That's My Kid!

My oldest came home today with a MVP medal for his school's soccer team. He played goalie, and believe me, the kid earned it!

What was much, much harder work for him was the second thing he came home with - all the words on his spelling test spelled correctly! Wow! (If it gives you any hint, he carefully labeled his notebook "Speling") Spelling, as well as reading and writing, have been this kid's hardest battle. He used to get in the range of 2-7 out of 20 right. So this is a big deal!

We're proud of him.

I've worked with him over the year to get him to say the word, say the syllable, listen to the syllable, write it, read it, and progress to the next syllable - then back to reread the word. We work orally most of the time letting him move while he spells. I also write the words on colored paper with some organization to the color - on blue, all the "er" sounds are using the "or" ending like professor. On yellow, all the "er" sounds have an "ar" like dollar. We try logic, the meanings of roots (he is a logic kid and hates the irregularity of our words). We find patterns and "building blocks" that repeat. We pull our hair out, but we work at it. Trust me, when you work with words, if can get frustrating when your child can't see the sense in words! So we just keep trying - both of us, and this week, he surpassed even what I imagined!

The problem now... I told him if he got a 100 on a spelling test, that I would run a mile. He is smart - he clarified my requirements. I have to run (or work up to running) twenty minutes a day until I can run a mile.

Off to lace up my shoes....