ihvnangel wrote: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.
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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.