The Teenager Who Couldn't Spell

 Have I ever told you about how, when I was in about 7th grade, I couldn't spell? I couldn't even spell 'their' or 'baby.' 

Now, my mom was what I jokingly call a "serial curriculum switcher." She tried something new almost every year. Probably a good part of that was due to my own personal issues with learning. One of those issues was being 13 and unable to spell simple words. 

So in desperation, having tried other things with no success my mom ordered Rod & Staff Spelling By Sound & Structure. It goes from grade 2 up to grade 8. She ordered all six levels. 

When I found out she intended me to start at the 2nd grade level and work my way up, I was not happy. I mean what 13 year old wants to be in 2nd grade spelling? But she offered me a deal: If I could pass the tests I didn't have to do the lessons. So she started giving me spelling tests from the grade 2 up, and if I got them all right I could just skip the lesson. 

Being a lazy 13 year old, I didn't want to do baby lessons and I wanted out of the humiliation of being in a lower grade for spelling, so I would study those words like crazy so i could pass all the tests on the first try. I would read the whole lesson and answer in my head, then put my hand over the word list and guessing and then checking and repeat repeat repeat... and you know what? I got through all of them, even grade 8, in a few months. And then I could spell better than my mom. 

I remember liking the way they grouped the words. Liking how they triggered my brain to go "OH so THAT'S why it's spelled like that!" 

Different things work for different kiddos, of course, so this may not be the "magic Bullet" for your child like it was for me, but it is a good solid spelling program and it's simple, the kids can do the lessons quickly and without much help. 

I use it for my own kids and still like it. We actually "test" daily and the ones they got right 2 days in a row they're done with for good. The first 10 they haven't gotten right 2 times yet, they type into spellingtraining.com and practice. We do 1 lettered "part" of a lesson a day. If they are ahead in one aspect (workbook/tests) but not the other, we pause the one they're ahead on at review lessons until they've caught up to themselves. My kids are often getting ahead at testing out of their words before they've completed all the lettered parts of the lesson. Since we started doing this, my 12 year old son (who was as bad at spelling as his mom) has improved by leaps and bounds.