Natural Speller

I have used this spelling resource for many years and found it to be a good program. The 92-page book provides you with the necessary tools to teach spelling for the grades first through eighth. The spelling lists are grouped by sound and pattern. There are also numerous other lists such as prefixes, suffixes, Latin and Greek root words, spelling rules, homophones, and more. Use the tools supplied in this book to make spelling lessons for your children. There is also a list of things to teach for every grade and of course, all the material that you need is in this book.

Should you use Natural Speller?

If you like making a customized curriculum, then you might like this book.
If you do not like creating a custom plan or if you have very limited time, then you should choose a packaged spelling curriculum.

This is the table of contents for Natural Speller. Plus, in the right column of the page, there are four sample lists, a website linked where you can look at a few pages from the inside of the Natural Speller, and some teaching ideas as well as links to related topics in donnayoung.org.

NATURAL SPELLER

Table of Contents

1. WHY TEACH SPELLING?

1. TEACHING SPELLING

4. HOW TO STUDY A WORD

5. Grades 1 & 2
5. Word Lists
7. Spelling and Grammar Skills
9. Grade 3
9. Word Lists
13. Spelling and Grammar Skills
15. Grade 4
15. Word Lists
19. Spelling and Grammar Skills
21. Grade 5
21. Word Lists
26. Spelling and Grammar Skills
28. Grade 6
28. Word Lists
33. Spelling and Grammar Skills
35. Grade 7
35. Word Lists
38. Spelling and Grammar Skills
40. Grade 8
40. Word Lists
42. Spelling and Grammar Skills

43. ACTIVITIES

43. General Practice
44. Dictionary Skills
45. Grammar Skills
46. Building Vocabulary
47. Writing

36. WORDS BY CATEGORY

48. Abbreviations
48. Calendar Words
48. Color Words
48. Contractions

Foreign Words
49. American Indian
49. Spanish
50. French
51. Greek Word Parts
53. Spelling Words with Greek Word Parts
A55. ctivities Using Greek Word Parts
56. Latin Roots
60. Activities Using Latin Roots

Homophones, Heteronyms, & Homonyms
61. Homophones-Grades 1-3
61. Homophones-Grades 4-6
61. Homophones-Grades 7-8
62. Heteronyms & Homograph
62. Activity

Irregular Verbs
63. Grades 3-6
63. Grades 6-8
64. Measurements
64. Number Words
65. Words to Review

66. RULES

Spelling Rules
66. Consonant Sounds
67. Vowel Sounds
Spelling Charts
R69. eference Chart - Consonant Sounds
70. Reference Chart - Vowel Sounds
Spelling Rules
71. Plurals
72. Possessives
Pr72. efixes and Suffixes
74. Syllables
Writing Rules
75. Capitalization
76. Punctuation

78. TEACHING AIDS

Common Affixes and Their Meanings
78. Prefixes
79. Suffixes
Practice With Rules
81. Vowels Sounds / Grades 1-3
81. Adding s, es, ies / Grades 1-6
83. Suffixes / Grades 1-8

Letters
86. Friendly Letter
Business Letter
87. 88. Block Format
89. Sample Dictionary Page.

90. Glossary of Terms

The link below goes to christianbook.com and there, you can see several pages of Natural Speller.

Natural Speller
By Kathryn Stout, B.S.Ed.,M.Ed.

Instead of trying to memorize words letter by letter, your children can become "natural" spellers by learning to recognize sight and sound patterns in vocabulary. This program allows you to customize a curriculum for grades 1 to 8 that teaches commonly misspelled words, Latin and Greek word parts, abbreviations, contractions, homophones, numbers, and more at a pace that's suited to your students. 92 pages, softcover from Design-A-Study.

Below are some sample lists. The lists vary in length, some are long and some are short. The samples below are all short lists. Notice how the words are grouped by sound and pattern.

Sample from grade:	4th grade	5th grade	6th grade	7th grade
pattern & sound group:	ow	oi	ou	sy
words:	borrow shallow narrow yellow follow pillow	anoint voice noise poise choice joint noisy	trousers drought sprout blouse	sympathy syllable system symbol syrup

One way to plan Natural Speller
At donnayoung.org - homeschool help files: Spelling Planner

Creative Uses for Natural Speller:

Informal Spelling Bees

My children were three grades apart and we had fun doing spelling bees on Fridays several times a year. I used the lists from Natural Speller that my children had covered. Since the children were 3 grades apart, the children did not have to spell from the same list, just from their list. To keep track of scoring, when one missed a word, that was counted as a minus one and spelling a word correctly was plus one. The winner was determined by the one who correctly spelled the most words. For other purposes, they stood in the foyer which served as a kind of stage during the entire spelling bee. I didn't make them behave as if they were in a real bee, they could jump around and giggle if they felt like it.

Multi-grade Lessons

As mentioned above, my children were three grade levels apart. Occasionally I would have an impromptu spelling class that involved both of the children. This class was in essence, a word decoding class. Prior to the class, I would select a few words from lists at their grade levels and at the highest grade level. The words would be selected from lists that have the same pattern, such as 'ous.' Usually, I would have a few words that are not on the lists, words that would be considered advanced. I would write the pattern on the board and a couple of words from the list. From there we would have an open discussion on the parts of the words, breaking them down into syllables, analyzing how the parts are pronounced and spelled. After that, I would use the words from the Natural Speller lists and say one of them. The children would try to decode the word and spell it correctly. When the list words were exhausted and if the kids were still interested, I would use the advanced words and have the children try to spell it. These lessons usually lasted 15-20 minutes and were enjoyable to all of us.

Related Links at donnayoung.org:

Spelling Resources: