speling

I hate spelling.

You can either do it or not.

One of my filles is a spelling genius (she takes after me, HA!) The other, couldn't spell her way out of a paper bag (OK... my family has idiom issues).

To back things up a bit, I should probably make an explanation.

The filles are relatively new to catholic school. In fact, they are relatively new to American schools. When they started preschool (when they were each 3) we decided that we wanted a school that would teach them a foreign language at a young age. Alot of the Montessori schools had language programs, but none of the kids were really fluent. The Waldorf school.. well, it may have had a language element, but my kids were a terrible match for it.. (a bit too wordly, even at 3). In Chicago we had another excellent choice. A French School. Hubby's father was from Luxembourg and spoke fluent french. Hubby and I through highschool and college French were not fluent, but could hold our own. It seemed a perfect choice. And it was!

At the Lycee Francais de Chicago, mes filles learned tons, in small classes with children of artists, musicians, diplomats, captains of industry and folks like us. It was a great 7 years. The girls were learning the same curriculum that a kid in France was responsible for. (ahhh grammar is clearly not my forte... )

The problem was that the school was not designed to help children who had ANY learning difficulties. The Angel had none.. well at least none that a bit more discipline to her studies wouldn't solve. But Imelda. Well, let's just say that reading was not her forte. It took us a while to notice the problem, chiefly because she is so clever she managed to memorize so much in the lower grades. By the middle of 2nd grade, it was clear that she was struggling with reading. Both in French and in English. It wasn't just language confusion.

So we made a hard decision.

We pulled them out of the school. Put them both into intensive tutoring. And moved them to a Catholic school that had a program to help kids with learning differences. In one year she improved her reading scores almost 3 grade levels. Except with one small problem...

Spelling.

The bane of her existence.

Well at least her errors make more sense then they did last year. Ma pauvre enfant!