finding a spot to begin dictation

[catbeth]

Hi,

I'm on my 3rd day of Preparing Hearts with my 4th and 3rd grader. All is going well so far, but my 4th grader thinks her dictation is WAY too easy. It's just right for my 3rd grader. I think she needs her own dictation sentences, but I'm not sure where to put her. Any "placement test" ideas?

[StephanieU]

We did the top one from each page until my daughter started missing them. Once or twice she missed something "silly," and we just repeated that page. But once she started needing to repeat multiple ones, we knew we were at the right spot.

[catbeth]

It occurred to me this morning that I could just ask dd! So she looked through and decided that #72 looked good, so we started there. It was still easy, so I might just alternate for awhile until it gets challenging.

[Rice]

We, too, started at an easy place for each child and just did the top passage from each column until they needed 2 days (or 3) to complete a passage for the 3rd or 4th time (we didn't slow down after the first mistake, as we all make mistakes sometimes ). This seemed to be a sweet spot, as they still got most correct on the first try but still got one incorrect after studying once in a while.

You definitely are better to stay on the easy side at first, as going too difficult too soon will lead to problems/frustration. So her choice of #72 may be a good spot. She will still be learning ("how to" for dictation, visual memory, word order, punctuation, etc.), even if she isn't hitting a new spelling word very often just yet.

Also note that for some, the difficulty isn't in the spelling, but in the length of the passages. My "natural speller" started above his siblings (who struggle more with spelling), but found he slowed down when the sentences became longer. Although Carrie has in the guides to read them a phrase at a time, CM advocated a sentence at a time, so that is what we do, and I find that keeps Dictation as not merely a spelling/grammar exercise, but also more of a memory exercise than it would otherwise be, as well.

I love how the same method, the same lesson time (since I have 4 doing dictation at the same time of day), the same material (though at different spots, of course) can be effective for VERY different learning types, skill levels and learning challenges!

Blessings,