Should i correct?

[GobHoblin]

My daughter is Y1 and flying with reading. Her writing is pretty good i think. She is constantly writing notes, stories, letters etc in her free time. So all i need to know is should i be correcting her spellings or ignoring them? Her spellings are always phonetically good (i think, as an amateur!)
For example she will sometimes use 'ie' instead of 'y' on certain words.
She really wants to get it right, but if she has asked and i have pointed out a mistake, she gets upset.
Have i answered my own question? At what stage do spellings become important?

My dd is also in Y1 and the teacher has told me, we are not to correct any spellings, as at this stage it as more important that they express themselves rather than worry about the spelling. If it is spelt correctly then all well and good but all they are looking for at this stage is a phonetically plausible attempt.

don't correct any spelling just yet

You should only point out errors if you have none yourself. Sorry. I wouldn't point out mistakes at this age, you'll damage her self esteem.

Thankyou all, thats exactly as i thought. Its very difficult as she asks me how its spelt after she's written it, then has a mini meltdown if its wrong. Going to try to avoid it completely!
LadyMary, I am totally aware of that, hence me posting. I'm not pointing out mistakes at all, she is asking me afterwards if she has spelt it right. Thankyou for the condescending tone though, much appreciated!

I used to correct DS, and he would check practically every word with me before writing anything. I have consciously not done it with DD (now Y1) and she is off writing pages and pages with 'interesting' spelling by herself and just did all her thank you letters without me nagging once. Occasionally she will come and ask "what kind of is it in , and I will tell her, but otherwise I am leaving it to school, and she is now learning how to make informed guesses and her accuracy is improving.

If she gets upset, then leave it (assuming it's a phonemically decipherable attempt).

But I did differently with one of mine, for he didn't mind correction, liked to get it exactly right, and was general of a mindset that 'if it doesn't matter if it's right it doesn't matter at all'. You have to tailor your approach to the individual child. Anything that causes upset will be counterproductive.

It's not the end of the world, BTW - aforementioned DS is 9 and a very fluent reader, and his spelling is not bad when he concentrates, so no lasting damage done IMO.

I will always correct in an appropriate manner if asked, proper spelling and grammar is fundamentally important. Ds1(6) is a keen writer and often asks me to read his work (notes, cards, stories, etc) so I'll say something like "ooh have you been doing at school today" or "can you think of other ways the sound is sometimes written" or "this sound is usually written this way, so you'll know for next time" etc.

My DD asks if a word is correct - I can't lie if it's wrong so I go down the 'what other way do you think you could have made this sound?' route. Obviously only works for some things eg 'or'/ 'aur', 'ie'/'y'. She doesn't seem to mind corrections if she has done it herself. I don't just correct automatically though.

Don't correct spellings yet if it upsets her.

It's more important that she is willing to write at the moment and as long as what she is writing is phonetically plausible (i.e. you can sound it out/read it without her having to tell you what it says) then don't worry.

What you could do if she talks to you about a story she is writing first is discuss some words that might arise often and then create a word bank. So if she wants to write a story about a farm, you could discuss what animals she might find on a farm. And then write those down for her to copy the correct spellings.

I would encourage her to spell words such as and, is, at correctly, words that she has learned and can be easily sounded out.

But in terms of correcting her spelling retrospectively, no I wouldn't at this age. Unless she has specifically asked you about a word.

Thankyou all, its been really helpful and some great suggestions

Mine (Y1) has melt downs too if I dare correct. Now I don't correct while she's doing it, but afterwards, if she asks me if it's right (a 'does my bum look big in this' question...) 'I might say... that's a really good guess, and it sounds right, but did you know that it's written this way by grown ups....' and then I write down the word and leave it at that. She has learned how to spell 'went' (wen), school (scol) and birthday (birstay) this week by doing that.
But if I don't leave a gap between her writing and my comments then it's a hellish melt down.

More of my energy goes on encouraging her to use lower case letters. They don't seem to have been taught those in reception. Nor phonics, as far as I can see!