A Spelling Rule changed me

Over the years I have come to appreciate some of the schools and teachers I had throughout my own schooling.  As a self-confessed Classical educator (who is still learning the ropes) for the last 7-8 years, I can look back on my schooling and recognize some of those methods employed in my own school.  Take for example, Sioux Fall Christian High School.  I attended during my 7th and 8th grade years.  I can distinctly recall every teacher in every subject having us outline our work for the full semester....we thought it was a conspiracy...it was!  I believe they were purposefully giving us the tools to organize our thoughts.  I also realize that I have some gaps but homeschooling has given ME the opportunity to begin to fill in some of those gaps.  Let's look at spelling....
I was never a poort student and I loved to read so my spelling wasn't too bad but that "e" on the end was such a tricky letter!  I knew the vowel-consonant-vowel pattern in words like cake, bike, and tire, but when the first vowel wasn't "long," I was stuck!  Words like ice, love, and Bible didn't follow that v-c-v pattern.  My aha! moment didn't come for at least 20 something more years. 
By this time I was a mom of 2 and struggling to help my own children with the same challenges but I didn't have the tools.   My friend, Corina, invited me to a Teaching Reading at Home and School workshop (now called Spell to Write and Read).  In one of the sessions, the trainer began to discuss this tricky rule....and broke it down not only into interesting jingles, but also showed me the beauty and logic of the English language when it came to this "silent final e."  I want to give you a sneak peek into those rules here:
1) Strongman E.  The most common and the one I knew best.  Strongman E helps the other vowel says its name.  So words like bite, broke, cake, and tire fit into this category. They also follow the v-c-v pattern.
2) V and U take 2.  This second rule actually overlaps with another rule that says that English words do not end in I, U, V, or J so words like lov, tru, and blu need an "e" to fulfill the complimentary rule. Still close to rule #1 but in words like blue and true it does not follow v-c-v so this brings clarity and reason to this spelling rule. And words like spaghetti?  Not an Enlish word!
3) C and G take 3.  This third rule also pairs up with a common rule that C and G have  a "soft" sound when followed by e, i, or y.  Of course G is not always that way but C is.  So letterss like "ic" become "ice" and "larg" becomes "large."
4) Wanda Sanseri, author of Spell to Write and Read, calls this fourth rule "Sidekick E."  Of course if you know that every syllable must have a vowel this rule will make sense when you consider words like Bi ble, syl la ble, or ta ble.  See that silent final E stuck on the end to fulfill the rule but its still just a Silent Sidekick.
5) O.K., Odd job E is probably the one that I am still learning more about!  If I see a word like "awe" or "ore" I realize it is giving length to a short word or distinguising it from its homonym counterpart.  These are just two reasons for Odd Job E although I know there are a few more reasons.

When I took the plunge Mrs. Sanseri's program, I knew it would require some effort on my part since I couldn't just pass the book to my kids and let them run with it.  I have never regretted it!
http://www.bhibooks.net/swr.html