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Now that two of my sons have graduated, I have tweaked my thinking about spelling several times throughout the years and want to share a few tidbits of my experience.

I have been asked, “Should I be teaching spelling to my homeschooled high schooler?” Well, it depends.

I know, maybe not the exact answer you wanted to hear. But then again, we are homeschooling to teach to each child’s strengths and weaknesses and that same mindset goes for teaching high school spelling.

Should We Do Away with Grade Levels in Spelling?

First, I think it’s important that as homeschool moms of high schoolers that we abandon spelling mold thinking.

Though teaching and mastering advanced levels of spelling is ideal at the elementary grades, sometimes a teen just needs more time.

One mindset that we need to not be swayed by as moms of teens is that spelling should only be taught at the elementary grades.

Too, it’s important that we teach our teens to do a self-analysis of their spelling strength or weakness.

High school teens need to learn to not follow what is considered the norm for teen learners either.

For example, one of my boys told me he would just use spell checker when typing. Maybe so.

But as I have learned through the years, as I graded their essays; learning how to spell correctly is inextricably tied to advanced vocabulary skills and writing skills.

High school years are where the most basic of skills really count as teens get ready to emerge into the adult world.

We can’t tout on one hand that a teen can only use spell checker and on the other hand that we want extensive writing practice in the high school years. It can be a partnership. Embracing technology cannot cost our highschool students to use it.

In my case, I had a teen that couldn’t even get close to the right word when using spell checker and that is how it works. So it was of no use to him at certain times.

What are we to do as moms who want to prepare our teens for the adult world where spelling counts?

Look at these 3 tips that helped me.

Don’t grab a spelling program so quickly.

With some families I helped through my New Bee Homeschooler program and that was the same in my case was that my teen had a few spelling rules causing the problems.

In my case, my teen had problems with the ie/ei rules. Also, he was confused with their, there, and they’re.

Knowing this, he kept a notebook and when he had problems with a word when writing, he would note that word in his notebook.

Instead of him feeling defeated and thinking he needed a spelling program, he honed his problems and focused on those areas only.

Too, he felt like he could keep making progress and this gave him a sense of accomplishment with spelling.

I didn’t want him to be an adult and hate spelling. I did, however, want him to tackle his weak areas with the same positive attitude he tackles other things that he doesn’t do as well.

Copywork is great for high school too.

Something else I did was to have him pick a book of his choice and do some quick copywork.

His choice was within reason though because it had to be a book with good literary quality. This gave him a break from writing like it use to when he was a little boy, but it still provided a model proper spelling, use of apostrophes and punctuation.

Just a few well written sentences each day was a nice change to the day and reinforced correct spelling in addition to the reading he did each day.

Keep the focus on writing.

Another reason I chose to not use a formal spelling program was because there are only so many hours a high school teen has in the day and time needs to be doled out wisely.

With more time to practice writing and not worrying about having to do “another subject”, my son could actually focus on spelling more because he could use it in its natural context.

At the high school level, learning spelling separately did not help my son as much as increasing his reading and writing.

Too, for a teen who wants to make his own choices about what he wants to read and write about, this was a perfect solution. He could increase his spelling skill and write about what interesed him.

Holding him responsible for errors by making him correct his spelling mistakes then in his draft was key at the high school level.

When I was teaching him how to write and teaching him beginning composition in the younger grades, I didn’t hold him responsible for spelling errors.

I don’t regret doing that because if had I held him responsible for spelling errors then too, it would have completely quashed any passion for writing. The focus in the earlier grades was on fostering a love of writing.

He loves creative writing to this day and so I know my method of handling spelling errors worked for his age at the time.

The bottom line is that you simply cannot work on every skill in the younger grade and expect your child to be a master of them all.

Some skills can wait to high school to hone.

Besides with the age or maturity of high school, my son could both laugh at himself when he made a spelling mistake and didn’t view spelling as another nonsense and useless subject to learn.

One book I did use and let the boys use as a reference for their independent learning was The ABC’s and All Their Tricks: The Complete Reference Book of Phonics and Spelling.

Both of them seemed to like it and used it as a reference when they didn’t search on line.

If you feel like your teen would benefit from a spelling program, then discuss it with him and use one. Remember, if it’s a subject they struggle with, then we need to forget what the rest of the world thinks is the norm and do what is best for our child.

However, most of the time I have found that normally a few rules or sounds cause the spelling confusion and with a heightened sense of awareness, a teen can usually correct the problems.

Does your high school teen struggle with spelling?

What tricks have you pulled out of your hat?

Hugs and love ya,

Also, check out:

When a Homeschooled Sophomore Struggles
How a Homeschool Mom Grades a High School Essay

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