So dictation....

[MomtoJGJE]

What do you do when they write letters backwards? That has been all Jayden has missed in the first two dictations. The first one I had her correct, then do again the next day and she got them all right. The second one I had her correct and do it again today and she got most of them right, except for the P's.... So DH and I discussed it and we just had her write a line of P's the right way and we'll move on tomorrow. I told her that we might not do that again and to enjoy not having to rewrite it, but I want to know.... should I keep making her do the same dictation over again until she writes all the letters the right way? She's got the capitalization, spelling, and punctuation right the first time with both passages.... I don't want to discourage her because I'm actually shocked that they are right I'm sure she'll hit a snag with that stuff soon and I don't want her discouraged before that. What would your suggestions be?

[MomtoJGJE]

bump... anyone?

[raceNzanesmom]

I don't know about in dictation or HOD (I'm new to this), but with my youngest I just have him correct the letter. While he re-writes it I remind him of the proper steps to get it the right way. If it's a consistent problem then we pull out the chalkboard and practice a few times (we use HWT).

[mrsrandolph]

It is still age appropriate to reverse some letters. Just correct those letters.

[MomtoJGJE]

Thanks guys.

About the age appropriate... I would imagine it's also age appropriate to miss some spelling and punctuation, but that's what dictation is for? Right? That's why I was asking...

Small celebration though, she got it all right, even the letters the right way, on the first try with the last one we did

[my3sons]

I know this is a toughie! I see my dc make one mistake in dictation, and I want to just have them fix it that day and let them move on to a new passage the next day. However, dictation gets harder... and harder... and harder. We are doing RTR, and dictation is pretty tough right now. Charlotte Mason says that any error whatsoever in dictation is an indicator that the child does not have that skill down and needs to repeat the passage. We have gone to adhering to that. It is the only way a problem is truly fixed. Advancing a student to the next passage when they have not completely correctly done the previous passage does not do them any favors. It just makes them have to do harder and harder passages they are not ready to do. Your dd will be much more motivated to fix her reversals when she knows she needs to do the passage again the next day, than when she thinks she can fix it right away and still move on. I know - this is oh so hard to do - but it is what makes dc write well the first time. Keep in mind this is only done in dictation, which is short. Copywork, written narrations, etc. have much more leeway. When your dd is getting ready to do her dictation, while she is studying, maybe suggest she jots down a few "p's" on scratch paper, or on a markerboard. This will help her be prepared not to reverse them. But I do think it's important to let dc study in their own way. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

[MomtoJGJE]

Thanks! That's what I was thinking. Having her redo the passage has made her more aware of her reversals. This might be "cheating" but for the moment I leave something laying on the table or near where she is writing that has the correct letters on it.... I guess I mean, I don't purposefully clear the area just to not have hints for her. Sometimes she sees them and corrects herself and other times she doesn't. Yesterday she wrote a 'P' turned to me and said "That's an awesome P!" then she looked at a page laying beside her and said "except it's apparently a 9" and fixed it. I have to say I was proud of her for noticing!

We have been making her redo it except one day I just had her write a line of P's.... She's gotten the corrections before looking at the guide since then

[my3sons]

Oh good! It sounds like your dd is making excellent progress with her dictation. She also has a good sense of humor about it! What a cute response (except it's apparently a 9! I remembering kind of hitting a wall with dictation with my older ds last year during CTC, and he realized after redoing many passages in a row that he simply needed to study harder. It was really tough to let him make mistakes and not give him clues along the way. But, I remember I used to do that early on in dictation, and I found he just never was really fixing the things I'd given him "clues" on, and then they were never fixed in his own personal writing either. I feel like I have a better understanding of dictation with my second ds, and he's definitely benefitting from just doing it the good old fashioned CM way. I just thought I'd try to share that with you too.

In Christ,
Julie

[raceNzanesmom]

Charlotte Mason says that any error whatsoever in dictation is an indicator that the child does not have that skill down and needs to repeat the passage. We have gone to adhering to that. It is the only way a problem is truly fixed.

Thanks Julie, this is good to know. We're still very new at this and ds isn't doing dictation yet. Good to know once he is that it's important to get it right the first time.