{"id":677,"date":"2014-12-03T04:33:11","date_gmt":"2014-12-03T11:33:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/?page_id=677"},"modified":"2015-05-20T18:24:29","modified_gmt":"2015-05-21T00:24:29","slug":"spelling-clues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/spelling-clues\/","title":{"rendered":"Spelling Clues"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

\"\"

My daughter Louisa (15)<\/p><\/div>\n

English is a beautiful language! It is the language of the Kings James Version of the Bible. It is the language of Shakespeare. Then, why\u2014oh, why can’t we spell?<\/p>\n

Over the years of teaching my 7 children to write, I wonder if perhaps I have seen nearly every misspelling known to man. Tomorrow, friends, though, a lot <\/em>. . . these common words can be quite challenging. I don’t claim to any system of success, but I do know that giving kids a memory clue can help a great deal! Here are just a few of the clues I have discovered that help my kids spell better:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

tomorrow <\/span><\/strong>
\nIf you break this word down into the original two words\u2014<\/span>to morrow<\/em>\u2014it is a lot easier for kids to remember. I tell them, “We are looking <\/span>to<\/em> (towards) the <\/span>morrow<\/em> (next day).” Once you realize the meaning, you aren’t tempted to double the <\/span>m<\/em> which is the most common misspelling.<\/span><\/p>\n


\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

friend <\/span><\/strong>
\nI say, “A friend is a friend to the end”<\/em>. Circle the word end<\/em> within the word friend<\/em>. Once a child sees the word end<\/em>, that word is generally mastered.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

though-dough + rough-tough-enough <\/span><\/strong>
\nThough<\/em> the dough
\nIs rough<\/em> and tough enough,<\/em>
\nWe’ll still have bread.<\/p>\n

These crazy words are all spelled the same, but not pronounced the same. If you can teach your child the ough<\/em> spelling, then this little chant will keep things straight.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

igh<\/span><\/strong>
\nI teach this goofy letter combination by drawing a big eye around it:<\/p>\n

\"ighpix\"<\/p>\n

Now these words are easier to spell and remember:
\nsigh, nigh, light, night, sight, fight, might, tight, right, fright, blight . . .<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

a lot, all right<\/span><\/strong>
\nThese are both two words!<\/em> Now, you have it! Don’t combine them into alot<\/em> or alright<\/em>. Those are misspelled!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

together<\/span><\/strong>
\nWe go to get her to be together.<\/em>
\nto get her = together
\nPronounce this word to your children and they’ll spell it right: to-get-her<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

separate<\/span><\/strong>
\nThere’s a rat in separate<\/em>. Can you see it?<\/p>\n

\"separatepix\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Whenever you begin to write the word separate<\/em>, say the little sentence and write a rat<\/em> and you won’t misspell it!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

here, there<\/span><\/strong>
\nHere<\/em> and there<\/em> are places. If you are not here<\/em>, you are there<\/em>. The word here<\/em> is included in the word there<\/em>. Once you can see the word here<\/em>, it is easy to spell there!<\/em>
\n\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

May I recommend:<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n

\"spelling\"
\nSpelling Those Tricky Words
\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

\"\"
\nNatural Speller versus Has-to-be-Taught
\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

\"1788\"
\nTeach Any Child to Spell
\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  English is a beautiful language! It is the language of the Kings James Version of the Bible. It is the language of Shakespeare. Then, why\u2014oh, why can’t we spell? Over the years of teaching my 7 children to write, I wonder if perhaps I have seen nearly every misspelling known to man. Tomorrow, friends, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2566,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[159,9],"tags":[168,107],"class_list":["post-677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spelling-what-articles","category-what-articles","tag-how-to-teach","tag-spelling","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/IMG_6036.jpg?fit=854%2C800&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6IrRN-aV","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1099,"url":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/kids-cant-spell\/","url_meta":{"origin":677,"position":0},"title":"Kids Can’t Spell?","author":"Diane Hopkins","date":"","format":false,"excerpt":"It is an all-too-common problem. Kids can\u2019t spell, teenagers can\u2019t spell, even many adults can\u2019t spell. Thank goodness for spell-check on the computer. It has helped the problem enormously! Learning to write is pretty important, as we use if daily in our communication.\u00a0Nothing blows \"lookin' smart\" faster than misspelling a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "English: Spelling"","block_context":{"text":"English: Spelling","link":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/category\/what-articles\/english-spelling\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"ammonsbeet","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/ammonsbeet-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2056,"url":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/natural-speller\/","url_meta":{"origin":677,"position":1},"title":"Natural Speller versus Has-to-Be-Taught","author":"Diane Hopkins","date":"","format":false,"excerpt":"My children: Ammon, Julianna and Mark Will the \u201cnatural speller\u201d please stand up? Having homeschooled 7 children, I eventually figured out that either kids come as \u201cnatural spellers\u201d or they don\u2019t. And if they don\u2019t, you have to teach them to spell. The natural speller can\u00a0see\u00a0the word in their head.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "English: Spelling"","block_context":{"text":"English: Spelling","link":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/category\/what-articles\/english-spelling\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ammon's journal","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/1775-239x300.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":663,"url":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/spelling\/","url_meta":{"origin":677,"position":2},"title":""I" Before "E", But Not After "C"","author":"Diane Hopkins","date":"","format":false,"excerpt":"I am a product of the public schools of the 1960's. I was taught the spelling ditty: \"i\" before \"e\" but not after \"c\", and a host of other rules. Spelling rules seem to be made for the logical, perhaps, mathematical minds (not mine), but I am a good speller.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Spelling"","block_context":{"text":"Spelling","link":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/category\/what-articles\/spelling-what-articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/rat-440987_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/rat-440987_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/rat-440987_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/rat-440987_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/rat-440987_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":695,"url":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/spelling-those-tricky-words\/","url_meta":{"origin":677,"position":3},"title":"Spelling Those Tricky Words","author":"Diane Hopkins","date":"","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Spelling correctly is just as important as doing your hair! 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