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Hi. We recently started Bigger and I am wondering if I am doing dictation correctly. My son studies the passage and then I read the sentence and have him repeat it before he writes it. If he doesn't say it correctly I repeat it. Once he starts writing, if he doesn't remember the next word and I tell him does that mean we should repeat this passage? I'm not sure if the purpose is for him to be remembering what I am telling him or only that he is spelling the words correctly.

Thanks,
Camille

I believe you should start with shorter phrases rather than complete sentences, and gradually build up. Otherwise, it sounds like you are doing the right thing. The aim is not memorization, but rather than the child learns to "fix in his mind" the correct appearance of all the elements of the passage he has studied-spelling, punctuation, capitalization. Before you dicate to him, you can also help him with this by calling attention to the difficult/new words and punctuation and writing them on a white board for him to study specifically. Then erase when he is ready for you to dictate. When you dictate, you do not tell him the spelling, capitals or punctuation, that will be his job to produce correctly. He should repeat the passage the next day if he makes any written error in spelling, capitalization, or punctuation.

Thank you for responding. So just to clarify, I don't necessarily have to read the entire sentence at one time. I can read a few words, let him repeat it and then write them and then read the next few words? He's doing fine with the spelling but the challenge is remembering the entire sentence at one time.

Thanks again for your help!
Camille

gca123 wrote:... I don't necessarily have to read the entire sentence at one time. I can read a few words, let him repeat it and then write them and then read the next few words?...

Exactly right! I usually say 3-4 words at a time. Works great!
In Christ,
Julie

Perfect. Thank you.

Camille

Camille,

The ladies did such a great job of helping you! I'll just pop-in and mention that the goal is for the child to do the dictation passage from a single reading. So, to facilitate this, it is a good idea to read the passage only one phrase at a time. Then, the child repeats the phrase and writes it. Next, you would read the next phrase, and so on. However, you are not to repeat the phrase more than once. Does that make sense? The single reading of each phrase trains the child in the habit of attention. Later, you can move up to reading a single sentence at a time.

Blessings,
Carrie