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I am not sure if I should be too concerned yet or not about my son's lack of writing skills. He is 9 yrs. old and finishing up 3rd grade; getting ready to do Preparing in the fall. When he does DITHOR (level 3), I usually have to assist him so much with the written worksheets, to the point of sometimes writing it out and having him copy it. I am ending up skipping many of the worksheets (although he reads aloud every day) because of the stress it causes him and lack of time. I know this is normal for younger children, but lately I have started to wonder if I should be putting on more pressure at his level? He is a poor speller (and knows it), so that may be a big part of his balking at writing. But he can do copywork just fine. What is your experience? Do you think he should do DITHOR level 3 over again in the fall instead of moving on to level 4? Should I be putting more emphasis on dictation and having him do more writing on his own? For now he practices spelling every day, and does dictation only 2 days a week (oral narration more often; no written narration yet).
Rachel

I don't know what the "right" answer is, but we had the same situation with my dd when she was 3rd and some of 4th grade. (She is in 5th now and will be 11 tomorrow).

She had no trouble with copywork and such, but was a terrible (and I mean terrible ) speller, so she hated anything that required her to write on her own (i.e. Dithor). Her reading and everything else was on track. Just the bad spelling. And, like your ds, she knew it, so she didn't want to produce anything original.

I continued being her scribe for Dithor for quite a while. Sometimes I would write it on markerboard and she would copy it into the book, but other times I would just write it directly into the book. We didn't start Dithor till about midway through 3rd grade, but at that time, she read some level 2 and some level 3 books (with Dithor workbook 2/3). We stayed in Workbook 2/3 for two years (the second year she had moved up to using some level 3 and some level 4 books). All the while, we continued to work on dictation, and her spelling gradually improved. About mid-late 4th grade year, I suddenly realized that her spelling had improved tremendously. But I was going to finish out the school year the way we had been doing with Dithor. However, before I had said anything at all, she decided she wanted to take over the Dithor writing, saying she could just get it done faster if she just did it herself. This told me that she had definitely built up her confidence. (She was about half way through the level 3 dictation at the time). I really do credit dictation with her spelling improvement. Now, I will say that she will never be a spelling bee champion (or even a contestant!), but I would say that her spelling has come from extremely below grade level to at least average (maybe even the higher end of average).

So, I say just give it some time. She is now almost finished with Dithor 4/5 workbook (has one more genre left). She does it completely as written, and is not hindered by the fact that I wrote for her for a couple of years.

Like I said, I don't know if this is the "right" way to do it, but it worked for us!
Angie

Thanks for sharing! That is good to hear; I think I won't worry too much or it will just put more stress on him. We started dictation midway through the year, and lately I have already noticed some improvements with his spelling that I never saw before. And he doesn't fight dictation at all. (Especially since it's studied dictation, but I make him do it again the next time to make sure he has it). He is getting pleased with his ability in it, and I think that will really boost his spelling and writing skills eventually, like you said. I just need to be patient. And today he surprised me by completing a Dithor worksheet on his own without too much complaining. So there is hope! I imagine the gradual shift from oral to written narration in Preparing will be good for him too, so long as he doesn't get overwhelmed.

We stayed with the 2/3 student book for DITHOR while we did Preparing. My son wasn't particularly fond of writing at that point either. The creative, "what should I write" part was no problem. Putting the pencil on the paper was not as fun. He was reading books from the 4/5 boy set, but we did the 2/3 student book to cut down on writing.
It worked well for us. He's now finishing RTR and has no problem with writing AT ALL! I think it's a matter of maturing as the written requirements of school go up at that age.

Kathleen

Thanks, Kathleen. I think I will keep to the Student 2/3 book too, then, at least for awhile until he adjusts to the writing level. I guess you just used the 2/3 section of the teaching book then?

Yep.