I like to think about spelling. How can I teach it? What
is my goal? Do children learn best by simple memorization, or does it
help to show word patterns and roots of origin? Is my goal simply
correct orthography, or is vocabulary important, too? I was a poor
speller as a child, and some of my children share my handicap. Yet, we
all enjoy words, and spelling has been a bridge to richer vocabulary and
new means of expression. Perhaps the single best aid to our spelling has
been participation in spelling bees.
Spelling Bees as Motivators
Early in our homeschool years we got
involved in the local spelling bee. It was a satisfying motivator for
our children. Not only did it validate the hours they spent studying
spelling and vocabulary, but it gave them a desire to learn new words
from the list given by the Scripps National Spelling Bee organization.
Later I volunteered to be the spelling bee coordinator, and we developed
our spelling bee further. We decided to make it a day to encourage the
study of words and penmanship. Here’s how we conduct our spelling bee
and workshop.
Advertise Early
At the beginning of each school year we notify the
homeschool community that it is time to register for the Homeschool
Spelling Bee. Our registration is $5 per family to cover the
registration fees with the Scripps National Spelling Bee and the cost of
awards. In the early years we sent all registrants a copy of the
spelling list published by the National Spelling Bee, but beginning this
year the families were required to access the list online. We remind
families to begin studying early. We also announce that we will have a
“Spelling Notebook” contest as part of the spelling bee.
The Spelling Notebook
The “Spelling Notebook” was inspired by the
spelling notebook competition that takes place at the Scripps National
Spelling Bee. Our competition encourages students to keep a notebook
during the school year just for spelling. At the bee all the notebooks
are judged for creativity, penmanship, and spelling effort. This
competition motivates my own children to write more neatly in their
daily assignments. It also gives them the desire to make spelling more
fun. One successful idea they have used is to create stories with the
assigned words. Some of the words are quite esoteric, so it gives the
stories a whimsical turn. For example: “Joe was upstairs one day
practicing on his saxophone when he heard about the debacle. A
mysterious saboteur had taken a huge bite out of the praline and
boysenberry pie!” Another student in our group uses his spelling
notebook to write out definitions and sample sentences of words that are
new to him.
The Advantages of a Written Test
We conduct our spelling bee as a
written test. In our region, the best homeschool spellers compete at an
oral zone bee before going on to the regional competition, so we feel
that a written test for the first level is justified. We have discovered
that by conducting a written exam, more students participate. It takes
away some of the fear factor for them. The written spelling bee also
gives students a chance to really show what they know. In a conventional
oral spelling bee most contestants spell only two or three words before
being eliminated. They often say, “But I knew lots of the words the
others were spelling.” The written test gives students the satisfaction
of trying their hands at about thirty words.
Handwriting Awards
Since we want students to learn the value of good
handwriting, we give awards for the best penmanship for each grade level
on the written test. Some of our students take great pains to develop a
beautiful print or cursive style, and they enjoy the recognition they
receive at the spelling bee.
The Workshop
The last element we add to the spelling bee is a “Spelling
Workshop” which we conduct while the judges grade the papers. We have
had a newspaper editor (and homeschool father) and several accomplished
homeschool mothers share their insights into words and spelling. They
have shared tips for memorizing the spelling of difficult words (like
those with -ant and -ent endings) and have encouraged the children to be
“word detectives” to look for roots and origins. Some of them have
brought handouts and games. Many parents told us that they brought their
students to the spelling bee for the benefit of the workshop alone.
Award Ceremony
At the conclusion of the workshop, we make the
presentation of awards. We have framed certificates for the winning
notebooks, the best spellers in each grade and the best penmanship in
each grade. We also give trophies for the five best spellers for the
whole spelling bee. These five students represent the homeschool
community at the next level of the spelling bee. Each year a large
proportion of these students go on to compete in the regional
competition. We end our Homeschool Spelling Bee with refreshments and
fellowship. The many children who have won awards go home encouraged,
and the rest of the children take home plans to study and perhaps win
next year. It is an encouraging time for students and teachers alike.
Joyce McPherson is the creator of the online programs “Homeschool Tools”
and “Shakespeare Tools,” as well as the author of a series of
biographies for Greenleaf Press. With her husband, Garth, she
homeschools their nine children. She can be reached through
teachingtools.org or at mcpclan@comcast.net.
Coaching Corner
Here are some tips to get you started coaching students:
- Teach them how to learn a new word:
- Write the word
- Say the word with correct pronunciation (check the dictionary if you are not
sure!)
- Learn the definition
- Use the word in a sentence
- Write it ten times
- Teach them how to identify patterns:
- Make lists of words that have similar spelling due to language of
origin. For example, in Greek, the /z/ sound at the beginning of a word
is often spelled with an x, as in xylem, /f/ is spelled with ph as in
graph, and /k/ is spelled with ch as in Christ.
- Make a separate list for each ending for troublesome words: Ending in
-ary, -ery, and -ory Ending in -ous and -us (Note if the word is an
adjective, use -ous; if it’s a noun, use -us) Ending in -ance/-ant and
-ence/-ent Ending in -yze, -ize, and -ise Ending in -able and -ible
Ending in -ar, -er, -or
- Make lists of interesting words. For example:
- Homonyms (e.g.,
stationary and stationery, complement and compliment)
- Words from classical mythology and history (like mercurial, hector, herculean,
lethargic, protean)
- Words with double letters (like accommodation, occultation, millennium, occurring, rapport, succeed, recommendation and
words that end with -ll, -ess and -ii.)
- Useful resources are available at www.spellingbee.com and
www.myspellit.com.
