My children used to find spelling b-o-r-i-n-g! What to do? I had to agree. Just like when I was in school, the words were too easy.
Then spelling bees came into my life. What fun! In 7th and 8th grades, I won the school spelling bees (how did that happen, I’m no genius) and got to compete in downtown San Antonio, although I never made it beyond the city level to Washington, D.C.
A couple of years ago I started rethinking our boxed curriculum to make a move to classical education.
Having learned that IEW had an ingenious spelling program based on brain research, that made a lot of sense. We already greatly appreciated the IEW writing program as it cracked the code on teaching coherent writing to various learning styles, I trusted the spelling program would also work, and it did!
Then we took our spelling a step beyond IEW. Making a huge decision, we abandoned traditional spelling programs to study exclusively for the National Spelling Bee with the IEW methods.
The benefits: improved spelling skills, deeper understanding of language, developing stage presence, and generally having more fun.
Our study list comes from the National Spelling Bee, which has changed dramatically over the years.
Beginning, Intermediate, Advanced Spelling Bee Lists
When I was a student, our booklets contained hundreds of words simply divided into three sections: beginning, intermediate and advanced.
Overwhelmed, I just started on page one, glancing through the rest.
My study partners and I often bogged down by trying to pronounce most of the words.
We spent a lot of time flipping through the dictionary, not that that is a bad thing…but it was very two-dimensional for me.
Padeia: Unit Study Spelling Bee Lists
When my children began competing, the study book, Padeia, categorized words according to topical studies.
Within each of those topics, the words were divided into beginning, intermediate and advanced.
Origin of Words Spelling Bee Lists-More Classically Based
Last year that changed when the new booklet arrived with the words divided according to etymology…or the Origin of Words.
Although the expected origins included Greek and Latin, there were others like…German, Spanish and French, and others, that have spelling rules unique to their language.
Within each language of origin, the words were divided into the main list and the challenge words. Also available are tips and games.
After studying in this new way, we realized we had learned more, even me.
Spelling Bee List On-Line with Audio Pronunciations
New to this year is that I no longer need to mail order a booklet. We can now get them free online.
The beauty of that is now there are audio links of Dr. Jacques Bailly (a Greek and Latin scholar who won the 1980 National Spelling Bee) pronounces the words for us as we study, just like he does in actual competition at the National Spelling Bee!
Word of Origin connection to the Middle Ages
Even though this is our second year studying spelling by Word of Origin, it has only been during our current classical study of the Middle Ages that we made a connection!
Each language has its own particular rules for pronunciation and spelling.
That is why the basic rules, which are the same as basic phonics rules learned in early grammar years, rarely work for all words.
Through our current history reading we learned that phonics, the basic rules for words we learn to read first, usually have their origin in the English language from the Middle Ages which was agrarian based.
When the Norman invasion of England occurred in 1066, the French descended upon England with their presence and their language.
Today, many of those French words remain in the English everyday parlance.
Then words from other languages came into the English language, which of course have unique pronunciation and spelling patterns.
Etymology is the Spelling Decoder
From the National Spelling Bee, looking up the etymology of allows us to learn the history of the word.
Understanding the history of a word, allows us to use tips in decoding the spelling (whether on stage under bright lights in front of a crowd or sitting in front of a pad of paper or computer).
Dictionaries are Fascinating Sources of History
I’m a little like Captain Margaret from Sense and Sensibility.
I’ve always liked maps, as intriguing pictures of places from an overhead view that I can’t quite put my finger on when I’m bound to earth.
When captured in story form, we are transported to faraway places as equally intriguing as the maps that detail their outline.
Now I find dictionaries equally intriguing as a great atlas. Together they take me to far away lands.
Noah Webster, the Man of Many Languages
No wonder! The American dictionary was first written by Noah Webster.
Graduating from Yale in 1778, he knew his Greek and Latin, and consulted other languages as well.
After the Constitution’s ratification, Webstere insisted on Americanizing our language.
Already known for the popular Blue-Backed Speller, he now set to write a dictionary specifically for Americans who spoke a broad range of languages.
He also wanted to standardize the spelling of old British words with clunky spellings.
To be up to the task, Webster learned 28 more languages!
Each day as he painstakingly wrote this American dictionary for a total of 26 years, he referenced piles of books open around him, to trace the history as he wrote a decoding device published in 1825 as An American Dictionary of the English Language.
(A Beka has a great stand-alone biography for children about Noah Webster that my kids read years ago. It was my favorite from the A Beka curriculum.)
As we ready the history of the Middle Ages, making the connection to who Noah Webster was (from our previous studies) and our current study of spelling with the National Spelling Bee…it all came together.
We learned that studying spelling words via etymology is a more classically based way of learning spelling, because tracing the Word of Origin in the dictionary was like reading an original source document. No wonder we learned more!
Organization of our Spelling Notebook
As a result, we now have a logical means of organizing our spelling notebooks.
Each of us has a 3-ring binder, We have a tab for each language, for our etymology study.
After printing out the word lists and study tips from the National Spelling Bee site, we stick them behind the appropriate category. If we ever want to add more words, we can easily add them into the proper category.
Benefits
By the way, today was our local homeschool spelling bee, hosted by our local San Antonio homeschool co-op resource, known as FEAST.
My 12-year-old son tied for 6th while my daughter placed 5th.
As hoped, competition has taught them composure in front of an audience as well as good sportsmanship.
Meanwhile, their spelling is much improved, beyond the stage of competition. Who’s to know…maybe someday there will be a trip to Washington, D.C. to meet Dr. Jacques Bailley in person!
Epilogue 2024
Originally written in 2007, many things have changed (again) with the National Spelling Bee. Current options for parents (aka homeschoolers) is through their school.
Some tips on navigating that.
Our “local school” was FEAST: Family Educators Alliance of South Texas, based in San Antonio. (I have no idea if FEAST still does this.)
It’s been many years but I think I got study books from them in the autumn, then they held a competition in January of each year to send a winner to San Antonio, then that winner progresses to Washington, D.C.
