Transcription

I just started transcription this week…I just realized I was supposed to be doing it (oversight).   My 7yo boy is always in a rush to finish anything…specifically anything that has to do with fine motor skills.  I can tell him to “picture the word in the mind’s-eye” but he won’t slow down and do it.  What I decided to do for our transition was sit down with him side by side and do our transcription together.  We use a primary composition book (with space for illustrations at the top).  Here are my steps if anyone is interested:

1. I write/say – you watch/listen.
   I write one word of a poem or hymn on the left side of the composition book (I’m enunciating phonetically, saying aloud each letter and modeling slow writing all at the same time)
2. You think
   I make him close his eyes and visualize and spell the word in his head.
3. You spell
   He then spells the word aloud
4. You write
   I then have him write it down on the right-hand side of the notebook.  I erase and correct immediately when he begins to make a mistake (as Sonya & CM suggest).  I even erase any mal-formed letters immediately.
5. You illustrate
   At the end I have him illustrate his copybook relevant to the words he just transcribed.
6. little “spelling bee quiz”
   At the end, I will pick about five words from this and former lessons for him to verbally spell…no pressure… I keep it light and fun

This has slowed copywork down A LOT; which is what I wanted.  Prior, I would write and illustrate the whole poem on the left side and he would write and illustrate on the right side all by himself as seat work.  I will say he DETESTED copywork in the beginning.  Over time with consistency he has come to take pride in his poetry collection.  He has started a new kind of frustration…he doesn’t care for the stop-and-think nor the repetitiveness of spelling & re-spelling one word at a time.  We still have the 15 – 20 minute timeframe (we of course accomplish much less of the poem at a time). I trust he’ll get over this too.  So far so good after 2-days.  So I don’t pressure him it’s just a expectation spilling over from copywork.  We’re just operating with a couple of new rules.  Hope this gives another idea of tackling transcription.

(sorry so long 🙂