Spelling Help: How Parents Can Teach Struggling Spellers

Written By: The Good and the Beautiful Published On:

Does your child struggle with spelling? Are you searching for a new approach to help your child improve their spelling skills? Jenny Phillips answers common questions about teaching struggling spellers and gives parents an easy and effective way to improve their child’s spelling.

Common Questions Parents Ask About Their Child’s Spelling Skills:

  • Is my child really behind in spelling?
  • How much should I worry?
  • Why are some children naturally good spellers, while others are not?
  • How can I help my child who struggles with spelling?
  • Does memorizing spelling words and spelling rules work?
Mother and daughter working on spelling practice | The Good and the Beautiful

My Child is Struggling with Spelling

Is your child really behind in spelling? How much do you need to worry? Why are some children naturally good spellers, while others are not? How can I give my struggling child spelling help? Should my child spend time memorizing spelling words and spelling rules?

I’m going to dive into these common questions parents have about spelling, but first, let me share an incredibly easy and effective way to improve your child’s spelling.

  • How to Improve Your Child’s Spelling

    The Good and the Beautiful has created a revolutionary, completely free online spelling program called Simply Spelling. There are no ads or upgrades—it is simply and truly free. 

    This nature-based, gentle learning, academically strong program is fully customized to each individual child, so they don’t spend time practicing words they already know. It guides children through spelling principles and rules, spelling words, as well as homophones and commonly confused words.

  • A video from the simple spelling course on homophones | The Good and the Beautiful

    Find out how to start Simply Spelling here.

Spelling is a subject that has fascinated me as a developer of language arts curriculum used by hundreds of thousands of children. I’ve studied and tested this topic in depth for many years and have some fantastic spelling help to share with you.

Is my child really behind, and should I worry?

When learning disabilities are not a concern, consider two main factors: their age and how much they’ve read. 

Does reading improve spelling? 

Many younger children struggle with spelling simply because they haven’t read enough yet. As they read more, their spelling naturally improves. A child who reads slowly or hasn’t read much may just need more reading practice. So, is increasing reading time enough to improve spelling? I’ll answer that in a moment.

How to Help a Young Child with Spelling

First, consider how much emphasis spelling should have at different ages. Young children are already working hard to master handwriting and reading, so it’s best to focus on letter formation, letter sounds, and reading. Spending too much time memorizing spelling words early on can actually slow progress. Since time is limited, improving reading speed exposes children to more words, which naturally strengthens spelling without extra memorization.

What is helpful for a younger child is memorizing a short list of high-frequency rule breakers and practicing spelling dictation with phonetic words they can sound out. For example, say a word like cat and have them write it. This helps them isolate and identify sounds, which accelerates spelling skills. Practicing targeting phonograms—such as “ee” in words like “feed,” “seed,” and “need”—also strengthens both spelling and reading. As children learn these patterns in both reading and spelling, their reading becomes faster and more fluent, and thus their spelling also improves.

These methods are used in The Good and the Beautiful Language Arts curriculum, which is one reason it has become the most-searched Christian homeschool language arts program online.

How to Help Younger Children Improve Their Spelling:

  • Memorize a short list of high-frequency rule breaker words
  • Practice phonetically spelled words the child can sound out (i.e., cat, mop, hug)
  • Target phonograms (i.e. sh, br, ai, ee, ck)
  • Play rhyming word games

Activities such as these build spelling and reading skills!

Mother and daughter working on spelling practice | The Good and the Beautiful

Teach your child to read with our Reading Booster Program, which covers phonics, high-frequency words, fluency, and so much more!

Why are some children naturally good spellers while others aren’t?

You may have one child who picks up spelling easily and another who struggles. Even with the same curriculum, some children take off with spelling, while others don’t. 

In my professional experience and observation, if no learning disabilities are involved, this usually comes down to two things:

  1. Some children read more and read at a faster pace, and 

  2. Children have different strengths and learn in different ways. 

Some learners tend to remember words more easily and more quickly by seeing them. Other learners may read just as much but not absorb spelling as quickly from sight alone, or they may need more repetition with seeing words to remember how they are spelled.

How do I help my child become a better speller?

Reading is one of the most important ways to develop strong spelling skills. Children who are exceptional spellers almost always read a lot. While visual learners may benefit the most, all types of learners improve significantly through consistent reading.

Beyond reading, it’s important for children to learn how to isolate individual sounds in words and segment them. This is something we teach in fun and engaging ways through Simply Spelling.

  • A video from simple spelling on how to spell the work card | The Good and the Beautiful

  • Children also benefit from learning spelling rules—but only those with few exceptions. In Simply Spelling kids learn 13 carefully selected rules that are practical and reliable. In addition, we focus on teaching the most commonly used words that can’t be easily sounded out, helping children improve their writing quickly.

By concentrating on high-frequency words, children make faster progress. For example, when time is limited, it’s far more useful to learn how to spell a word like “necessary” than a rarely used word like “rendezvous.”

We’ve done the work of curating exactly what your child needs to become a confident, capable speller. Explore our completely free resource, Simply Spelling, and see how we’re helping build strong hearts and minds.

  • What skills are taught in Simply Spelling?

    Each of 26 levels covers: 

    • 32 spelling words
    • 5 pairs of homophones and commonly confused words
    • 4 spelling rules
    • 4 spelling principles.
    Practice FREE Today!
  • A video from the simple spelling course on homophones | The Good and the Beautiful

    Find out how to start Simply Spelling here.

Do you have a spelling app for younger children?

The Letter Tiles app is especially designed to be used with The Good and the Beautiful Language Arts Levels K–3. Your child arranges letter tiles to spell words from their lesson. Or use the Practice A–Z board to practice your own set of spelling words.


Practice FREE Today!

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