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Home-schooling parents have the challenging task of teaching their children to spell. Fortunately, there are various tools that help parents teach their children spelling, such as spelling software, curricula, and other tools and techniques for improving spelling skills.

The best at-home spelling programs are tailored to fit the child, and can involve all sorts of fun and easy activities. According to Pumfrey and Elliot (1990), the best spelling list is made from words the child has misspelled recently. Parents can look through their child's recent schoolwork and scan for any misspelled words. Even simple words can be misspelled regularly, and this could lead to poor spelling habits.

Next, parent and child can become “word detectives”, and find the origins of the word. What language did it originally come from? What root does it have? What other words have that root? What prefix or suffix does it have? What other words have that prefix or suffix?

This research helps the child relate the word to the rest of the English language. Children who learn the origins and parts of words have an easier time recognizing them later. This type of research also helps children guess the spellings of words they have not seen before.

Parents can work on multi-sensory experiences for their child. Stamping out the letters with stamps and an ink pad is an excellent hands-on activity. Rolling the letters out of clay, or cutting them out with cookie cutters, also helps a child learn the letters and internalize the spelling.

Some children enjoy making songs about the spellings of words. Some children enjoy writing the words on index cards and then cutting them into parts. The child can then shuffle up the parts and reassemble the words.

Gentry (2007) says that writing is the very best way for a child to practice spelling. Some children truly enjoy writing stories, while other children prefer to write poems or songs. Some children can be inspired to create their own comics. Whatever form of writing the child enjoys, your child should be encouraged to do at least some writing every day.

Since the spelling list is taken from the child's own writing to begin with, it should not be difficult for he or she to use those words in his or her daily writing. As the child masters these words, they will be encouraged to use bigger and better words to express themselves. The parent can continue to scan the child's work for misspellings, while avoiding overemphasis on correctness.

If spelling practice is fun and engaging, the child will not fear misspelling words and will be encouraged to use new words. An at-home spelling program works best when the program is custom-made for the child.

REFERENCES

Gentry, JR 2007, 'Spelling Counts,' Scholastic, New York, NY.

Pumfrey, PD & Elliot, CD 1990, Children's Difficulties in Reading, Writing, and Spelling, The Falmer Press, Bristol, PA.