heartofdakota.com

Hello ladies...

I can't find my specific question addressed after looking through the forum for over an hour, so please forgive me if this question has been asked many times before...

I have been reading up on the Charlotte Mason philosophy of spelling and it seems that she did not advocate learning from lists, but rather in the context of beautiful quotes, stories, poems, etc., and the dictation for spelling till not start till 3rd or 4th grade. I am trying to figure out how we should do spelling next year (we are currently in LHFHG) and planning to start Beyond next year. Is there somewhere where HOD explains how their spelling follows a Charlotte Mason philosophy, and if it doesn't follow CM, why it does not? It is possible that it is Charlotte Mason in style, I haven't been able to figure out how yet. I am not a professional teacher, so I usually don't understand how everything works together in the long run. I do see the idea of not letting them see a misspelled word for too long in HOD, just like CM style.

I will post the link to the article I was reading so that you can understand where I am getting my Charlotte Mason philosophy on spelling. (Link removed by board moderator per board rules)

My son (7yo) is becoming a great reader (we are almost done with TRL), but definitely does not slow down enough to "see" how the words are spelled. He would not be able to spell long vowel words, or words like "milk" yet. We haven't done any official spelling yet, since it doesn't start in HOD till next year (BEYOND).

Anyways, would love an explanation about the how and why of HOD's spelling lists and how it does or does not correspond with CM.
Thanks!

I was able to find a few other posts about spelling/dictation that were helpful.

I would like to know how the schedule for the spelling lists flow into dictation later. For instance, do children need to do both list 1 and list 2 before moving on to dictation? When does dictation start? My son (will be 8yo next year) will probably start on list two next year, my dd (will be 6) will start on list 1. When we advance to bigger in two years, will both kids move into dictation? Will my dd do both list 1 and 2 before dictation or should she?

thanks again...

HOD has two spelling lists and then dictation. The dictation shows up in Bigger. You will see that how Carrie has planned spelling is similar to studied dictation. If you open the first week of Beyond (http://www.heartofdakota.com/pdf/beyond ... t-week.pdf), you will see the instructions. It is not a tradition memorize the words on the list. It is more starting the studied dictation process a little early. You can obviously skip it if you don't agree with the philosophy and then start dictation when you are ready. The words in the dictation passages are 3rd grade level while the spelling is roughly 1st and 2nd grade level. So, it often helps being able to spell the words on the lists before dictation, but it isn't absolutely necessary I think.

I think it is a good idea to do both spelling lists before starting dictation. The dolch words, common and important sight words, are included in both lists. As Stephanie said, the method of spelling lists is similar to dictation and it is a great introduction for them, as well as building confidence and helping them learn to spell. I suppose you could start dictation whenever the child seemed ready, but List 2 is also included in Bigger and if you still had Beyond you could use the lists from Beyond. Bigger says you can do either the spelling lists or dictation, whichever your child is ready for.

Thank you ladies!

It is such an inspiration to read about Charlotte Mason, isn't it? I'm glad you are doing so, and I think you will find more and more how HOD lines up beautifully with Charlotte Mason's ideals (other than grammar, which we teach earlier). Here is a post by Carrie that should help answer your initial question...
Why HOD does spelling lists before dictation, by Carrie:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=10388

Here are some other posts that may be helpful...
Carrie explains CM Dictation:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5661
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5186
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=925

Encouraging Dictation:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4877
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5558

In Christ,
Julie