One of the unique results that stem from being the all-powerful Earth Mother is that other moms will ask me to tutor their kids.
This morning I was requested to help an 11 year old memorize her 15 Wordly Wise spelling words. I first asked her, how do you study? “Well, I use flash cards and memorize them.” Apparently this was not too effective, as past grades had shown.
So! Instead of just ‘memorizing’ the words, I had her do the following:
- Write down the word, stare at it.
- Close the eyes, picture a blackboard in the mind, and then write the word mentally on the blackboard.
- Repeat back to me what the blackboard says
- Open the eyes, see if the recital was correct
- Repeat twice more
I did this for each word, and then added repeating back other words at random.
It took 40 minutes, but eventually we worked thru all the words until they were down perfectly.
So we’ll see how the test goes.
This study method has proved to be extremely effective because it utilizes all sorts of learning – visual, auditory, kinesthetic, etc. I figure that at least one of those styles must adhere! 
Thus, if your kids are having problems with spelling tests, try the above. You might be surprised at how useful it can be.
Enjoy,
Barbara
ps – want spelling help?