Dictation in Bigger

[homeschool mom]

We are doing Bigger Hearts for His Glory, using the spelling lists. When I get to dictation, do I point to the dictation passage as I read it to my son, or should I be copying it ahead of time on something ? Thanks for sharing your experiences with this.

[Kathleen]

For dictation, you'll want to have your son study the passage. Then, you'll take it and dictate it phrase by phrase. (For these passages, I dictate a whole sentence at a time.) He repeats it back to me and then writes it. We do this until the passage is finished. Then he checks his work against the original, correcting his mistakes immediately and circling them with colored pencil in the original. If it's right, we "check" it off. (He loves this part! ) I think all these directions are spelled out in the appendix at the beginning of the dictation passages. I'm new to dictation this year, and we're having a good time with it. From what I can tell you so far, dictation is painless...and effective!

Kathleen

[StillJulie]

I just got my Bigger manual today and was reading about the dictation.

Should I start with passage 1 even if it's way easy for my daughter, or should I skip ahead to one that's more her level?

[my3sons]

We don't copy it - my ds just studies it in the guide. This has worked just fine for us. Kathleen did a great job of describing the process of CM style dictation. There are some great notes about doing dictation you can read over in the HOD guide too - I found that very helpful when first beginning dictation.

Julie - I think I may have just answered you somewhere else about this - but I have been known to think I have deja vu before and been wrong! You can start anywhere in the dictation. They progress from easier to harder. If you start in the middle or so, you'll just probably need to order the PHFHG guide if you finish the dictation in BHFHG prior to the end of the year. The PHFHG has Level 1 dictation (it is also in Bigger), and Level 2 dictation.

In Christ,
Julie

[mansmom]

I have a very touchy-feely bouncing off the walls type of dd8...so bc I am not willing to trust my guide in her hands on certain days...I have written the passages out on index cards and numbered them...so she knows to study the first one in the box and then when we complete it, we move it to the back. That way she can "study" it while she is jumping down the hallway or hanging upside down in her chair and I don't have to watch my book being destroyed....it works for us. I am just them put up and then the rest of my darlings can use them too.

Just another thought....