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Greetings!

Deborah Wuehler and family

Deborah is away this week spending time helping a friend who is sick. As far as spelling goes, she recommends that you focus your time enjoying the summer and fun activities with family and friends. Here are some resources she suggests you keep in mind for this fall when school starts again:

• How to Correct Spelling Mistakes

• Effective Spelling Strategies

And if you're looking for a spelling curriculum or products, check out the reviews on this page.

~Deborah

TOS Senior Editor

SeniorEditor@TheHomeschoolMagazine.com

NATURAL SPELLER--The all-in-one spelling book for grades 1-8! Created especially for students with retention problems.  Includes Greek and Latin roots, activities, and more. "We love the Natural Speller . . . Thank you for meeting the needs of homeschool families at an affordable cost." J. Lamb, CA 

www.designastudy.com 

Searching for great homeschool resources? Check out The Old Schoolhouse� Directories. 

• Freebie Directory--test drive products free

• Travel Directory--exciting, educational family adventures

• Online Learning Directory--fantastic digital homeschool resources

• Summer Activities Directory--seasonal fun 

Find a new, helpful directory every month in the pages of TOS magazine.  

Diana Waring

Dear Friends,

With the glorious summer happening just outside your door, I want to encourage you to consider this week's topic--Where do I start with spelling--in light of helping your little children to enjoy the experience.

Picture a wee one happily playing out in the sandbox, with lots of fun scoops, shovels, and assorted shapes.  Or, perhaps your cutie prefers a cool dump truck and front-end loader to move piles of sand from one area to another.  Can you see it?  Imagine the delight, the "Mommy, can I keep playing?" questions, the utter creativity and inventiveness unleashed just because there is tremendous enjoyment in the experience.

Now, think about how wonderful it would be if, when you get back to doing school, you could tie a direct line from something fun, like playing in the sandbox, to something practical, like learning to spell words such as "sand" and "box."

Engaging your child's interest, curiosity, and motivation in the learning process is a whole lot like starting your car in order to drive somewhere.  I mean, you can push your car all the way to the store, but it's a lot easier to simply turn the key, engage the engine, and put it in drive.  In the same way, you can push your child to learn something, but it's a lot easier to find the key that will engage their interest and enthusiasm.

So how do we do this when it comes to our unique children and the subject of spelling?  Well, though I can't give you a foolproof step-by-step formula, I can give you some practical tips.  Let these spark other ideas as you think about your kids.

• Keep it short!  Our little ones get tired of learning much faster than we do.

• Turn spelling into a game or something you can "play." For instance, let them ask you to spell what they point at, and you ask them to spell what you point at (like the c-a-t or d-o-g).

• Use hands-on implements, like individual plastic letters or giant sidewalk chalk, so they can pick them up, play with them, and eventually turn them into words.

• Let them spell their words in the sandbox, using their finger or a stick.

• Keep it light and enjoyable so they want to keep coming back to play this fun new game!  If you stress out about how quickly they are memorizing how to spell c-a-t, it will put the pressure of performance on them--which, as we each know from our own experience, instantly removes the enjoyment.

Remember, stay relational!

Diana

P.S.  If you are homeschooling young children, and you've never read my book, "Beyond Survival: A Guide to Abundant Life Homeschooling," I'd like to suggest that it might help you enjoy this journey with your family.  One Canadian mom told me this spring how this book salvaged her homeschool experience.  With tears in her eyes, she told me how much her kids love learning now.  It may do just the same for you!  Free shipping on this product through the end of July if you mention THM.