Spell that word, home school spelling starts early
Advice
Hebetudinous
“Spell “hebetudinous”!” I had just fallen out of bed and, with eyes not yet fully functioning (ah, the evils of middle age), and staggered my way to the stove to put on water for my morning coffee. There was Meera, my 10-year-old, already awake (a rare event), and she didn’t even say “good morning!” By David Albert.
How to improve your spelling
English spelling may be a nightmare – but Spellzone shows you there are many things you can do to help yourself improve. This Unit gives you tips on the best approach to spelling problems.
Bees
National Spelling Bee
The Scripps National Spelling Bee will be the first week in June. We will announce the date in February. Do read all the rules and requirements. Homeschoolers can participate, but still need to follow the rules carefully.
Courses
Free Spelling Course by Marie
30 units, over 65 fully printable pages, and daily/weekly work plans, dictation, exercises, dictionary work, tests, and answer keys. It also has a very concise breakdown of the fundamental rules of English spelling. Recommended for those wishing to learn how to spell commonly misspelled words.
Spelling it Right – Learn to Spell Confidently
Help, free worksheets and advice from an experienced English teacher: advice about tackling problems and a series of free worksheets, each comprising a complete lesson designed to test and teach spelling skills.
Spelling Time
Fun, state of the art interactive spelling lessons. Try the demo, then register to get a new lesson daily.
Dictionaries
One Look
It will search several dictionaries at once and allows wild card searches, so if you only know how the word begins it is helpful. Also includes a reverse dictionary feature.
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary – 1913 + 1828
Online dictionary where you can look up words you can’t quite spell. Uses “wildcard” searches. Read instructions.
Word Central
Look up words (fast!) in the Student Dictionary! Better still: Build Your Own Dictionary! Stump your friends with today’s Daily Buzzword!
WWWebsters Online Dictionary – 1999
Best for looking up modern English words.
Your Dictionary
Stumble across a word not in English? You can look it up here or translate a whole paragraph.
Games
40 Ways to Make Spelling Fun
Different ways to make practicing your spelling list a whole lot more fun.
Spell Check
The computer will give twenty sets of four words. Place a check next to the word which is spelled wrong. Spell the word correctly. If you get all twenty problems correct, you can put your name on the leader board.
Spellarama
Cool letter card game you can print off for free to play offline with friends and family.
Practice
Spelling City
This spelling program provides spelling practice for spelling help at home or school. Teachers and parents can enter and save their own spelling lists for their students/children. Students can play games with their words or any saved lists. Teachers and parents can save and share their lists. The forum allows teachers and parents to share lists and ideas.
Roots
A Selection of Latin and Greek Roots
Are you wondering why I support learning Latin roots as opposed to learning the complete Latin language? Well, I wrote a short essay looking at some of the reasons that I’ve heard promulgated as good reasons for learning the Latin language. To me, it seems that learning the roots is a better idea than learning the complete language. No longer free, but inexpensive.
Rules
Musical Spelling Rules
These rhymes will help you remember spelling rules.
Software
Excalibur
Mac. Spell-check any text document, including text in the clipboard. Dictionaries can be customized for personal needs, and foreign dictionaries are available.
ZDnet Spelling Shareware
Windows. Downloads of free, demo, and shareware spelling games and utilities.
Word Lists
100 Most Often Misspelled Words
Dr. Language has provided a one-stop cure for all your spelling ills. Here are the 100 words most often misspelled (‘misspell’ is one of them). Each word has a mnemonic pill with it and, if you swallow it, it will help you to remember how to spell the word.
Alan Cooper’s Homonyms
Some words sound alike, but are spelled differently and have entirely different meanings. For example: allowed (permitted) and aloud (spoken).
Free Word Processor, Spreadsheet, and more.
All Platforms. From Open Office.
