Hello!

My son reads quite well for his age (5.5, reading on a 2nd grade level) and his penmanship is also good, however, he's a perfectionist and he's afraid to even attempt spelling. He's too afraid he'll spell the word wrong, despite my encouragement, etc. Is there any good curriculum for this grade level that will give him the confidence to at least try some creative writing? Any advice?

TIA!

No curriculum comes to mind, but I do like a program that a local school district uses (North Penn)...

They have what's called Kid Writing...and the kids draw a picture and write a sentence or whatever in the "Kid way"...they are encouraged to stretch the word out phonetically and write how they think it is spelled. Then they are shown the "grown up/adult way"...the teacher writes the sentence the correct way above the child's that way there is some teaching of the actual spelling.

Maybe your ds would like to do some activities like this? KNowing the "right" answer is coming might help him take the risk? He could then try and learn one or two of the grown up spellings each time? Just some thoughts!

I haven't used it yet, but there is a program called Spelling Workout. It is inexpensive, about $9. It is recommended by TWTM. You can get it at Amazon.com, Modern Curriculum Press, and Rainbow Resource.com. HTH!

Spelling Workout is what I am going to use too, but Spelling Power may be just want your ds needs. There are more than a few moms who use that with their kids who don't like to spell (or just don't like spelling). Check it out. If you like it, why not start a thread on just that one curriculum and see what other moms say. (It is mentioned once in The Well Trained Mind if that matters to you.)


:thumbsup: Jennifer

Hi,

This is kind of going in a different direction but my son is the same age and we are using a series called Draw-Write-Now. What each lesson does is show the child how to draw the picture/subject. Then along with the picture is a paragraph for them to copy and read.

This will take the pressure off your ds to spell it right. He really is so young and this is so creative. The series is geared for a child in first/second grade. We bought the notebook that goes with the workbook. The first day we draw the picture and read the paragraph. Then the next day we go back and he reads what he can (some bigger words). He then picks out 2 sentences that he would like to copy and then does. At his age I don't expect him to do the whole paragraph but you could.

With one product you get a mini science/social studies lesson, drawing, writing, reading, and grammer with the sentence structure. It's a nice start. The series has around 10 different books so there's lots to pick from.

Debbie