Please reassure me

[annaz]

that I don't need an oxygen mask for continued hyperventilation! I have chucked my R&S spelling to finally give a full year of
studied dication a try ! Insert oxygen mask here.

I not wrecking her, right? And it really works, right? No word lists, no phonics work, no more rules, right? But I can still apply those, right? (Insert oxygen mask here.)

B r e a t h e...................B r e a t h e.....................

[deltagal]

Hi!

We've been using the studied dictation method via HOD, since January 2009. We were using another Spelling Program alongside at first, until I realized we were simply overdoing things. Carrie had indicated that dication was a "slow burn" meaning it would take time and consistency (3x week), but there would be results. This summer when we tested - all of my children did well in spelling, but the biggest success was my oldest who has always been several grade levels behind, but he jumped up 3 grade levels to be on track - at last! They all have so much more confidence now with spelling. The discipline of writing the dictation several times a week, really builds assurance.

[my3sons]

You crack me up, annaz! I am putting a nice little oxygen mask on you right now. I'm passing it on, as it's the same one I used when I gave up doing R & S spelling along with dictation with my oldest ds. Yes, breathe - it's going to be o.k.

In Christ,
Julie

[Tree House Academy]

ROFl...I can relate. We just did the same thing last week...and we had been using R&S spelling too! LOL How funny. So far, so good. We had to go back to dictation Level 2, #30, but we finally found the level where my son needs to be.

[grandsophy]

I'm interested to hear how this works! We're still struggling with copywork here, and I haven't started a spelling program yet this year. Dd does NOT like spelling.

[annaz]

But I L-o-v-e R&S Spelling! I like that it's in cursive too!
But I'm gonna shove it aside. DD is a pretty good speller (is because of the phonics work Okay, I'm not gonna go there .)
I've been trying to figure out where to start for a while and I'm just starting at Level 3 #1. She got them all right yesterday, but my guess is tomorrow will be harder.

What do you do when you get to the "tions" and the "drop the y, add ies" and...and....


I can do this.

[Tree House Academy]

My son is such a bad speller that R&S was literally doing NOTHING for him anyway.

[annaz]

My son is such a bad speller that R&S was literally doing NOTHING for him anyway.

Thanks...I needed this.

[inHistiming]

We ditched the 'other' spelling programs as well, for dictation, because the others were not helping her improve. Dictation did.....my dd's spelling scores on the Stanford Achievement Test in the spring jumped by 1.3 years from using dictation for just about 6 months previous. It really does work. I fully expect her scores to increase by an even larger margin when she tests again next spring. I understand the worry...but I really think you'll be impressed with the results if you give it a try.

[ihvnangel]

So the dictation is given in the books, would you recommend that even for really behind children? My son is 11 and we have the hardest time with spelling, we can do test and he will make 100's on them, but then two weeks later and you try to get him to spell it and suddenly it is all wrong.. everything forgotten!! Soooooo frustrating. I didn't know if we should start all the way back at the beginning of something like R&S, or start from grade level?? I just don't know what to do... but hearing about the dictation and improvement that way is encouraging!

[annaz]

So the dictation is given in the books, would you recommend that even for really behind children? My son is 11 and we have the hardest time with spelling, we can do test and he will make 100's on them, but then two weeks later and you try to get him to spell it and suddenly it is all wrong.. everything forgotten!! Soooooo frustrating. I didn't know if we should start all the way back at the beginning of something like R&S, or start from grade level?? I just don't know what to do... but hearing about the dictation and improvement that way is encouraging!

Some things I do know. Yes. He's one of those list kids who can spell the list but not in context, which is where dictation would be extremely helpful. Many kids can spell a list, but can't spell when used in writing which means they can't apply the words to actual writing.

I can't answer where to start. But I do know that in Beyond and Bigger they have a dictation list that includes not only the dictation sentences, but words that have the same rule so-to-speak. So you may have a sentence with a highlighted word (i.e. made). Other words under those sentences might be cape, late, etc. They contain the same long a w/silent e ending. Then the dictation moves on using some of those words as a review in other sentences. As you move up in levels, there are no list words and just dictation (part of Level 2 dictation in Bigger I think.)

You'll have to sort of find your niche. If the dictation is consistently wrong, it's too difficult. If they're consistently right, too easy. I gave my dd a pretest to find our spot. I stopped and started where she got one wrong. But I'm sure someone will tell you better how to find the spot that's right for you.

[Tree House Academy]

So the dictation is given in the books, would you recommend that even for really behind children? My son is 11 and we have the hardest time with spelling, we can do test and he will make 100's on them, but then two weeks later and you try to get him to spell it and suddenly it is all wrong.. everything forgotten!! Soooooo frustrating. I didn't know if we should start all the way back at the beginning of something like R&S, or start from grade level?? I just don't know what to do... but hearing about the dictation and improvement that way is encouraging!

I could have written this same thing about my 11 year old son. He has a near photographic SHORT TERM memory...however, ask him a week later and it is gone. This is exactly what was happening to us on spelling lists. We are now doing dictation and I did take him back to Level 2 - day 30 to start. I went ahead and bought the Bigger Hearts manual (for the Level 2 dictation) since my younger ds will be doing it next year anyway.

[Tree House Academy]

I can't answer where to start. But I do know that in Beyond and Bigger they have a dictation list that includes not only the dictation sentences, but words that have the same rule so-to-speak. So you may have a sentence with a highlighted word (i.e. made). Other words under those sentences might be cape, late, etc. They contain the same long a w/silent e ending. Then the dictation moves on using some of those words as a review in other sentences. As you move up in levels, there are no list words and just dictation (part of Level 2 dictation in Bigger I think.)

Bigger is the first manual to offer dictation. Beyond offers only Spelling words.

[annaz]

I could have written this same thing about my 11 year old son. He has a near photographic SHORT TERM memory...however, ask him a week later and it is gone. This is exactly what was happening to us on spelling lists. We are now doing dictation and I did take him back to Level 2 - day 30 to start. I went ahead and bought the Bigger Hearts manual (for the Level 2 dictation) since my younger ds will be doing it next year anyway.

Dictation uses the older words over and over which is good. They really aren't allowed to forget them.

I'm glad you wrote this. I'm convincing myself this is better every minute, because I never really thought about what you're saying here in this post above. Lists, other than a couple review words from the previous lesson, aren't reviewed. Dictation reviews not just the prior list, but uses the words continually. They are used over and down the line in other dictation lessons. I also never thought of the short-term photographic memory, which is why kids do good on lists and not dictation.

Wow! This dictation is a really good thing!

And Tree House, you're right. I meant Beyond has the lists not the dictation.

[Carrie]

Chandra,

I'm not sure what guide you're doing? If you get a chance to share, we can help you with what level of dictation would be good to use. If he can capitalize and use end punctuation fairly well in his writing and spell basic words correctly for the most part in his daily written work, I think Level 3 could work as a starting point.

Blessings,
Carrie