A site w/ suggested free dication passages??

We’re not using Ambleside Online now, but when I was a member of the AO Yahoo group, I believe they had files with prepared dictation passages from some of the literature books that are recommended.

Perhaps someone who uses AO and/or belongs to the group can point you in the right direction.

Ah, ha! I found it….it’s AO Copywork, and if you are interested in joining the group, here’s the link:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AOCopywork/

HTH,

Sue

There are also some great old books available to download free on Google books.  We used selections from the Modern Speller by Kate Van Wangeren last year.  They are divided by year, as in ‘Year 1, first half’ or something like that.  Since it is an old book, the selections focus on good character and patriotism and respect for elders, and other such old-fashioned nonsense.  (ya know I’m joking, right?)  These selections pull out some words that might be difficult to spell and list them separately and syllabize them, so it helps with spelling.  There is also a spelling review every five lessons or so.  I needed to make some slight modifications for modernization, but mostly we used it as is.  

I’ll try to include a link  http://books.google.com/books?id=MfcAAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Modern+Speller&as_brr=0&cd=2#v=onepage&q=Modern%20Speller&f=false

Ah, there it is.  There are actually dozens of spellers over there, each one has some merit, so perhaps you can find one that will work for you.  I also really liked With Pencil and Pen, but that one is in cursive.  hth