Momma Mindy's Do It Yerself Spellen Krickulum.

I've had a  hard finding a Spelling curriculum

that's easy to use and will actually teach spelling.

The rote curriculums with lists,

 a week of activities and the quiz on Friday

are traditional, OK, but kinda' boring.

For kids that are good spellers, they get A's,

but never really advance their skills.

For kids that aren't good spellers,

it doesn't seem to help, just adds frustration.

The super-duper "only spelling curriculum you'll ever need"

 books have broken my heart more  than once with their false promises.

While Beka was making me lunch the other day,

I had a light bulb moment.

Are you also saying

"light bulb" with a German accent?

Then you haven't seen Descipable Me.

Anyhoo.... back to spelling and my light bulb moment.

The day my daughter volunteered to make lunch,

 and then I had to pay for it,

she spelled words wrong on her menu,

and on her bill.

It made sense to use these words for

that week's spelling list.

After all, these are words she uses and misspells.

The day's English worksheet added more spelling words.

I orally tested her on the months and dotted the ones

she spelled incorrectly.

I made a quick worksheet using Microsoft Word.

Quick.  No clip art, no borders, no nothing.

Got 'er dun.

She filled in the words in the blanks.

Using dictionary.com, she typed in the words

the way she originally spelled them.

When misspelled, it says "no dictionary results"

and will add

"did you mean _____________?"

She loved using the computer to find the correct spelling.

Along with the traditional entries, 

there's an option to hear the computer pronounce the word.

Scrabble board and tiles were used to spell the words

for the next day's spelling activity.

My son Jon grabbed my camera at this point and said,

"Hey Mom, we never get pics of you.  You're always taking the pictures.

Since you're dressed and lookin' good,

not that you don't look good every day...

(hmmmm learning to back peddle already, this is good)

lemme' take your pic."

Aw, I love that kid.

I also decided this is a very good view for a woman

who is conscience about her humongous scar on her neck

and her growing double chin.

Not to mention the hair growing on my chin,

but they usually don't show up in pictures.

The traditional Friday spelling quiz.

How do you spell success?

Momma Mindy's Do It Yerself Spellen Krickulum.