a
picture instead. I've had to really brush up on my own spelling knowledge. I can't
believe how many times, "just because it's English" has come out of my mouth
to explain why things are spelled *funny* (phone/knife/etc).
I love hearing about boys writing. At our last hs meeting, there was a
general consensus that *boys just don't write* and I completely disagreed and was a
definite minority (I wouldn't want to write if I were FORCED to either! ~ oh
yeah, I didn't <bg>). I don't know how/why Hayden writes, but I know it's
something he loves to do ~ all on his own.
diana,
The wackiest widow westriver...
“God grant me the serenity to accept the people I cannot change, the courage
to change the one I can, and the wisdom to know it's me.” --Anon.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
SandraDodd@... writes:
So my boyfriend from college had a rule I still use: "there's a rat in
separate." A Jr. High English teacher in Toronto had given him that gift. He was
an English a second language case, and so much of his spelling was
trick-based. He was useful that way.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Oh I love spelling *tricks*! Like piece of pie and finite in definitely.
Most of my spelling is sight related, the words have to *look right*, for
others, I have to have a separate *spelling* pronunciation so they will stick in my
head (macabre).
I can't wait for my kids to write prose, however it may come out. At this
point, they dictate stories for *me* to write down. Hayden (5) is my list maker
but he still asks how to spell each word he writes or he substitutes a
picture instead. I've had to really brush up on my own spelling knowledge. I can't
believe how many times, "just because it's English" has come out of my mouth
to explain why things are spelled *funny* (phone/knife/etc).
I love hearing about boys writing. At our last hs meeting, there was a
general consensus that *boys just don't write* and I completely disagreed and was a
definite minority (I wouldn't want to write if I were FORCED to either! ~ oh
yeah, I didn't <bg>). I don't know how/why Hayden writes, but I know it's
something he loves to do ~ all on his own.
diana,
The wackiest widow westriver...
“God grant me the serenity to accept the people I cannot change, the courage
to change the one I can, and the wisdom to know it's me.” --Anon.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Robyn Coburn
I love the spellchecker because, being from Australia, some words simply
are spelled differently here (or there depending on your POV). Of course
the limitation is that if a word is spelled wrongly in context, but is
still a real word, the checker misses it. The only time misspelling
bothers me in casual writing is when the meaning becomes unclear, or
causes me to have to puzzle it out - but hey! Shit happens and when I
say "bothers" I mean bugs me for two seconds and then I move on. My only
pet peeve is "Lose" and "Loose" which seem to be used interchangeably,
and do sometimes alter meaning considerably. For example: "I lose my son
to computer games" vs "I loose my son to computer games". The former
could be resentful, the latter a joyous and poetical expression of
freedom for the son.
Robyn Coburn
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
are spelled differently here (or there depending on your POV). Of course
the limitation is that if a word is spelled wrongly in context, but is
still a real word, the checker misses it. The only time misspelling
bothers me in casual writing is when the meaning becomes unclear, or
causes me to have to puzzle it out - but hey! Shit happens and when I
say "bothers" I mean bugs me for two seconds and then I move on. My only
pet peeve is "Lose" and "Loose" which seem to be used interchangeably,
and do sometimes alter meaning considerably. For example: "I lose my son
to computer games" vs "I loose my son to computer games". The former
could be resentful, the latter a joyous and poetical expression of
freedom for the son.
Robyn Coburn
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[email protected]
In a message dated 10/30/03 3:47:09 PM, HaHaMommy@... writes:
<< I've had to really brush up on my own spelling knowledge. I can't
believe how many times, "just because it's English" has come out of my mouth
to explain why things are spelled *funny* (phone/knife/etc). >>
I'd be THRILLED, giddy, joyous, to answer those weird spelling questions if
your kids can wait an hour or a day and still care about the answer.
Phone is Greek. All the "ph" as "f" words are.
Knife is Old English, and every letter was pronounced once upon a time. By
Chaucer's time, it was pronounced kind of "kuNEEFah." KuNEEE[hoick]tus said
it that way (knights.)
Sandra
<< I've had to really brush up on my own spelling knowledge. I can't
believe how many times, "just because it's English" has come out of my mouth
to explain why things are spelled *funny* (phone/knife/etc). >>
I'd be THRILLED, giddy, joyous, to answer those weird spelling questions if
your kids can wait an hour or a day and still care about the answer.
Phone is Greek. All the "ph" as "f" words are.
Knife is Old English, and every letter was pronounced once upon a time. By
Chaucer's time, it was pronounced kind of "kuNEEFah." KuNEEE[hoick]tus said
it that way (knights.)
Sandra
[email protected]
In a message dated 10/30/03 3:56:47 PM, leschke@... writes:
<< I'm curious how other people on the
list or their kids, who aren't sight spellers, were able to learn to spell
better. >>
Marty was taking notes in the museum the other day, and he loaned me his
notebook so I could look a map up for him on google. He had written of a "flud"
in Albuquerque in 1874.
I pointed out a few days later when he said something about spelling that he
had slightly misspelled "flood" in his notes and he said, "yeah I know." And
he did. But honestly, "flud" makes more sense than "flood" which reminds me
of Kevin Klein's Bottom's Pyramus in A Midsummer Night's Dream, when he says
"Thy mantle good, stained with bloood?" (blood having been forced to rhyme with
"good")
Those "oo" words are so old they've gone every whichaway.
Sandra
<< I'm curious how other people on the
list or their kids, who aren't sight spellers, were able to learn to spell
better. >>
Marty was taking notes in the museum the other day, and he loaned me his
notebook so I could look a map up for him on google. He had written of a "flud"
in Albuquerque in 1874.
I pointed out a few days later when he said something about spelling that he
had slightly misspelled "flood" in his notes and he said, "yeah I know." And
he did. But honestly, "flud" makes more sense than "flood" which reminds me
of Kevin Klein's Bottom's Pyramus in A Midsummer Night's Dream, when he says
"Thy mantle good, stained with bloood?" (blood having been forced to rhyme with
"good")
Those "oo" words are so old they've gone every whichaway.
Sandra
pam sorooshian
> Ooops on thatI read that, at first, as "scared" him.
> one. They forced him to use his right hand, and I think it scarred
> him for life.
-pam
Dawn Bennink
Do you think that people who learn with a more whole language approach
to reading and writing are better spellers than those who learn phonics?
I learned whole language and am a pretty good speller. My husband is a
bit younger and was in a different district and learned phonics. He's a
horrible speller. Many of the kids I meet who have spelling issues were
taught to learn to read phonetically.
Dawn
to reading and writing are better spellers than those who learn phonics?
I learned whole language and am a pretty good speller. My husband is a
bit younger and was in a different district and learned phonics. He's a
horrible speller. Many of the kids I meet who have spelling issues were
taught to learn to read phonetically.
Dawn
Kimberly Fry
>>>>> Sandra's husband became a better speller. Are there many more out there who have learned this ability? Both my husband and I were just born with it and I have yet to meet a person who is a good speller and wasn't born to it. <<<<<My son (14) is improving on his spelling. Spelling tests in school always frustrated him. No matter how hard/long he'd study, he'd still be lucky to earn a passing grade. He wouldn't remember how to spell those words the next week.
The ONLY thing (and we tried lots of things) that's worked for him is to learn the words as he uses them. Not an arbitrary set that he's supposed to know. He plays Tribes online and frequently asks how to spell whatever word he's having trouble with. After four or fives times of my spelling it for him, he owns the word. His writing of stories has also provided painless practice and improvement.
Andy told me just the other day that spelling is *much* easier when typing. Handwriting just adds enough to the mix to cause the frustration. Maybe that's why the spelling tests were so traumatic.
Kim
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[email protected]
Holly's having her twelfth birthday today (real birthday is tomorrow, 11/2).
She just told me "Rainelle can't come."
"Why?"
"I don't know. There were like five typos in the e-mail and I couldn't
figure out what she was talking about."
Holly hasn't had any spelling lessons. Rainelle has had as many as schools
can give.
Rainelle's older, too. There is a combination of sadness and the desire to
do the Snoopy dance.
Sandra
She just told me "Rainelle can't come."
"Why?"
"I don't know. There were like five typos in the e-mail and I couldn't
figure out what she was talking about."
Holly hasn't had any spelling lessons. Rainelle has had as many as schools
can give.
Rainelle's older, too. There is a combination of sadness and the desire to
do the Snoopy dance.
Sandra
Stepheny Cappel
<BWEG> I love seeing things like this. Am I terrible? Stepheny
..
Holly's having her twelfth birthday today (real birthday is tomorrow, 11/2).
She just told me "Rainelle can't come."
"Why?"
"I don't know. There were like five typos in the e-mail and I couldn't
figure out what she was talking about."
Holly hasn't had any spelling lessons. Rainelle has had as many as schools
can give.
Rainelle's older, too. There is a combination of sadness and the desire to
do the Snoopy dance.
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
..
Holly's having her twelfth birthday today (real birthday is tomorrow, 11/2).
She just told me "Rainelle can't come."
"Why?"
"I don't know. There were like five typos in the e-mail and I couldn't
figure out what she was talking about."
Holly hasn't had any spelling lessons. Rainelle has had as many as schools
can give.
Rainelle's older, too. There is a combination of sadness and the desire to
do the Snoopy dance.
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Deborah Lewis
Happy Birthday to Holly!
Deb L
Deb L
zenmomma2kids
>>Holly hasn't had any spelling lessons. Rainelle has had as many asschools can give. Rainelle's older, too. There is a combination of
sadness and the desire to do the Snoopy dance.>>
I know the feeling. There's a little girl on our block that is just
Casey's age. She goes to a Core Knowledge drillem and killem school.
They've been playing Mad Libs lately and I noticed that this girl's
spelling is fine, but no better than Casey's and they're both
learning their adjectives, adverbs, etc. together.
<sigh> This little girl is so stressed with a controlling mom, high
pressure school and tendency toward anxiety. I really want to scoop
her up and unschool her back to health.
Life is good.
~Mary
Crystal
>>>There is a combination of sadness and the desire to do the Snoopydance.>>
Erica sits behind me and edits as I write! She tells me, "no, use
this word instead" or "why don't you put this phrase over there, it
would sound better"--LOL. I told her I've created a monster! When
she left school after six weeks into the 6th grade she couldn't
comprehend what she was reading let alone know when something was
grammatically incorrect.
Crystal
[email protected]
In a message dated 11/3/03 4:25:27 AM, crystal.pina@... writes:
<< Erica sits behind me and edits as I write! >>
Holly does too. I won't even hear her come up and if I'm about to hit
"send," sometimes she'll say "WAIT!" and scare the heck out of me. Either she
hasn't finished reading, or she's seen a typo.
<<When
she left school after six weeks into the 6th grade she couldn't
comprehend what she was reading let alone know when something was
grammatically incorrect. >>
It's way better as a hobby than as an exercise session in the grammar yard at
the prison.
Sandra
<< Erica sits behind me and edits as I write! >>
Holly does too. I won't even hear her come up and if I'm about to hit
"send," sometimes she'll say "WAIT!" and scare the heck out of me. Either she
hasn't finished reading, or she's seen a typo.
<<When
she left school after six weeks into the 6th grade she couldn't
comprehend what she was reading let alone know when something was
grammatically incorrect. >>
It's way better as a hobby than as an exercise session in the grammar yard at
the prison.
Sandra