heartofdakota.com

But I'll just start with one

We are new to HOD and plan to use Preparing in the fall for my twin 9 yr old boys(baby brother will just be listening..he's only 2 mo)

Do you feel the dictation is enough for spelling or do you use another curriculum to supplement? I bought Megawords but we haven't started it but I've also been looking at English from the Roots up because it seems very gentle and easy to implement...

What are you using or doing?

I have one natural speller and one that's o.k. at spelling if that helps. Also, we've never done dictation so this will be a new concept for all of us to learn.

Thanks for your help!

Blessings,
Tanya
www.tanyasdays.blogspot.com

anyone?

mommyk,

Welcome to HOD! I'll just move this post to the Main Board where more moms will see it. At HOD, all new posts begin on the Main Board.

Blessings,
Carrie

Oh..ok. great..thanks for moving the post to the correct place ...anyone care to help me?

I have two school age children, the oldest is a natural born speller and has completed R&S spelling 2-5. He doesn't have much trouble spelling anything. My daughter on the other hand has been through R&S 2 and 3 and did well every week on the tests but is NOT a natural born speller. This year we are putting aside the spelling program and just doing dictation to see if that works better for her. I have heard others on this board say that they were pleasantly surprised at how well dictation teaches spelling.

HI Tanya! Your boys are going to enjoy PHFHG so much - ours sure did! I have been down the spelling road, especially with my oldest. He had speech therapy early on for several years, and I was concerned about his spelling. I did R & S Spelling along with his dictation for 2 years. One day, I gave him his R & S spelling test, and he passed with flying colors. Right after taking the test, on that same day, he misspelled several words within his own writing. When I drew attention to it, and asked why he got them right on the test and missed them in his own writing, he said, "Oh, I just study for the test and then forget those words later, Mom. But dictation, now that I remember and helps me spell better in my own writing." Yikes - I thought, 'Why am I adding time to his day and doubling up on this if he doesn't think it's helping?'. That day I stopped R & S Spelling and did only dictation. I have not looked back. He has completed his 4th year of doing dictation now. His spelling scores on his standardized testing have climbed slowly each year. He is now scoring in the upper 90's on his spelling. What's even more important to me than that, as I don't really take a lot of stock in standardized testing, is that his writing in his daily work is great. He rarely misspells things. Now, that's progress! I'd encourage you to read through the Appendix's directions for dictations, and follow them exactly. I'd encourage you to give dictation solo a try. It has done wonders for my oldest ds's spelling, and I can see the same thing happening for my middle ds who has done a year of dictation. Here are some other good posts about dictation to read...

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

Carrie explains CM Dictation:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5661
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5186
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=925

In Christ,
Julie