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Hey everyone!

My daughter is 6 1/2 and we are progressing through BLHFHG. We have not been doing the copywork b/c I thought it was too hard for her, but recently found a great post on the board where someone made a poetry book using their student's copywork... I really think my daughter would like this- so I am going to try it out! So here are my questions about copywork.... 1. Do I have her correct her spelling if it is not copied correctly? 2. Do I have her redo letters if they are not done correctly (for instance her "tall" letters are not going all the way to the top, and her sitting letters (like y, p, g) don't always sit on the line-they float)? 3. Do I have her correct the punctuation and capitals also?
I have never been taught how to do copywork- the book just says for her to copy the poem... IS the purpose for her to perfect handwriting/spelling/punctuation- or is it just for her to practice, even if it is not always done correctly?

Help!!! I want to encourage, not discourage her... but she also needs to learn the right way to do it!

Thanks!

Sarah

I would say, in a nutshell, yes, correct the copywork. However, this is not a red-pen marking on page kind of "correcting" but more a guided progression.

Has your dd completed a handwriting program? When you say her tall letters don't go to the top and sitting letters float, is this when she is using handwriting paper, or is this on regular notebook paper? To me, this would make a difference if she is ready for copywork. If she is still having trouble with letter formation on handwriting paper, I would probably continue with just handwriting practice. We used A Reason for Handwriting, both the K and the A book before moving to copywork. Book A actually includes copywork, as they copy a verse each week. The benefit of this book as a transition from the K book to copywork, is that they have practice days (with words from the verse) in the days before the copy day.

If she has completed handwriting, and just has trouble on notebook paper, you can always use the elementary lined books that still have the dotted lines. Six is early (in our house anyway ) to use regular notebook paper. We usually switch to notebook paper sometime around end of 2nd grade, sometimes not till mid-3rd depending on need. That said, I do have a dd who really wanted to use notebook paper like her big sisters before I would have normally had her use it. I just used a pencil and made light dotted lines in the middle of each regular line to help with the transition, until she could visualize where the "short" letters needed to be placed.

When beginning copywork, I make sure to sit by dc the whole time. That way, I can "correct" them before the mistake is ever made, or at least stop them after a mistake is made and have them look closely to find what they need to change before moving on. Copywork trains dc to really pay attention to detail. In being particular with all spelling, capital uses, punctuation, spelling, they get a great basis in grammar. So it's not just about writing a poem or verse or whatever. For beginners, you probably won't do much more than one line at a time. Some of my kids have moved quickly through and been able to copy all of the poem by the middle of Beyond, others have struggled to get most of a poem done by the end of Bigger . I wouldn't have dc do more than they could do correctly (of course, some mistakes are inevitable, but as a general rule you want them correctly reproducing the assigned passage, whether that's one word or one page.)