BJU Press Spelling

It’s working! My kids are really improving their spelling skills.

I am teaching 3^rd grade BJU Spelling to two of my kids. Age wise they’re more like 2^nd and 4^th grade. My son with hearing loss has more trouble with spelling, and my daughter is a natural speller, so it works to put them together.

Here’s how our week looks:

Monday – I give all the spelling words for the pre-test.

Tuesday – Workbook pages

Wednesday – Trial Test  & Dictionary Skills. I’ve been homeschooling with an eclectic method for several years. I had largely left out dictionary skills. This is well worth doing!!! I don't always my 2nd grader to finish this page.

Thursday – Journal Entries.  The book gives us a topic and they write their journal entries as a letter to me. I love it! You would think since we’re with each other 24/7 that they wouldn’t have anything new to say, but they do!!!!  I write them back each week, and they really love that.

Friday – Final Test & Word Etymology – often Bible related

Sometime during the week, they correct  their journals and add their missed words to the back of their books. We choose two of those words each week to add to our spelling lists.  Occasionally, I will give them a check-up test just using these previously used words.

Grading is so easy. I drew a chart in the back of their spelling book and record their grades from their final tests there.

Themes: I love the themes of the spelling books. In fourth grade, the students learn to spell all the books of the Bible. In fifth grade, they learn to spell all the U.S. states. In 6^th grade, they learn to spell many of the countries. It makes a nice little unit study to go along with the spelling program.

Teacher’s Manual:  I do recommend the teacher’s manual. It contains some very good extra activities. It shortens the lists for Wednesday and Friday. It also gives some wonderful tips for remembering how to spell the memory words. The author of this Teacher Manual has put a lot more thought into teaching spelling than I have. I just sound really creative when I teach it.  I bought mine used for under $10, but I would do it again even if I had to pay the new $26 price.

My high school student is doing 6^th grade spelling.

Note: Don’t let your kids do all their work with a spell checker on the computer. Poor spelling can go undetected. I have also been astonished at the dictionary skills he does not know. (Woops.) I’m glad he’s doing this spelling program and not remaining ignorant in this area!  I’m glad we’re ahead in some other areas, because I’m not giving high school credit for 6^th grade spelling. LOL!

Even if your children are really good spellers, I’d recommend doing the program for the journal and dictionary exercises. You can always increase their spelling ability because you'll also be using words they miss in their writing. It is a very quick and easy subject to teach and implement.

Well, that's my review! I hope I spelled everything right.