DT>Through daily practice and teacher guidance, the child 
DT>gradually moves towards conventional spelling. 
 RM> And here's where the potential problems develop!  WHAT type
 RM> of "practice"; more reading and writing only?  WHAT teacher
 RM> "guidance"?  A new teacher, reading this, would be left to
 RM> assume that spelling lists are a bad thing, and that the
 RM> students are better served doing a lot of reading, writing,
 RM> and "risk taking", yet there is nothing in the above which
 RM> supports the notion that for SPELLING there is anything
 RM> better than word lists.  To promote WRITING in context, or
 RM> to develop a love of reading, a spelling list is of little
 RM> good, otoh... One needs BOTH... Imo, of course....
Exactly! Why not develop spelling lists from the writing errors and the 
vocabulary lists from class reading. Then you have the best of both. Use 
lists from the child's experience - then expect (demand?) that these words be 
spelled correctly on any published work, (written stories or etc. taken home 
or hung on the wall at school).
--- Maximus 2.02
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