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Spelling Wisdom X 3 kids=boredom potential for Mom
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I have 3 kids going through Spelling Wisdom. I have to admit that I get bored dictating the same passage by the time the third kid is ready for it. Does anyone else have a situation like this? I have to wonder how Charlotte Mason could have done this with a class full of kids?
Side note- I love Spelling Wisdom! The passages are interesting and have sparked us to seek out literature that we would have never known existed. And we have taken to quoting some of the passages as they fit into our daily life! 🙂 It’s way, way better than a list of words!
Do them all at the same time. You determine when it’s ime to do dictation instead of them. I assume in the classroom she let them know that it was time for dictation; the students themselves didn’t tell the teacher when it was time.
I would not have them all doing the same passage. If they do different passages it cuts down on the boredom factor for you and more importantly it minimizes the potential for competition between siblings.
Also they probably don’t all need to study dictation every day, so it might work well to do dictation for each child on a different day. That would perhaps help it to be less monotonous for you?
Just some thoughts. 🙂
~Jenn
I had difficulty with my children doing dictation at the same time because my children dictate at different speeds. So, I recorded myself reading the Spelling Wisdom passages (I spend about an hour to get ahead 50-70 lessons). I save my recordings to one file per Spelling Wisdom book and upload them to my itunes. The children know how to operate their ipod shuffles and are completely independent from me (yet my voice still rings through their heads). I use taped index cards with little notes on the lessons for something to be further studied, a quick activity, with the answers on the flip side of the card (spelling markings of a few words, diagramming, Scripture thoughts, etc). I only have to read each lesson once…and I can get a bit more dramatic in my readings. I don’t know if Charlotte Mason would approve, but I have seven children and one more due. The CM police haven’t been over yet.
The three kids are the same age (triplets) but are moving forward in the Lessons at different paces. So, I am not reading the same dictation 3 times in the same day, but within a couple of weeks. As far as doing the dictation the way Sonya explains it, we are supposed to be watching them as they spell each word so we can be quick to cover up any misspellings- how can you watch that closely when you’re dictating to more than one child at a time?
Sometimes I’ll have my kids give the dictation to each other. In our house, this is usually an older sibling reading for a younger sibling, but sometimes it’s the other way around. This isn’t the best way to do it, but Ruth Beechick’s words ring in my ears, “The best curriculum is the one that gets done.”
Janell — giggling at “the CM police”.
Just a couple of notes:
Sonya originated the CM police…and it made me laugh too.
And I do Spell to Write and Read with a variety of copywork in the early years. By the time the children are ready for independence, they know how to study a passage before dictation.
Hey Janell – I think I may end up doing something similar – thanks for the idea! I have 4 kids (2 years between each) and I could see being sick of the dictations by the 4th one! Just wondering how you figure out how to pace the reading out without being able to watch them write….
Angie – I can see how that would be hard to keep yourself interested with the passage being repeated within a couple of weeks (to 3x)
The children work at their own pace. Some children prefer to hear the entire lesson first then go back and play/pause one sentence or phrase at a time. One child replays and replays word by word…the pace is slow but steady and always accurate. The children decide when they have mastered their lessons before moving on to the next (especially as the passages get longer and more complex). They show me their dictations weekly unless they request assistance. Spelling Wisdom is my favorite language arts item…so I had to figure out how to get it done.
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