Spelling wisdom

Daily copywork is a way for children to practice their handwriting and to begin to notice how words are spelled and how sentences are structured. Spelling Wisdom is prepared dictation, which replaces copywork when a child is capable of copying a phrase at a time from her copywork without having to look at the model. You can learn more about language arts in a Charlotte Mason education in our article series on language arts.

A Book of Mottoes is a keepsake book for the student. In it they record anything from their readings that interested them, quotes, a line or two from a poem, a whole poem, a song lyric, etc. Usually, moms require their older students to write in their Book of Mottoes about once a week, though Charlotte Mason suggested writing in them daily.

When using Spelling Wisdom and Using Language Well, two lessons each week is our recommendation. You would dictate the Spelling Wisdom passage when your child has studied it sufficiently to be confident in the spelling of all the words in the passage. Usually that would be the same day as the Using Language Well lesson, but if your child needs more time to study, you could dictate the passage to her later in the day or the next day. Do what works best for your child and your family.