With summer here, it’s a good time to look back at the past school year and evaluate which teaching methods worked well for your students and which need to be reevaluated for next year.

I have been receiving letters about whether or not to encourage invented spelling, a popular teaching method in many schools right now. Here is one of the letters from an All About Spelling reader:

My five-year-old is reading and can sound out words, but he isn’t able to spell. I am hoping to integrate a spelling curriculum to give him confidence in both writing and spelling. Like you mention on your website, I don’t want him to get used to spelling words incorrectly because I feel the longer he does that, the harder it will be to undo later.

On the other hand, I’ve been advised by several homeschooling friends that I shouldn’t introduce a formal spelling curriculum until my son is in third grade. They say that I should encourage him to get his ideas on paper, even with misspelled words and improper grammar. I do want him to be able to write what he wants to say, but with minimal spelling errors. Am I wrong about this?

–Kimberly C. in Georgia

Kimberly’s friends are talking about invented (or inventive) spelling. Invented spelling has become very common in elementary school curricula across the country. With this method, the teacher encourages beginning readers and writers to spell words however they want in order to be able to smoothly express their ideas. The presupposition is that it is more important for a beginner to simply write than to be accurate, and that eventually they will learn to write correctly.

Kimberly, you are asking the right questions. Your child will benefit from your proactive approach to education. It is much better to do things right and prevent problems than to have to remediate later.

Duz akurat splung madar (Does accurate spelling matter)? You bet it does! Read on for more valuable insights on the topic of invented spelling.

Photo by Brian