Confusion about Copywork

First off, I don’t think we should compare Charlotte’s students to our own. 😉 Remember, Charlotte wasn’t a wife or mother, didn’t run a household, and likely had her own cook. She could devote tons of time and attention to her students because of this. 

Children should begin by copying words letter by letter, using their best effort and giving their full attention. This might mean a child in 2nd grade only does 2-3 minutes of copywork per day, which is fine. Once they are copying letters well, then you can move on to transcription, but often it happens naturally. Children soon learn that it is quicker to memorize several letters in sequence and write them without pausing between each letter. Once they are putting sequences of letters together, they naturally move to words. If you are concerned that this movement from letters to words is not happening, you can put the passage to be copied in a spot away from the child so that he has to get up and look before sitting back down and copying. Very quickly, he will begin to remember more and more so that he doesn’t have to get up as much. 

Any kind of copying, whether manuscript, cursive, or italic, is writing a.k.a. copywork for us CMers. It is best for children to see the letters formed exactly as they are expected to write them. So, if you can get your hands on some pre-made copywork pages or make some yourself, that will help your son.

Charlotte did not want children to spend much time copying individual letters, like rows of d’s and t’s. Instead, children should copy words, because they speak in words and will read words later, if they are not already doing so. Placing a feast of good ideas before the child meant that living ideas were conveyed in copywork as well, be it through copying passages of poetry or from literature, Scriptures, or songs and hymns.

I hope that helps, Jennifer,

Lindsey

Sorry if I’m a bit confused, Jennifer. You say you’re looking at words he may not know, which he confirms, and then you give it a go. This sounds a lot like dictation to me. That’s exactly what I do with my children when they are studying a new dictation passage. We never studied words, even unfamiliar ones, for copywork. My children were reading by the time they were copying passages, instead of just letters or singular words, so they could read their copywork. They may not have understood the definitions of all the words, so I would tell them what a word meant if they asked. 

Is your son copying words from the type of handwriting you want him to learn? Why are you writing on a white board and then erasing for him to write it? Again, I’m sorry if I’m confused, but much of what you’re describing sounds like dictation, not copywork. Could you clarify this a bit for me? 

Thanks,

Lidnsey