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OK...I am one of those HORRIBLE parents who have never done dictation with my children. (gasp)

My children do All About Spelling, and are doing well with it.

So, How does one begin dictation?

What is the premise behind it?

I have 2 in Preparing. One is 10 and on grade level. One is 9 and has some learning issues.

I have one in Little Hearts.

I also have one in Little Hands...so no dictation yet.

I do a combo of AAS and Dictation because I see benefits of both for my kids. Dictation encourages them to recognize correct spellings by how a word they write "looks". This has helped my daughter think more about how her words look in addition to relying on spelling rules.

I have no info on how to start at this point because I started this year in Bigger with my 2nd grader. I think you have to try several passages to figure out where they are in which level.

Hi Shannon! Dictation has been around awhile but is still quite new to many of us in the United States. I knew nothing about it 10 years ago, and I'd been through 6 years of college/master's education courses, so not knowing much about dictation is the norm IMHO.

That being said, if you page through your Appendix in PHFHG, you will find (right before the first dictation passage) a great explanation of how to properly go about doing dictation Charlotte Mason style. I think this is oh so helpful because, frankly, there are a lot of incorrect methods being thrown around out there about how to do dictation. I know I was pretty confused about it. It is nice to know the way it is intended to be done according to its expert... Miss Charlotte Mason.

I think you could have your 9 yo PHFHG child start with Dictation Level 2, and your 10 yo start with Dictation Level 3 or 4. A good rule of thumb for proper dictation placement is if a student is having to redo 1 or possibly 2 dictation passages each week. If they are missing a passage daily, it is too hard, if they have gone several months without missing any, it's too easy. I'd start lower rather than higher, as it's easier to move forward rather than backward.

Here are some thread that will explain dictation more...
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5661
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5186
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=925

HTH!
In Christ,
Julie