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
