Spelling Lessons

Tyler has recently become very interested in learning to spell. He has been able to spell his own name for quite some time. Danielle enjoys spelling his name, too, although she can't yet spell her own. (In all fairness, it is rather long.) Last week we were playing a game and he learned to spell the word "yo-yo". He was so proud of himself! When I'd ask him to spell it again and again for me, he'd puff up his chest and very loudly and clearly say, "Y O Y O". He was proud to display his new-found knowledge to everyone who would listen.

Since that day, he has asked me about the spelling of many words. I'm trying to keep it simple for him and attempting to steer him toward words that actually mean something to him. Yesterday he learned how to spell "dog" and "stop". (I'm not sure "stop" actually means anything to him.)

This morning on the way to church Tyler impressed us by reviewing his spelling words. The praise and attention seemed to be too much of a good thing for Danielle to miss out on. We soon had our own little spelling bee going on in the backseat:

Tyler: "Y O Y O spells 'yo-yo'"

Danielle: "Y P T E spells 'yo-yo'"

Tyler: "D O G spells 'dog'"

Danielle: "D G G spells 'dog'" and to one-up him, "T T G spells 'kitty'"

Tyler: "S T O P spells 'stop'"

Danielle: "S P T T spells 'stop'"

I turned around to look at my scholars. Both kids looked proud as could be.

Tonight at dinner we enjoyed our popular side dish of pb&j. Tyler was nibbling around his crust (accidentally eating it would surely cause his lips to fall off). He suddenly held it up and declared, "Look, Mom. It's an 'L', like in my name." I told him that letter was also in my name. He intelligently asked, "Oh really? Where is it in your name?" I thought that was a really good question! I answered him and he ate his "L".

I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see Danielle with a huge grin on her face, holding up a corner of her sandwich. "Look, Mom! An 'E'."