What's the best way to help a bright, inattentive 6th grade student
who's very weak in spelling?  He's OK at sudying for the spelling
test, but forgets what he's learned soon thereafter.  The fact that
his writing is full of spelling errors is partly carelessness and
inattention, but it's also not really understanding the code and
"patterns" of how spelling work.  Or having much patience for learning
it.

Any good books, systems, computer games, ideas?

Hello copyguy-ga,

Spelling is mostly memorization. There are some patterns, but they all
have variations as well.

I'm sure we've all heard...
i before e
except after c
or when sounding like a
as in neighbor and weigh  

Except as I mentioned above, there are always exceptions. That's why I
think it's more memorization than anything.

Exceptions to the above:

"albeit ancient atheism beige being caffeine casein cleidoic codeine
conscience counterfeit deficient (deficiencies) deify deity deign deil
disseize dreidel efficient eider eight either feign feint feisty
financier foreign forfeit freight geisha glacier gleization gneiss
greige greisen heifer heigh-ho height heinous heir heist inveigle
kaleidoscope keister leisure leitmotiv monteith neigh neighbor neither
obeisance omniscient onomatopoeia peignoir phenolphthalein phthalein
prescient proficient protein reign reimburse rein reinforce reinstate
reveille Rotweiller science seeing seiche seidel seine seismic seize
seizin sheik sheila society sovereign specie species sufficient
surfeit surveillance teiid their veil vein weight weir weird"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_before_e_except_after_c (Wikipedia -
User edited dictionary)

Here are some other things that may help.

"Free printable worksheets, help, and advice from an experienced English teacher."
http://www.spelling.hemscott.net/

It's designed for the teacher, parent, and child to improve spelling
in a child. Lots of available resources here.

One of the suggestions it has is to play word games with your child in
order to encourage spelling skills while having fun. Play Boggle,
Hangman, and Scrabble to name a few.

http://www.teach-nology.com/teachers/subject_matter/literature/spelling/
Tons of spelling sites for teachers and parents. Games, guidelines, songs and more.

Also, have you had him tested for something like dyslexia. You can be
great at school but have trouble with letters. It can go unnoticed for
a long time in some children. You may waqnt to ask your Dr. about if
it could be medical related.

Google Searches Used:
Learn to spell
://www.google.com/search?q=learn%20to%20spell

If this answer requires further explanation, please request
clarification before rating it, and I'll be happy to look into this
further.

Nenna-GA

The student should be evaluated bya learning specialist.  You cannot
be sure you have accurately diagnoised the student's problem.  Better
to rule out a leaning disability than be under a false inpression as
to his reaons for not doing well.

Bigrog-ga,

I'm sorry you feel that my example was bad. However, it's one of the
most common spelling "rhymes" that we all know with a lot of
exceptions as you can see nby the exception list. However, I did list
your website as one for the question asker to take a look at in my
answer. It's a good site.

Also, just so you know, listing your own site is against the GA Terms of Service.
"Furthermore, you agree that you will not submit questions or
***comments*** that are unlawful, defamatory, harassing, abusive,
fraudulent, obscene, contain viruses, ***intended to advertise or sell
goods or services***, or are otherwise objectionable."
http://answers.google.com/answers/termsofservice.html (See #2)

I did let the editors know about the comment since it violates the TOS.

Also, for the record, I'm a she, not a he :)

Nenna-GA