It was a surprising finding when we administered spelling placement tests at the beginning of the school year, but the evidence was right there in front of me: Although we had not done any schoolwork over summer break, all but two of the children had not only retained their spelling grade levels, but most had advanced at least a grade level in just 2-3 months. How? What caused this mini-miracle? It was easy really:
Every child who had read to himself or herself for fun over the summer advanced a grade level or more in spelling.
Those who did not stayed at the same level or lost a few months.
For those who are wondering, our answer-to-prayer spelling program has placement tests that give the grade level skill to the month, first grade through the end of college. For example, 6th grade, 4th month. You can learn more about the program in this post. (No, it’s not a program designed for dyslexics.)
Photo credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Child_reading_at_Brookline_Booksmith.jpg