Beatrix Potter Teaches Us About Old Words and Spelling

Sometimes an article posted by someone on Facebook pops up in front of me just when I need it the most.  I've been wondering lately how best to tackle the problem of spelling with my kids.  When I began our homeschooling journey with them years ago, we started out with invented spelling.  I encouraged them to write the sounds they heard and I was not so concerned about the proper spelling just yet.  When they entered school in Qatar the kids were in KG, Second and Fifth grades.  For the two years we were there, the kids got plenty of opportunities to write and spell on a daily basis.  But lets face it.  Some kids have a harder time with spelling than others.  I have two children that want me to just spell a word for them.  As they have told me, "I don't want to think about it. Just tell me the answer!" I have one that welcomes the opportunity to tackle how to spell a word. So just when I'm wondering how I'll approach this one, I came across an article a friend of mine posted: Why some kids can't spell and why spelling tests won't help    

Seriously.  If you have time to read this article, do it.  It was very enlightening.  I read this article and immediately started using the advice I found there.  We need to dig into the root of words and where words come from.  When we know the root of a word and it's meaning, we can build words easier Anyone can do it.  You don't have to be a bad speller, you just have to show an interest in words.  

So, Yesterday morning Piper and I were doing our morning cuddle in bed.  (One of the perks of homeschooling is that we can now sleep in.  When we lived in Doha, we woke up at 5:00am and were on the bus by 6:10am.  It was brutal to say the least.)  The house we are living in is well stocked with all sorts of books.  In my bedroom, we found three classic Beatrix Potter books on the shelf.  I took down all three and Piper chose "The Tale Of Mr. Jeremy Fisher." Soon,  Finn had joined in as well. 

As we began reading this story, we noticed there were some strange old words in this book.  As we came across words we didn't recognize, we would write them down.  We tried to guess their meaning and then we looked the words up when we were finished with the story. 

Here are the words we looked up:

macintosh

larder

goloshes

punted

rushes

stickleback

shoal 

The word "punt" here has nothing to do with football.

Even though these are unusual words that we don't hear used on a daily basis, it's a good exercise and worth doing.  Finn is taking Taekwon Do.  He was given a sheet that lists the Tenets of Taekwon Do.  These are some big words and I wanted him to understand them.  He looked up each word and wrote the definitions in his daily notebook.  I love them.  They fit very well with what we are trying to teach our children as we begin homeschooling again.

Courtesy

Integrity

Perseverance

Self-Control

Indomitable Spirit