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Spelling Wisdom
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I have a 8 year old just finishing up 2nd grade and a 10 year old at the end of 4th grade. I’d like to transition into using Spelling Wisdom for both of them and am wondering if I should start with the first or second book for my 10 year old (it is assumed that the first book is best for my 8 year old). If your suggestion is to start with the first book, do I begin at the beginning and move though more quickly or start at some point in the milddle?
I would start with Book One at the beginning of the book so as to not miss anything.
Some use the first half or so of SW Book One for transcription for a younger child and do not start dictation until the second half of Book One.
These are just suggestions, though. I think that there is a lot of freedom in how the SW books are used.
I started at the beginning of book one this past January with a 10 & 8 year old (4th / 3rd). My 10 year old has done some dictation previously and some spelling. Starting at the beginning was just right since it accelerates quickly. The first 10 or so were easy for him, but I would say 3 months in that it has really helped his spelling greatly. My 8 year old is doing well with it and moved slower early on so they are about 10 lessons apart at this point. I would start at the first one and see what you think. The sayings and verses have marvelous lessons within them for discussion that I have really enjoyed doing with them. The end of book 1 has very long dictations that look challenging.
Very helpful ladies, thank you!
I’m curious how it looks for your lessons with the longer dictation sections toward the end of the book. Do they write it all in one sitting? Do you focus on a few sentences at a time for learning the words?
I am new to Charlotte Mason products. I am looking for materials for next year for 2nd, 4th and 7th grades, but have a lot of questions. We haven’t until recently done copywork. Should I have my middle schooler do this (I have been, but in cursive)? Also, I am looking for materials that cover penmanship, dictation, grammar and spelling, so I have considered buying copybook readers, primary and intermediate language lessons and spelling wisdom. Are these redundant? It looks like Language Lessons has dictation practice, but I’m just not sure what to buy to cover all these categories. Can anyone help me know what to get?
With dictation, choose based on ability. You can choose a passage in a book they are currently reading or a Spelling Wisdom passage. There is no need to start from the beginning of a SW book. Choose a passage that has perhaps 3 words which are difficult for your child. Have the child study with your help as necessary for whatever length of time is needed – a few minutes to a few days. Once the child is confident, dictate the passage one phrase at a time, speaking each phrase only once. Cover and correct mistakes either as you go or immediately after to avoid imprinting the wrong spelling. I would choose different passages for each child and allow each to work at his own pace.
With long passages, the child should prepare (study and learn) the entire piece taking the length of time necessary. However, the actual dictation may be only a portion of the piece.
@heidicoillot – The 2nd grader needs only copywork and reading practice. The 4th grader, if ready, will move from copywork (letter by letter) to transcription (word by word and then phrase by phrase). Once transcription is going well, add dictation. The 4th grader may also be ready to bein written narrations if oral narrations are going well. The 7th grader can have a commonplace book to gather favorite passages and quotes in his best penmanship – essentially choosing his own copywork to practice penmanship, good grammar and mechanics. If cursive is new, then work on letter formations and move forward from there. Also, the 7th grader can start both grammar and dictation.
- Spelling Wisdom – can be used for copywork, transcription, and dictation from ages 8-9+
- If letter formation is needed, choose a workbook or some printables to help.
- Grammar – Jr. Analytical Grammar and Analytical Grammar are two succint yet detailed choices. Other options exist. It isn’t necessary to have grammar every year.
- Primary and Intermediate Language Lessons have some aspects of the above in addition to other things. I found these to be overkill for us. However, if used, they can be done mostly orally.
Hope that helps,
Christie
Christie, Your comment “…copywork (letter by letter) to transcription (word by word and then phrase by phrase)…” makes me wonder if I am doing it correctly per CM. I hate to ask you to spell it out but what do you mean exactly? Thanks!
-Leslie
When a child begins copywork, they typically copy the passage (regardless of length) one letter at a time, looking at the original for each letter being copied. Gradually, they can copy several letters before looking back at the original. This grows to one full word and then a phrase. This is still copywork with the same goal, but transcription is the next step so to speak. Once transcription is going well and the child is ~ 9-10, then dictation can begin. We continue with copywork (we call it copywork all through) and add dictation in.
Does that help? I’m tired and a bit fuzzy this evening. 🙂
Christie
Thanks Chrisite. My son (6) is doing one letter at a time and I never really considered the next logical step with progression.
I know the *ideal* is “repeat each phrase only once,” but let’s just say they loose the thought, do I not repeat it? For the most part, my 6th grader remembers the phrase, but there are 5 other kids here and there is a lot going on. IF a phrase is forgotten midway, then what do you recommend?
Also, (we have been doing SW regularly since Oct) she has a hard time figuring the punctuation, wether there is a comma or not, because of when I pause. Let me explain: sometimes the phrase is long, and there is no comma, (i pause) because I don’t want to give her too long of a sentence, but I also don’t want to confuse her with a pause, indicating there is a comma, when there isn’t> {am I explaining this clearly}?
Thanks!
That is a great question kellywright006, I hope someone has some feedback as I would be interested to hear too!
On kellywright006’s question above. This is a good point about the longer phrases that need to read in “full” in order that your voice/reading reflect the comma. It does make for a long piece for your DD to remember and write out all at once, but I would say that we should be reading it according to the punctuation (or at least making that the goal). If we read in a way that suggests pauses or commas in places other than those which the author placed, we are not providing the true flow of the author’s overall thought; instead of getting the passage in context, the child is getting word/phrase parts. Of course, there might be exceptions here and there, but I am feeling as though we should be trying as much as possible to be dictating according to the punctuation in the passage.
If she is struggling with it, perhaps she needs more methods and varied methods during her dictation study days? I always feel that by the time the dictation day comes around, after 3 or 4 study days, the child should have it down cold, and in some cases my son by day 3 or 4 of studying has it almost memorized. My son is only 5th grade and probably earlier in SW than your DD, but I know that when I don’t guide him on his SW studying, he simply doesn’t study the passage effectively. I really wanted SW on “study days” to be independent for him, but it has proven not to be the case. Each child is different, of course!
HTH a bit, I will be interested to know what others have to say.
I found that the video from the SCM learning library http://simplycharlottemason.com/learning-library/videos/ called “Prepared Dictation” helped me a lot. We do it the way Sonya suggested, which is to read a short phrase at a time but to start reading the next phrase as they are writing the last word from the previous phrase so that it flows. So a long sentence without any commas would still be broken into shorter phrases. Once we have finished the entire passage I read the passage again in full pausing for any commas and sentence breaks and my child adds any punctuation they may have missed the first time (this isn’t from the video – it’s just what works for us.) And if my child forgets a phrase mid-way through writing I just repeat it – this gets better with practice. My children want to get the dictation over quickly so they know it is best to pay attention.
Earlier in the week we review the passage that will be dictated and check for any words that they need to learn as well as any punctuation. I try at this time to teach WHY the comma or semicolon, etc. is placed where it is. I find that with this method they usually have most of the punctuation correct after the first reading, but they don’t feel that they have “failed” if they miss a comma, etc. the first time around. If I set them up for success they enjoy the process much more. They have become better with punctuation as we move through the Spelling Wisdom book and over time they are able to remember longer chunks of phrases.
Oops! I had to edit this to fix my own spelling mistake!
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