Recent Entries

• Too old to change?
• No Time for God
• Hopeless
• Afraid of Being Left Behind
• Regrets

Archives

• May 2008
• April 2008
• March 2008
• May 2007
• April 2007

• Contact Sheila

Ask Sheila

Sheila Schuller Coleman is the firstborn child of Robert H. Schuller, the Founding Pastor of the Crystal Cathedral. Sheila has had a diverse career as a published author (curricula, children’s books, devotionals, and books on family), a public school teacher, and most recently as a private Christian school administrator for over 13 years. She is currently serving as the Director of Family Ministries at the Crystal Cathedral overseeing the Crystal Cathedral Pre-school, Academy, Middle School and High School, as well as the Children’s Ministries and Student Ministries of the Crystal Cathedral. As such, her life has been intertwined with families of all ages in multiple capacities. As a Christian leader she has mentored teachers, principals, preschool directors, youth pastors, and children’s pastors.

Sheila has an Ed. D. in Educational Leadership and Administration from the University of California, Irvine. Sheila and her husband, Jim, have been happily married for almost 30 years. They have four grown sons who are involved in their own careers and academic pursuits.

September 21, 2006

Spell-Check-Mated

Dear Sheila, My oldest son is in fourth grade. He has always been a good student, but suddenly the papers that he has been bringing home have low scores on them. For instance, his spelling test last week was a low “C”. Academics are important to my husband and to me and so I have begun to spend a lot of time every night with him working on his spelling list. Last night, he kept missing the same word and I began to get angry. I ended up yelling at him and now I feel guilty. I don’t want him to fall behind but I also don’t want our relationship to be affected. Do you have any suggestions? Spell-Check-Mated

Dear Spell-Check-Mated,

I must say that your letter brought back memories. I felt like I was reliving difficult evenings with my son who was a terrible speller. Fortunately at that time I was in a Masters program in education so the paper I did that semester focused on spelling. Two things helped a lot! First of all – I made the hard decision to stop working with my son at night on spelling. I didn’t think it was worth the battle. With Spell-check I decided that spelling was not an essential skill – a nice skill – but not essential. I decided that reading was essential! I will tell you that I feared his spelling grades would drop to a “D” or worse. But the reality was that they didn’t drop that much. Meanwhile, we were a much happier family! Second, we replaced the spelling bouts with reading aloud to him, which he loved!

I suggest you try something similar. And focus on what your son is good at and continue to read to him and continue to encourage him in his gift area and teach him how to use spell-check. Finally, remember -- in Heaven there are no spelling bees!

God loves you and so do I!

-- Sheila

Ask Sheila Your Question