[Amore]

Oh, I think they'd definitely like to keep him in public schools. But already, in 4th grade, homework is a big struggle, and it's only going to get harder. I'm just not sure he'll be able to keep up, what with his CAPD difficulties. Apparently, too, he has short-term memory problems, so though my sister-in-law works and works with him, a lot of things (most noticeably, his weekly spelling words) just don't "stick."

[summer]

With respect to spelling -- a lot of kids have trouble with spelling because they don't understand concepts like prefixes, suffixes, origins of words and root words. Of course, some words in the English language seem to break all the rules!

But, I notice homeschooled kids spend more time learning the actual origin of words. When I watch these kids win spelling bees they can usually ascertain the root of the word as being of Latin, Greek or French origin, and they know the whole family of words derived from that root word. Many kids in public schools don't get that kind of in-depth understanding because it's simply not taught. A big mistake, in my view.

You'd be surprised how many kids become fascinated by the above concepts when you teach such ideas to kids.

And, I don't buy that whole philosophy about spelling not being important, which is what we were told when we trained in teacher college. I think a student who is a good speller becomes a far more confident reader, because such a student will want to, and will know how to, figure out the meanings of unknown, new vocabulary words.