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Dictation and listening skills
Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2009 9:56 pm
by faroutback
I am fairly new to HOD and CM but we are loving it. It has truly been a blessing. I am trying to decide whether to go with the spelling or dictation for this year. Ds is 7 yo and last year with Beyond for first grade we did both spelling lists (orally) because he was doing so well with spelling and reading. I was going to go with the spelling again this year and add to the lists from ABCs and All Their Tricks. After reading some of the discussions I am wondering if the dictation would help improve ds' s listening skills? This was his lowest scores for the achievement test and something I had observed we probably needed to work on. Thank you for your insight.
Re: Dictation and listening skills
Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2009 8:45 am
by my3sons
faroutback wrote:I am fairly new to HOD and CM but we are loving it. It has truly been a blessing. I am trying to decide whether to go with the spelling or dictation for this year. Ds is 7 yo and last year with Beyond for first grade we did both spelling lists (orally) because he was doing so well with spelling and reading. I was going to go with the spelling again this year and add to the lists from ABCs and All Their Tricks. After reading some of the discussions I am wondering if the dictation would help improve ds' s listening skills? This was his lowest scores for the achievement test and something I had observed we probably needed to work on. Thank you for your insight.
I'm so glad you are off to a fantastic start with HOD and CM! I love to hear that, and we enjoy teaching this way so much in our home too. As far as your ds's spelling/dictation, I think I'd see how he does doing Spelling List 2 first. Orally spelling words well and writing spelling words well can be two different abilities. The activities in the guide written to go along with the spelling ask them to use the words in sentences and copy (some of) them in sentences as well. These are higher level skills than orally spelling words, and I think it is important to be sure your ds can do this before jumping in dictation. I might be misunderstanding your post, but if your ds didn't write these/do these activities last year, I think using Spelling List 2 for a month or so doing all of those activities will help you decide if he's able to start dictation. Listening skills is often the lowest skill rating for dc on the standardized testing, so your ds's scores are reflective of most dc at that age. That's why we have to repeat things 52 times for our dc to listen to us, right? 
You'll know best what you want to do for your ds, but I HTH some with your decision! 
In Christ,
Julie
Re: Dictation and listening skills
Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2009 6:45 am
by faroutback
Thank you I had kind of overlooked the writing part of the spelling. Mainly because any writing had become such an issue last year. I am hoping this will not be the case this year but I am fearful that it will still be. We got Presidential Penmanship from the Book Peddler and I am hoping this will ease into a better attitude and acceptance due to the way it is set up. I appreciate your help with this, I think we will go back to doing the spelling and save the dictation for next year. Thanks for your insight without it I would have missed a key part.
Re: Dictation and listening skills
Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2009 7:50 am
by my3sons
faroutback wrote:Thank you I had kind of overlooked the writing part of the spelling. Mainly because any writing had become such an issue last year. I am hoping this will not be the case this year but I am fearful that it will still be. We got Presidential Penmanship from the Book Peddler and I am hoping this will ease into a better attitude and acceptance due to the way it is set up. I appreciate your help with this, I think we will go back to doing the spelling and save the dictation for next year. Thanks for your insight without it I would have missed a key part.
It's amazing what a year's difference can make - I bet you'll find your ds has grown in this area, and will continue to throughout the year. I'm glad he'll have another year to do all of the spelling activities and get ready for the increased writing (and skill level) of dictation. He's young - only 7 - so he's a typical boy as far as writing goes (IMO). We gals have trouble understanding that sometimes - I mean, come on - how hard can writing be?
But, it seems it IS hard, or harder, for boys (at least it often seems to be - I have 3 of them, so it's becoming clearer every year
).
It helped my ds to use a pencil grip and a chunkier pencil (I found clicky pencils are not good for beginning writers). It also helped for him to have a small whiteboard and dry erase markers to write his spelling words on. First, he did one word at a time (and it was BIG) in the middle of the whiteboard with no line. Next, I drew 1 line and he wrote (BIG) on that. Next, I had him try to write a bit smaller each time, but still only did one word on one line at a time. By the end of the year, he could write about 5-10 words on small lines on his whiteboard all in a row - but that took a long time. I think your ds will make excellent progress with this over the year!
In Christ,
Julie