8 year old / spelling

[BigDogsWang]

My lad can read at a very advanced level for his age. Yet his written spelling is atrocious. Why can he read a word so well, yet not replicate it without looking?

[angeldraws]

I'm not sure of the answer here but my son is the same - and always has been - he has just taken his GCSEs and passed his English Lit and Language gaining an A in both, so i wouldn't worry too much.

When he was young i taught him to read just before starting full time school - nothing fantastic, but also I encouraged him to tell his own version of the books he enjoyed and he had a reading age of 15 when he was 8 and for the past few years he's been reading Tom Clancy (grown up books as i see it.....) He cannot spell well at all, and his writing leaves alot to be desired!! - but thankfully his reading skills and imagination appear to have made up for that in his exams. I suggest just try to focus on and value what he CAN do and the rest should fall into place.

On the opposite side of the coin, one of my family members basically 'forced' his children to read and they do very badly in English, in reading and writing, so make up your mind.....
Hope this is some help. ;o)

[angeldraws]

i meant to say 'make up your own mind......'

[Fish the Mod]

I work in a Library and there are some great books for Parents( in Adult section) that have keep great tips on spelling for Children of different ages and what standard they should be at. I am currently teaching my six year old ( between Spongebob and watching Arsenal) and it has to be fun. I pretend that we are in a quiz show and he has to answer correctly to win the prizes and so on. Where I work in North London, 8 years olds don't even know their date of birth...keep up the good work.

[enigma]

I know exactly how you feel. My eldest daughter has just turned nine and her spelling is utterly atrocious. My husband and I expressed our concerns at a parents evening at my daughter's previous school and we were told that it was okay because they weren't overly concerned about it and that they encouraged 'expressive writing' at the school - basically just churning out any old tosh without worrying about whether or not it was spelled correctly. We were horrified to be told that it wasn't a big deal and that they did not put too high an emphasis on spelling at their school. My answer to her teacher was that if no-one can read what you have written , then it is not worth the paper which it is written on because to be an effective communicator , people have to understand you. You would have had to have seen it to believe it.

We moved home last year which obviously meant a change of school because of the distance and I am pleased to say that after a meeting with her headmistress , I was informed that at this school they most certainly DO put a strong emphasis on spelling and she told me that she is 'old school'. Thank heavens for that. I feel heart sorry for the number of kids who are being taught under this ludicrous system of so called 'expressive writing'. Apparently it's supposed to teach confidence with a natural flair in writing and designed not to undermine their confidence by correcting mistakes. What a load of nonsense. This probably largely accounts for the increasingly alarming number of illiterate children leaving school. Shocking.

All I can suggest is what I have been told , keep encouraging lots of reading with your child in order for him to recognise the words by sight and remember the spelling from memory. It will stick with him and if he is excelling in other areas then I wouldn't be overly worried. He sounds like a bright lad and i'm sure his written work will improve over time. He is still quite young.

[noxlumos]

We home educate and use a variation of the two ( old school and expressive writing). We let the younger kids write whatever they wish to, spelling mistakes and all, and then we mark the essay, story, call it what you will, in two ways. One is for content so the spelling, punctuation etc can be abyssmal but they still get 10/10 for that part if the content is good, then we mark seperately for spelling, vocabulary and punctuation. This way the kids get the best of both worlds in that their spelling is corrected but if the story is good then they still get a good mark, so it doesn't stunt their love of literature.
We also insist that they read good quaity works, and are read good quality works, from a very early age ( our eight year old has just finished Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre etc on her own having had theseread to her when she was four or five previously).
I'm pleased to say that by the time they get to ten or eleven their spelling etc is quite good using this methodology.
It's handwriting we have trouble with!

[meltoadhall]

my daughter is classed as gifted and has accelerated a year at school - age 11 and in yr 8. she had a reading age of 14 at 7 but even now her spelling is appalling. it is improving but i think its different bits of the brain that sees words and then spells them. i'm told it will improve eventually!!

[simsfreq]

I read a lot, and I can spell almost instinctively but my writing is terrible - almost unreadable.

[FoxLee]

Noxlumos - how can you correct your children's spelling when you can't spell abysmal or separately correctly??