Quick...help with placement in dictation

[Tree House Academy]

I posted this in my other thread, but I was afraid it would get lost since it was not the original question. After reading all the reasoning behind and success stories with dictation over spelling, I am ready to give up R&S spelling lists (which my son is learning absolutely NOTHING from) and give it a whirl. However, he is a very poor speller. For instance, he spelled "babies" wrong today (babys). Occasionally I have seen him write the word "their" as "thier." He was a straight A spelling student in ps (he went through 3rd grade there) and I would have never known he was such a bad speller. He can learn lists in a photographic memory type way and regurgitate them for practiced tests. However, he promptly forgets all he has learned. Immediately. Often, even his copywork has mis-spellings. The worst was that, the other day, he copied a passage from the Bible and spelled "Lord", "Loard."

So, please help me place him in dication. Do I need to buy Bigger Hearts and start him in the middle of level 2 dictation or should I just try starting him at level 3 dictation in the CTC manual? Spelling has been a great struggle for us for the past 3 years and i have been praying trying to find a way to help him. Maybe this is it. I am very hopeful.

Thank you for any advice you can give!

[Tansy]

Have you tried the dictation in CTC and did it seem to hard for him? you can always start there and bump him down if its not working.
And babys is a perfectly logical way to spell it if you don't yet know the rules. I can't tell you how many times I've spelled lord as Loard... I wonder if he is trying to spell them via phonics. Everything you just wrote I did as a kid. I was very very confused by spelling rules and the exceptions. when did i come be for the e?? Don't ask Me!

maybe Carrie can give you a "test" sample of dictation lvl 2 and you could place him that way? try him in both see where he fits?

[John'smom]

I can't help with your specific question, but if you scroll down in this post you can see dictation examples from Levels 2,3, and 4. HTH some.

[inHistiming]

Okay. I had to go back to the other thread to find out how old your ds is...my dd, a struggling speller as well, is 10.5. We just picked back up with the dictation this week, she was about a third of the way through the first level ( in the Bigger...manual) when we took a break from it for the summer. So far she has done 3 passages and gotten them all right, so for now it is easy for her. However, she has missed some before and I'm sure she will get to a point where she makes some mistakes again. However, it is the best way so far that I've been able to see any improvement in her spelling. Her test scores in the spring showed that her spelling had improved by 1.3 yrs. from the previous year, so I know it's working for her. She is also one who misspells their and they (thay), etc. I would say try the passages from the sample posted above...begin with level 2 and move on until you find a place where he's struggling and begin there. You could always try the lowest level in CTC first to see how he does. The advice I received when my dd seemed to be doing so well with it before was that I should let her succeed...it was good for her to have some success in the area of spelling since it has been such a struggle for her. That was great advice, and so true for my daughter. Tests make her feel "stupid" and unsuccessful, but she has made great strides with dictation. So, even if you begin your ds in a level that seems 'easy' for him, it may be good for him....to help him feel successful in this area that has been so tough. Just my thoughts. Hope they were somewhat helpful.

[LynnH]

I think that Carrie says you want to start with the level of dictation where your child is only having to redo a passage once or twice a week. If they are having to redo every passage then the level is too hard. Make sure you read the directions for doing dictation because it is different than some other programs(like classical education) do it. It has worked very well for my ds.

[Tree House Academy]

He is doing level 4 right now in CTC and it is not "too hard" yet but he has missed a couple. None over and over and over, though. I think I will just go back and start with level 3 and if I see him missing a lot. I hate to go all the way back to level 2...but I will if it comes to that. It is easier, I guess, just to start at level 3 since we already have that guide. Thanks for all the advice and the link to the samples.