What to do if you have a great speller?

[Dandelion5]

Ggbhh

[my3sons]

Well, my first answer to your question is... CELEBRATE! What a wonderful thing it is to have a naturally great speller! I think I'd be able to give better advice if you shared what dictation level and passage numbers has he done in PHFHG? Thanks!

In Christ,
Julie

[Dandelion5]

Fffffff

[laurapella]

My just turned 10 yo was flying thru dictation also. I started at a lower level because this is the first time we have ever done dictation. I started jumping forward because he was not missing anything. We finally landed around Level 4 day 15 or so. The passages are much longer, and punctuation does count! From what I have read, I believe the child is supposed to study the passage first. My suggestion would be to continue forward, making sure your son is getting the punctuation correct also. If he continues to get everything right, I would continue to jump forward 10-15 passages every couple of days. I think if you do this, you will find a good spot for him to continue. HTH!

[my3sons]

He has done level 4 from PHFHG , I think we stopped at around day 9. He spells the words correctly,but misses some commas and semicolons, unless I allow him to study the passage before . I usually dictated the passage without him having to study it. If he readthe it before,his writing was always perfect. I think he has a strong visual memory.

I am not sure what is the best thing to do...but I am hoping semicolons and commas will come up in his grammar at some point and that he could skip level 4 and maybe start level 5 next year? Or better get a spelling book and which one would you recommend? Thank you for any help!

Thanks so much for sharing about your ds here! That really helps! Dictation is new to many of us, as we didn't do it in school ourselves. Dictation follows a different procedure than spelling does. At the start of the dictation passages in the Appendix, you can find an explanation of how dictation is to be done Charlotte Mason style. This is oh so helpful! Dc are actually always supposed to study the passage first, and if they miss a comma, a semi-colon, a capital letter, an indentation, spelling - or any little thing at all - they need to redo that passage the next day. The studying portion of the dictation process is as important to the learning as the writing of it. It helps them continually 'see' paragraphs written properly, which in turns, helps them begin to write paragraphs (with proper punctuation, grammar, spelling, etc.) properly more successfully. Commas and semi-colons do come up in grammar, but they are also meant to be covered through dictation. So, I think it would be a good idea to read through Carrie's explanation for doing dictation at the start of the passages, and start doing dictation each day in that manner. If he has not missed a single passage doing it this manner for 3 weeks or so, you could have him move ahead to passage 50 and see how he does, but you may find it is equally important to teach him the habit of doing dictation each day, while also helping him cement those trickier punctuation marks that you mentioned like use of semi-colons and commas. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

[Dandelion5]

Fffffff