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I was on board with a lot of Charlotte Mason's views on education, but one that worried me a bit was spelling. As a former user of Spelling Power, and as the mother of a child who required 2 years of in-home speech therapy to speak correctly, I was not quite sure I could give up spelling lists and eventually just do dictation and copywork to teach spelling.

In Beyond..., I still had my safety net because there were 2 spelling lists that taught the main rules and had wonderful activities that Carrie planned in a Charlotte Mason style manner, with white boards and black markers; I made that transition well.

But in Bigger..., there is one spelling list and then dictation. I had done the spelling list already in Beyond..., so I felt a bit shaky doing just dictation. O.k. here comes a confession - at the beginning of the year I tried to do R & S spelling along with the dictation in Bigger... I just couldn't let go of the "spelling list" idea.

I realized about 3 months into doing Bigger..., that my ds was spelling the words he learned from dictation right in everything he wrote, and he was still not spelling the words he learned from his R & S spelling workbook right anywhere but in the actual R & S workbook.

Without sharing this insight, I asked my son which way he remembered how to spell things better - through dictation/copywork, or through R & S spelling. He didn't pause a bit before saying "dictation/copywork".

So, with shaking fingers, I put away the R & S spelling book, and decided to give the dictation (and copywork) a whirl on their own.

Ladies - I have not looked back since! Imagine me on a Harley with my hair slicked back racing in the wind, and you'll imagine how freeing it's been to race away from those spelling lists! And, I'm even more convinced of the power of the CM phrase "Does it look right?". During my son's spelling portion of his standardized testing this week, he kept talking to himself out loud, "Hmmmm, does it look right? No, that one just looks wrong. But, this one, well it just looks right."

I think he only missed 1 spelling word - and he's my ds that had speech therapy for 2 years and still struggles with mispronouncing things. I believe that his ability to spell well has completely come from Charlotte Mason's methods of spelling being taught well through Carrie's HOD guides. I am a firm believer in dictation/copywork now - thanks Carrie, for making CM's form of teaching spelling doable, manageable, and freeing for me!

In Christ,
Julie

hmmm, this is interesting for me to chew on! I am still an avid fan of spelling......... Thanks for sharing your experience!

I'll also chime in to say that this was a very hard area for me to let go of with my kiddos too. So, I can empathize!

I did a formal spelling program with my oldest son through the middle of grade 3. Then, we went to strictly dictation. To make sure my son was progressing, I tested him in Spelling Power at the beginning and end of the year to see how much his spelling level had grown throughout the year. He grew 3 levels spelling-wise during that year, doing only dictation.

With our second son, we have done purely copywork and dictation. He also spells very well.

One noticeable change after starting dictation, was my son's improvement in spelling within his daily written work. Dictation does a great job of training children to spell words correctly within the context of writing. I'd encourage you to consider using dictation for spelling for a year and see how it works for you.

Blessings,
Carrie

I am a former public school teacher who had to give the weekly spelling lists. I am amazed that copywork and dictation work so well. I had always just assumed I would have a spelling program but you have given me some sweet morsel to chew on. I love that homeschooling can be so freeing from strict guidelines!! We'll see where the Lord leads us in that direction.

Ps. I love your imagery. Sitting on a Harley with your hair slicked back.

I have to say that we have been lead in this direction too and it was hard for me to let go. But in total desperation with my daughter with cerebral palsy who is reading delayed by several years, I gave this a try. I mimicked what Carrie does with the areas that she is having problems. It has hands down been the best thing ever for her. Her reading improved using the Emerging Readers program and actually going back some with The Reading Lesson that writing became the next focus. Literally she could not write a simple sentence and now I am amazed at what she can write and spell accurately. It has been such a dramatic improvement that we are continuing and starting next year with my other kids. This falls under the category of stuff I never would have believed looking at would work but does better than anything else I have tried.

Carrie wrote:I'll also chime in to say that this was a very hard area for me to let go of with my kiddos too. So, I can empathize!

I did a formal spelling program with my oldest son through the middle of grade 3. Then, we went to strictly dictation. To make sure my son was progressing, I tested him in Spelling Power at the beginning and end of the year to see how much his spelling level had grown throughout the year. He grew 3 levels spelling-wise during that year, doing only dictation.

With our second son, we have done purely copywork and dictation. He also spells very well.

One noticeable change after starting dictation, was my son's improvement in spelling within his daily written work. Dictation does a great job of training children to spell words correctly within the context of writing. I'd encourage you to consider using dictation for spelling for a year and see how it works for you.

Blessings,
Carrie

AS you all know from my recent posts, I am a "living books" Mommy, but definitely have NOT been a CM Mommy (at least in practice). However, spelling is one of those things that from reading and writing and copywork, my kids are naturally good spellers. WE "use" Spelling Power, but not consistently at ALL and my kids continue to go up 2-4 levels per year as well. And I don't use Spelling Power correctly or do dictation. I can truly see how doing dictation would make for GREAT spellers. This is another area I am looking forward to trying as we switch to HOD this next year!

You know, it kind of makes sense to me that dictation especially would lead to good spelling. You're hearing words in context--that makes them "stick" better, and you're having to think about how to spell the sounds you're hearing rather than just memorizing by rote. And I'm sure that all the reading helps a lot too--I'm pretty sure that's why I was always good at vocab and spelling. My nose was always in a book!

Disregard

I was encouraged by this thread regarding dictation. DD is a very weak speller, but I anticipate a positive outcome.

water2wine wrote:I have to say that we have been lead in this direction too and it was hard for me to let go. But in total desperation with my daughter with cerebral palsy who is reading delayed by several years, I gave this a try. I mimicked what Carrie does with the areas that she is having problems. It has hands down been the best thing ever for her. Her reading improved using the Emerging Readers program and actually going back some with The Reading Lesson that writing became the next focus. Literally she could not write a simple sentence and now I am amazed at what she can write and spell accurately. It has been such a dramatic improvement that we are continuing and starting next year with my other kids. This falls under the category of stuff I never would have believed looking at would work but does better than anything else I have tried.

water2wine-I was just wondering what you were referring to when you said you mimmicked Carrie in problem areas. Whatever it was worked. I'm interested in knowing. My CP daughter is also very weak in her reading and writing skills. We are starting Bigger.

Sorry, didn't realize this was not on the main board.