Today we want to dive into a few questions that we’ve received from different home educating parents who have questions about Charlotte Mason’s method of dictation. If you’re not familiar with that wonderful method for teaching children spelling, then take a look at that post, How to Do Dictation. The corresponding video will walk you […]
Today we want to talk about how to do formal spelling lessons in a Charlotte Mason way: dictation. If you have been following the previous articles in this How To series, you will have seen how Charlotte included some spelling components in both copywork and transcription. (And even in beginning reading lessons.) Those preparatory practices […]
Today I want to explain a practice that will help your student develop handwriting fluency, practice beautiful penmanship, encourage correct spelling, and feed your child’s mind with worthy ideas. It’s a simple practice, but it can yield big results. That practice is transcription. Here’s how to do it. What You Will Need Just as with […]
Perhaps you have heard the term “copywork” and wondered what exactly it is. Copywork is a method that Charlotte Mason used to help children learn letter formation. Let’s walk through what that looks like. What You Will Need Basically you need two things: something to copy and something to write with. The “something to copy” […]
I’m a list person. As I sit at my desk and type these words, I’ve lost count of how many items I’ve added to my to-do list already today. Lists can be effective tools for many things. But when it comes to spelling, Charlotte Mason showed us that lists are not the most effective way […]
I remember in elementary school we had weekly spelling lists. Ten words we were expected to learn before Friday’s spelling test. I would look over the list and identify any words I didn’t already know and study those. When it was time for the test, the teacher would dictate the list to us—one word at […]
Natural progressions. We see them all around us. A plant sprouts, then grows taller and wider, then develops buds, then blossoms with flowers. A baby pulls himself up, then stands, then cruises with the help of the sofa or mom’s supportive hands, then eventually walks alone. The same holds true in Charlotte Mason’s approach to […]
In studying to put together our new book, Hearing and Reading, Telling and Writing: A Charlotte Mason Language Arts Handbook, I was once again amazed at the way Charlotte could take a simple idea and pack it full of benefits. Take copywork, transcription, and dictation, for examples. Each of those methods is pretty simple to […]
Charlotte Mason had a knack for keeping school interesting. Not only did she include a variety of subjects, but she taught those subjects with enjoyable (and effective) methods. Take the subject of spelling, for example. Most of us were taught spelling with lists of words. Charlotte realized that lists have drawbacks: they aren’t interesting and […]
Well, we’ve been holed up in the office for several weeks, but we’re pleased to announce that the dictation books we’ve been talking about and working on are complete! They’re called “Spelling Wisdom.” We thought that was a fitting title since the books teach spelling words using the wisdom of Charlotte Mason’s prepared dictation method […]
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