Noah Webster’s Speller
Thursday 
in the early morning 
Mystie
This came in this week’s “Homeschooling with the Trivium” e-newsletter, which I usually simply skim and delete, but this was something I wanted to file away. Since I’m relatively secure myself in phonics, spelling, and grammar, I think I could be competent enough to use a book like this, which only provides words and sentences, with no teacher guidance or instructions, to teach grammar and spelling and diagramming. However, we’ll have to see what our family situation is like by the time we get to teaching such things. If there are several little ones, a workbook with instructions is going to be more useful than each child relying on Mom to do all subjects, even if it’s the subjects Mom is good at.
The quality of his sentences are what are appealing to me about using this speller. I wish I’d thought of it while teaching my middle school diagramming classes; coming up with sentences was the worst part, too me!
##How to Use Noah Webster’s Speller to Teach Spelling, Handwriting, Grammar, and Vocabulary
by Laurie Bluedorn
Noah Webster graduated from Yale College in 1778, at age 20, and
commenced teaching in several small American schools. He came to
dislike these schools due to their being overcrowded, poorly staffed,
and poorly equipped. His speller (published in 1783), grammar
(published in 1784), and reader (published in 1785) were a result of
his dissatisfaction with the school textbooks which at that time were
primarily obtained from England. His goal in writing these textbooks
was to make a clean break with the “English” language and make
American textbooks for American children. He believed that a native
language must be determined by popular usage.
Webster drew on his own experiences as an elementary school teacher
when he wrote his speller, and he made a special effort to arrange
the textbook in as simple a way as possible so that it could be
easily taught to students. You will notice as you use the speller
that it is organized beginning with the alphabet, moving on to
syllables, simple words, complex words, and finally to sentences.
Over all its editions, in over 200 years, it is believed that 70
million copies of the speller have been printed. Using this little
book, students learned all of the English language arts: phonics,
spelling, handwriting, grammar, and vocabulary. The preface reads,
“This little book is so constructed as to condense into the smallest
compass a complete system of elements for teaching the language; and
however small such a book may appear, it may be considered as the
most important class book, not of a religious character, which the
youth of our country are destined to use.” Judging from the large
number of great writers produced in the nineteenth century, this book
must have been adequate to teach these subjects well. With a little
improvisation, Webster’s speller can be just as useful to us. Of
course, if your situation is such that you need your child to learn
the English language arts on his own by using workbooks, then
Webster’s speller is not for you. But if you do choose to use
Webster’s speller, you won’t need to buy separate workbooks for each
grade and for every subject. The little speller can be used for all
grades and all ages. There are enough words and sentences in Webster
to last a long time. If your student learns to spell all the words
and diagram all the sentences in Webster, let me know. I would like
to meet that student.
The beauty of Noah Webster’s speller is in his sentences. Here is a
sampling:
“God will impart grace to the humble penitent.”
“Examine the Scriptures daily and carefully, and set an example of
good works.”
“To revere a father is to regard him with fear mingled with respect
and affection.”
“Before you rise in the morning or retire at night, give thanks to
God for his mercies, and implore the continuance of his protection.”
“Strong drink leads to the debasement both of the mind and the body.”
There are many ways you can use the speller to teach all of the
language arts to your child. I will describe for you how our family
uses the speller. You may discover or invent other ways.
Webster’s speller begins with two sections entitled “Analysis of
Sounds in the English Language” and “Key to the Pronunciation.” Even
though Webster meant for his speller to be used to teach children how
to read (phonics), we recommend that you use one of the more modern
phonics curricula to teach reading. Webster’s analysis of the sounds
of the consonants is fairly easy to understand and is similar to what
you have learned from such phonics programs as Alphaphonics or
Spaulding, and though his descriptions of the sounds of the vowels
may not have been confusing to people in the 19th century, they will
be confusing to those of us who are used to 20th century phonics
programs. Webster differentiates seven sounds for the letter “A”,
five sounds for “E”, four sounds for “I”, eight sounds for “O”, and
four sounds for “U”. Twentieth century phonics programs simplify this
to only two or three sounds for each vowel. Spaulding and others have
three sounds for “A” (fat, fate, father), two sounds for “E” (wet,
we), two sounds for “I” (fin, find), three sounds for “O” (tot, tote,
too), and three sounds for “U” (putt, repute, put). Because of these
differences, we recommend that you not use Webster’s speller to teach
reading (phonics).
We begin using Webster’s speller in our family when the child is age
ten. By this age the child is able to read, to understand the rules
of spelling, and to grasp the grammatical concepts of subject, verb
and direct object. We give each child a three-ring notebook filled
with paper and subject dividers. This will be his lifelong English
language arts notebook. The student can have separate sections for
spelling rules, punctuation, capitalization, sentence diagramming,
grammar, etc. You will need to purchase a book which explains
spelling rules and sentence diagramming. A good English handbook such
as Bob Jones English Handbook may be adequate. You can often find
English handbooks at old book stores or on Ebay.
On pages 15-16 Webster shows the student how to form the letters of
the alphabet: Roman, Italic, Old English and Script. A section of the
child’s notebook can be labeled “Formation of Letters.”
I begin on page 20 (Lesson 12) by dictating to the child the first
ten words.The words are in word families (cab, dab, nab, etc.). We
are not teaching reading (decoding) using Webster, but spelling
(encoding). As you dictate these words you will explain to the child
why the words are spelled the way they are.The spelling rules in the
back of Webster plus your English handbook will help you with this. I
continue dictating ten words a day until I have used all of Webster’s
one syllable, short vowel words. The child can add spelling rules to
his notebook as he learns them.
As the child writes these ten words from dictation you will show him
the proper way to form the letters in cursive. Some children will
need more instruction in this area than others, and some children
will be completely familiar with handwriting from their previous
phonics instruction. Communicate to the child that whatever is
entered in the notebook should be written neatly. After the ten words
are dictated you can dictate a sentence to the child. At the beginning
you will need to make up the sentences, as Webster does not have
simple sentences with only a subject and a verb.You will be teaching
English grammar using these dictated sentences, and that is where the
English handbook comes in again. The first sentence you dictate will
be on the order of, “Mary ran.” It is at this point that you will
begin to teach what a noun is, what a verb is, and what the subject
and predicate are. You can also introduce some capitalization and
punctuation rules here (pages 168-169 Webster). The section of the
notebook on grammar can be divided into a single page for each part
of speech: noun, verb, etc. At the beginning, the only thing the
child will have on his noun page will be the definition: A noun names
a person, place, thing, quality or idea. The child will add more about
nouns as you teach him. The same will be true with his verb page and
the other parts of speech.
Now you show the child how to diagram the sentence, “Mary ran.”
I dictate three sentences per day, and the child will diagram all
three sentences. After a few days of simple subject/verb only
sentences of your own, you will begin to use Webster’s more difficult
sentences. Move on only after the student has mastered each concept.
At some point the student will be ready for long vowel words. Long
vowel words begin at Lesson 17-20 and again at Lesson 33. Introduce
two syllable words only when the student is ready for them. On pages
159-164 of Webster you will find the spelling rules. At some point
you will introduce these rules and dictate words from these pages (or
choose your own words).
Also included in Webster on pages 139-146 are paragraphs to dictate;
on pages 146-152 are words spelled alike and words pronounced alike
(along with the definitions and lots of sentences); on page 165,
Roman numerals; on pages 166-168, words and phrases from foreign
languages and abbreviations.
Use Noah Webster’s speller as the basic text and supplement with an
English handbook. Your child will compile his own notebook while he
learns spelling, handwriting, grammar, and vocabulary. You will
eliminate the need to buy a multitude of graded workbooks for each of
these subjects and for each grade level. You will be there watching
and guiding your child’s growth in knowledge and understanding, and
perhaps learning a few things yourself along the way.
You can download a copy of Noah Webster’s speller here.
(MCL)
with 
(personal library)
