phonetic spelling rules from 1930's

[pianistimo]

charlotte lockhard has a method which has been updated - but stems from ideas for teaching english and reading that seem much more solid than aural spelling without phonics rules - and sight reading without phonics rules.  there is a site here that sells her method as 'reading horizons.'  if it's anything like the book that i have that she wrote many years ago - it's really great! https://www.readinghorizons.com/method/index.aspx

basically, with the old methods - teachers took the time to go step-by-step in reading and explain the rules carefully.  nowdays, it seems that children are expected to progress extremely fast in reading and spelling - but it catches up with their non-comprehension in third or fourth grade.  taking a method - slowly and surely is much better.  you may be behind others for a year or so - but the method allows for acceleration of a 'style' and learning the rules of grammar as well as phonetic rules that are practiced and assimilated instead of done once and forgotten.  the idea here is to actually practice by doing  a lot of reading and a lot of writing.

first of all - emphasis is placed upon correctly writing the letters.  imo, i feel that using a desk with a light that shines from below - (as well as above) - helps children practice whichever letters they do not remember how to correctly write.  place the writing pages and letters UNDER another sheet of paper.  turn on copy light - and let them see (by placing dots) where the pencil should start for each letter.  many children start at the bottom line and move up.  noone corrects them in school (excepting a few fine teachers) and they begin with the first steps of writing incorrectly.

*ok - i sound like a wanna-be first grade teacher.  actually, that was my dream many years ago - but anyways...it's sort of like piano lessons.  you don't attempt to teach everything the first year.  consider it a three to four year project.

then, instead of teaching ALL the letters (consonants and vowels) at the SAME time (which overwhelms a lot of little children) - you teach five per week or two weeks.  four consonants and one vowel.  you start with the letters and sounds ALONE.  making sure that the child knows the sound of each.

1. you show them how to print the upper and lower case letters (referring to them as such).

2. you say 'the name of the consonant (keep repeating the type of letter!) is ... B...

3. the SOUND of the consonant is 'buh' - when it stands alone... only in isolation.

4.  a consonant cannot be heard without a vowel element...and

5. if one cannot hear a sound, it cannot be written.

6. when you dictate, you will say:  'print the letter B-B in its upper case form'  or:

7. 'print the letter that has the sound of 'buh' - (student printing either B or b).

FIRST FIVE LETTER GROUP:  B, F, D, G, A

(the method here quickly focuses attention on differences between small letters 'b' and 'd').

what i like about lockhart's method is that once a child learns the first five letters - you use them with real words and also 'nonsense' words.  but, before writing words, a child is entirely familiar with the concept of upper-case and lower-case letters and will not easily get into a habit of combining them when writing a word.

ok.  last two suggestions for this lesson:

1. 'print the letter B in its UPPER case form, B upper case form.'

2. 'print the letter that has the SOUND of 'buh,'  'buh in its lower case form.'

(she always makes a request two times so that the child can hear the sound of each requested letter).  also, she starts with words that are not blends (BR - etc) but single letters.  so you start with two letter combos and once a child can us all the five letters in two letter combos (speaking and writing) - then you move to three using the same five letters.  some of the words can be nonsense words.

[pianistimo]

just think of all the words that you can make from those five letters:

ba
fa
da
ga
bad
fad
dad
gad
baf
faf
daf
gaf
 
(identifying real words and nonsense words and explaining the meaning of each real word).

[ted]

What do you think of the Doman method in regard to word recognition, Susan ? When our son was very young I borrowed Doman's book from the library and followed it to the letter. I can say that it worked superbly.  Doman takes the approach of whole word recognition first and leaves letters until later. I sometimes think the actual order doesn't matter provided the parents actually do something - anything except stick the kid in front of the television. I kept our house television free for five years, under considerable duress from my wife I might add. 

I think parents have to do much more these days; the schools alone do nowhere near enough. The situation is even worse at higher levels, where no grammar seems to be taught at all and you get kids starting university unable to write a correct sentence. I used my father's textbooks from the 1920s to teach our son the advanced stuff because nothing was to be found in the shops. They were a trifle archaic, of course, but at least they erred on the side of correctness.

[pianistimo]

dear ted,

absolutely agreed.  just like with piano lessons.  very many different approaches and working (usually) towards the same goals.  i know my youngest child has a kindergarten teacher that prefers that method.  i say - combining them can't hurt and plan to help her learn to spell even more accurately (with vowels) at home. 

here's my reasons.  i prefer for her to learn the correct way to spell a word the FIRST time.  if you practice something that is incorrect or even slightly incorrect - it sets it in a very fresh and open young mind.  they have such a clean slate.  you can't afford to go around erasing it all the time.  it just mixes them up.

but, there are different kinds of learners, too.  your son may be the kind that is sight oriented and remembers from reading the words - how to spell them.  my son was much different.  so - i spent a lot of time with the middle child - giving her the same lessons as him (phonics and spelling).  she is an excellent reader and understands language really well.  now, being an older mom - i'll confess to laziness during the school year (excepting helping on required homework) but during summertime - i plan to keep them busy. 

but, being that children do allow for