Norah has started Spelling. We're using Abeka's Spelling and Poetry 1.

After some trial and error (mostly error), we figured out that Norah really enjoys Spelling and she is very motivated to learn her words so long as she is rewarded for her effort.

For example, after doing well on her last test (made up of two spelling lists from this book), I got her a Webkin's Deluxe Membership. (This only cost me $2 and thirty minutes to purchase it online and "install" it on Norah's Webkin's account.)

Now Norah is studying three more lists in this book ( orthree weeks worth of spelling words) and she has asked for "$2 cash" when she does well on that test. (She wants to be free to buy the candy of her choice at the corner store.) She will probably take that test in a day or two.

So, as you can see, at this point, we are completing a few spelling lists at a time, taking a test on these after Norah has proven that she knows the words well. We are also moving through the poetry section memorizing one poem at a time ignoring the months they are assigned to, officially, and just moving at Norah's pace until we have memorized all the poems.


We've had to come up with a few ways to make spelling practice more effective. We got this little white board that fits on Norah's lap. I let Norah copy her spelling words onto it. I'll also call out words and she takes "practice tests" on it. The white board makes the task more fun for her, she writes quicker with a marker and it saves a lot of paper.


I've also purchased letter tiles that Norah uses for spelling practice. I will call out the words and she will arrange the letter tiles, but...


instead of making her find the correct letters from the whole entire tub of letters, I usually pull the letters we need for the lists we are working on out of the tub and put them in a little bag by themselves. This saves us a lot of time.