Copywork Concern

[daybreaking]

My 8 yo ds is doing well with all aspects of Beyond (including the L.A. from Bigger), except the copywork. Because he is on the older end of BLHFHG's age range and also because he did a lot of writing last year, we had the goal of copying all of each of the poems in Beyond. The amount of work is not a problem, but his ability to do it well is. For an example, this morning, when he copied the first stanza of weeks 8's poem, he had around 15 errors. The errors were often spelling, such as whitch for which, were for where, etc., but he also occasionally has punctuation errors, such as forgetting a period or comma. What I'm unsure of is whether this is simply a lack of attention/carelessness on his part, whether it is just that I'm asking too much or if this is a red flag and I should be concerned that something more is going on. (I don't know what is normal for a 2nd grader as far as spelling and copywork. He does very well on any kind of formal spelling work and when orally quizzed, knows pretty much all the words from the second spelling list in BLHFHG, but I'm finding he often doesn't apply that knowledge to his written work. It's the same with punctuation, in that he knows how to end a sentence, but will sometimes forget to add the period.) I know in the past, when using R&S Reading, my ds would misspell words that could be found on the same page and when I inquired, he explained that he thought he was spelling them correctly, thus he didn't check, or that it would take too long to check and he didn't want to take the time. (I guess he didn't quite get that it took more time to have to correct the work, but that's another story.) I do remember reading CM saying that it is better for a child to write five perfect strokes (with handwriting), than a page of strokes not done well and I often wonder if I should drop the goal of completing each poem and just focus on accuracy and attention with just a line or two a day. My concern is that I feel he is capable of copying a stanza a day, plus he has been very proud of the copywork and illustrations in his poetry notebook and I know he'd feel discouraged to only have them partially done. (When his grandparents visited, he was thrilled to sit next to them, showing them the notebook.) I'd love any insight others have.

[GinainMD]

I kind of had a similar concern with my dd8 who is using Beyond. I really wanted to have the poems copied fully because I don't like to leave things "unfinished." I let that expectation go and concentrated on quality instead and have had beautiful results. We are still gradually increasing over time in hopes of being able to accurately copy the entire poem by the last units of Beyond. If you do not feel like that is a option for your ds could you divide copy work in two separate sittings? Just a thought.

[twoxcell]

I do not know what is exactly normal for this age as all kids are different. I can tell you that my 7 year old (2nd grade) can and does copy the whole poem over the week, and does not usually have errors unless he is distracted. I have had him doing copywork since K, and I emphasize attention. His handwriting is not that neat yet, but it is improving. I suggest shortening the copywork, and sitting right by him until he can do it properly. Boys have a hard time focusing, so make sure he is copying somewhere with limited distractions. I often send my ds to a room alone to copy, so he does not get distracted.

[mrsrandolph]

I would lessen the "amount" that he is doing until it is perfect. I also would sit with him as he does it. This is a suggestion form Susan Wise Bauer. That way you can watch every stroke and gently correct as a mistake is about to happen.

Otherwise it is pretty overwhelming to have to correct 14 mistakes : )

My daughter is in 3rd grade and does about half the amount of work as your son : ) FWIW

[John'smom]

My ds is 8 and so far has copied the whole poem each week. I don't think it's too much to ask of him. With that said, maybe your ds needs to work up to it. My ds had more mistakes at the beginning of the year than he does now. I will say most days he has some mistake(s), a misspelled word (he is not a naturally good speller), forgotten punctuation, etc. I actually found out today that he usually doesn't check his work. I reminded him that he should write a few words, check them, then write a few more, check them, etc..

Maybe you could ask your ds how he would feel about backing down to one line each day and gradually building up to do the whole poem. If this wouldn't make him feel bad, then that's probably what I'd do. He would know that the idea is to copy it exactly, checking it as he went along, and having in mind that he would build up to doing the whole poem eventually. You may have to sit with him at first reminding him as he went along, but eventually wean yourself away.

[Tree House Academy]

When my sons make those sorts of mistakes in their copywork, I have them go back and search for the mistakes themselves and change them. That means scanning each and every letter/word/etc. Now, they tend to copy more slowly and pay much more attention the first time around.

[Tansy]

I only let my dd 8 years old only copy 3-4 lines a day. We emphasize neatness and accuracy . She typically makes no more than 3 errors per poem. Excepting indentation errors. but I don't count those, that will come.

As to the closure we need as parents to have the poem complete in their books... ok confession time ... I finish copying it... *gasp* yes I do! I like to use this book for them to choose the Friday poem out of. It's no good if it's not done! I have one book for dd2 it has all of last years work and this years work she loves it. ❤ yup loves loves loves it. and its so cool to look how over time her handwriting has evolved. And if she wants me to re read Mothers Jewels for the 456th time I have it at my finger tips..

Edit for spelling

[my3sons]

Such good ideas! I think I'd have him copy one line and then check it over using the poem in the Appendix as a model. Then, I'd write a line of it for him, check it over using the poem (good modeling ), and have him do a line, check it; you do a line, check it. You could do 4 lines a day this way (you can adjust this, dividing a poem out so it's finished by Day 5 of the plans). I'd let him know that getting it exactly right is the purpose of copying it. So that is most important when doing copywork. Since he deeply desires to finish the poem, this would allow him to do that and yet have a bit less to copy. I would let him know you'll be doing this alongside him for awhile, but then he will gradually be taking it over. What paper is he using to write it on? That can make a difference too. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

[daybreaking]

What paper is he using to write it on? That can make a difference too. HTH!

We've been using one of the "marbled" black and white composition books.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you everyone for your suggestions. What a wealth of insight one can find on this board!

[my3sons]

If he seems to be in between needing handwriting paper and needing wide lined paper, you may want to use paper without lines and just use a ruler to draw the lines the distance apart that fits him right now. We did this for Riley, and it really helped him. Here's a post with a picture of this for his Bible verse on an index card:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5605&p=41147#p41147

Just something to try!
In Christ,
Julie

[Mommamo]

Julie, I love the idea of taking turns copying it! That would emphasize how important it is to be careful.

C is only 7 (just turned, actually) so we haven't been expecting her to copy the entire poem yet. We only expect 2 lines a day but we have NEVER had an error. Ever. So maybe he would benefit from slowing down a little, and you could definitely use Julie's idea so that he'd still get the whole poem. However, C not having error could be because she's a girl, and she's a perfectionist.

[daybreaking]

I just had to share ...

When my ds did his copywork today, I told him I would set the timer for 15 minutes and as long as he was diligent, whatever he completed was fine, as long as it was done well. I explained about the purpose of copywork and the importance of checking his work and being careful. I also had him work at the dining room table, near me, rather than upstairs, alone. Well, when the timer rang, he had completed the entire stanza with with NO spelling or punctuation errors, except for one missing apostrophe. I was so thrilled and I could tell he was delighted, too! Thank you again for all of your suggestions!

[pjdobro]

Woohoo! That is so awesome!

[my3sons]

I'm celebrating with you - hooray! I'm so glad you tried some of the ideas here, and that you saw good results. It is very nice to hear back from you how it went. Your having a positive outlook about giving a few new things a whirl surely helped produce the changes you saw in your sweetie. If you had this good of results in one time, I bet you'll be pleasantly surprised at how things continue to look up. What a diligent boy, and what a difference the proximity of the "mama" can make (it sure does in my house!) . We've actually found, at least for right now, it doesn't work for me to send my dc to their rooms to do their work. Something happens up there that makes it impossible for them to use time wisely - I'm not sure what - but it's like a no work zone at our house upstairs right now. So, we're all on the main floor, but we sure do rotate through the rooms there.

In Christ,
Julie