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I have a question about Dicatation in Preparing. I have an 11 1/2 year old son who is doing Preparing. I am doing the extensions for him since he is older, but a friend said do not miss this guide as it has been there favorite. So, that is where we started with him. It is our 2nd year homeschooling and he has transitioned great. This was our first day with HOD.

My questions though, as dictation is new to both he and I, are below.

1) When you read the passage outloud for them to dictate, do you say the punctuation (ie. comma, period) or do they need to have memorized that from looking at it? Sounds silly to ask, but part way through it today I wondered.

2) My son is an excellent writer and reads way above level. Even doing dictation level 4 in the guide, the bold words are words he already knows how to spell and use in sentences. They are not challenging to him. That said, is there something else I should do for dictation to challenge him more? Or is the goal more about learning to copy what is said?

3) What skills have you seen built in your child from doing dictation? He hasn't asked why we do dictation yet, but I am not sure (even after reading the reasoning in the guide) how I would explain that to him. I think knowing the outcomes you hope to achieve with dictation helps, but it would also help me to hear from others how it has benefited their child(ren).

Thank you so much.
Blessings.
Deb

We've only done one level of dictation so I don't know if I am that qualified to answer your questions, but I'll try to help.

1) When you read the passage you do not read any of the punctuation. Part of the idea behind dictation is for the child to be able to visualize the words and passage when writing them. By being able to visualize it, they are storing it in their long term memories. By having them have to do everything correctly from memory, spelling, grammar, etc., that ensures that they are learning not just spelling, but spelling in context with good grammar skills.

2) Since your son is 11 1/2 and level 4 is very easy for him, you might want to consider getting the next guide, CTC or even RTR, so that you can have the higher level dictation passages. He very well may be ready for level 5 or 6. CTC would have levels 3, 4, 5 and RTR would have levels 4, 5, 6. You may want to give it just a little bit of time before deciding to advance him though since there are so many more skills developed than just spelling by doing dictation. If after a week or two he is still getting everything correct in every passage, then you might try jumping ahead to 1/2 or 3/4 of the way through the level 4 passages and try those. If he still can do these flawlessly, then you probably want to go up a level.

3) Like I mentioned before, we've just completed our first year of dictation so though we are seeing results, we're at the beginning of our dictation journey and I know more results will follow. What I have seen so far is a closer attention to detail in my dc's writing. Dictation helps them to slow down and pay close attention to every detail of what they are writing and I've seen that carry over into their other work. I don't see as many careless mistakes of leaving off letters or punctuation. I'm seeing an improvement in my ds's ability to spell within context. My dd is a natural speller so I haven't seen spelling improvement in her per se yet, but for my ds, I do think it is helping. I've read here on these boards though that it is a slow burn and takes time before the full results of dictation will be seen.

I know there are some other great threads on dictation, but I'm not the best at searching out old threads. I hope this helps a little. I'm sure others will jump in here and share their experiences when they can.

My ds also usually didn't have any trouble with the words in bold, but he still would miss things like punctuation or capitalization or sometimes words that I thought he knew. Also they have to write it exactly like it is in the book so if it is indented they need to remember to indent it. He has used dictation for 2 years now and I will say the passages get pretty challenging as you go on, especially where the punctuation is concerned. What I have seen with him is that he is better able to catch mistakes in his own writing. He will know if something doesn't look write or if he missed a comma. When he was in ps he used traditional spelling programs and he wasn't good at this. I have a good friend that is a ps teacher and her school has tried many spelling programs and they see the same results with every one of them. The kids spell the words perfectly on the test and then in their writing they will misspell those same words maybe even just 1/2 hour later. I feel like dictation is much more effective for imprinting the correct spelling so that they use it across the board and not just get it right on a spelling test.