Question about copywork

[HooyoBilan]

I'm a new homeschooling mom and have a question about copywork. My almost 6 year old is really loving our time doing BLH, but she doesn't really love doing the copywork. I know it's something she needs, though, and we've talked about it lots. She's doing it now, after a few weeks, with a great attitude, but I'm wondering if I need to be correcting her when it comes to capitals/lowercase letters. She often will capitalize words that shouldn't be capitalized. I don't want to correct too much and discourage her further, since she's pretty sensitive to correction. But, is that the whole point of copywork? Am I trying to teach her all the mechanics at the beginning or will she get it eventually? Hope this makes sense!

[HappyMama]

Well, I'm not sure what Carrie recommends, but I did correct my son with mistakes like you mentioned. I felt copywork was more than just handwriting practice, it was also about writing the sentences correctly. So if he made a mistake with capitalization or punctuation, I would have him erase the mistake and write it again. I know what you mean about kids being sensitive with correction, it is hard! But I just stayed positive about things and I made sure to remind him before he started that he would need to fix any mistakes that he might make. I can tell you that as time went on, his mistakes became less and less because he realized it's much easier to do it right the first time!

Anyway, I'm not sure what the "right" way to do copywork is, but that's just what we did. I'm curious to hear other replies to this.

I also want to mention that my son was 7 when he did the coywork in Beyond. I don't know if that makes a difference or not. He would not have been ready at 5 or 6 to do copywork correctly.

[HappyMama]

I forgot to mention that you might want to post this over on the Main Board, you'll probably get more responses over there.

[Carrie]

Great question and great response! I'll just move this post over to the Main Board where more moms will see it.

I agree that copywork is to be done perfectly. The goal is to have a correctly written replica of what is being copied. I typically use a pencil to lightly mark with proofreader's marks any incorrectly copied portions. So, for example, I would underline any letters needing capitalization three times, lightly circle any incorrect punctuation (or make a blank circle for missing punctuation), circle any words spelled incorrectly, and draw a light arrow where a paragraph should be indented.

I then have the child go back to the model to look at it while he/she corrects the errors. Then, I have the child erase my proofreader marks to leave a clean copy. The child quickly learns to be diligent and careful the first time he/she copies something. Correctly written copywork is great training for forming the habit of correct writing down the road. It also helps form the habit of proofreading; along with careful attention to punctuation, spelling, grammar, mechanics, and usage when writing.

Blessings,
Carrie