Question on Preparing Dictation

[stawnasalas]

I just realized there are 102 dictation passages for level 3 dictation, and right now we are on Unit 22, and only on dictation passage # 30! I thought my ds was doing ok, he usually gets it right after 2/3 tries ( I make him do it again the next day for missing punctuation, et, is this right ??). So this makes us waaaaaay behind for the year, what does anyone suggest we do?
Thank you!

[blessedmomof4]

I hope to ease your worries-dictation is not necessarily going to be "finished" by the end of the year, and the level numbers do not correspond to grade levels. Just keep moving forward at his pace. Each HOD guide from Preparing on up has 3 levels of dictation to choose from, and they overlap, so that when you are done with one guide, you simply pick up dicatation at the same spot when you start the next guide. For example, if he made it through level 3, passage number 75 by the end of Preparing, you would simply begin CTC with level 3, passage number 76. Make sense?

[moedertje]

I second what the pp wrote and Yes, your dc needs to have all capitals, punctuation and spelling correct, including the indentation for the start of the paragraph. The .goal is that dc do all of that and eventually even memorize the whole paragraph that you are dictating and do it all from memory in the later years, so there is no need to rush into the more difficult passages. Success

[MomtoJGJE]

This seems a good spot to ask this question.... Not to hijack, but it's about dictation for one in Preparing

I don't really know how to word it so it'll make sense, so I'll write one out. The passage was:

Did you see the young robin eat
the cherry? The farmer does not
like the robin.

and Jayden wrote it like:

Did you see the young robin
eat the cherry? The farmer does not
like the robin.

So, she didn't have eat on the right line. Does that matter? Is that something I am to be looking at to make her repeat the passage? I let her pass, but told her I was going to check it out on here to see if that was ok in case it happens again.

[Mom2Monkeys]

This seems a good spot to ask this question.... Not to hijack, but it's about dictation for one in Preparing

I don't really know how to word it so it'll make sense, so I'll write one out. The passage was:

Did you see the young robin eat
the cherry? The farmer does not
like the robin.

and Jayden wrote it like:

Did you see the young robin
eat the cherry? The farmer does not
like the robin.

So, she didn't have eat on the right line. Does that matter? Is that something I am to be looking at to make her repeat the passage? I let her pass, but told her I was going to check it out on here to see if that was ok in case it happens again.

Which line it's on doesn't matter. They should just write to the end of the line on their notebook paper no matter what word that is and then move down. It's grammar, usage, spelling, capitals, punctuation that you're looking for

[LynnH]

My understanding is that dictation is one of those things you can't be behind on. You just work with your dc where they are at. My ds is in RTR and he is only on Level 4 #72. I started to get a little worried about this, but my understanding is you just do dictation every year until they finish level 8 so that is what we are going to do. I have tried to give him the goal of only having to redo 1 passage a week. This gives him something to aim for and he tends to study the passages harder then.

[MomtoJGJE]

Thank you Tamara

[Mom2Monkeys]

I just realized there are 102 dictation passages for level 3 dictation, and right now we are on Unit 22, and only on dictation passage # 30! I thought my ds was doing ok, he usually gets it right after 2/3 tries ( I make him do it again the next day for missing punctuation, et, is this right ??). So this makes us waaaaaay behind for the year, what does anyone suggest we do?
Thank you!

Just thinking, if he's taking 2 to 3 tries on each dictation passage, I think he's on the wrong level. I'm thinking it was said on here that missing no more than 1 or 2 a week was a good sign of being on the right dictation level. Needing to repeat that many times on a regular basis is a sign he needs to back up a level. I'd give level 2 a try if this we my child. Maybe starting mid way through level 2.

[stawnasalas]

Ahhhh, thank you ladies! I understand now that we will just pick up where we left off next yr in CFC. Tamara- Its not always this way, sometimes he will get it right on the first try, for 1-2 passsages in a row, other times it does take him 2/3 tries. He doesnt seem too consistent. I guess it depends on the day and his level of focus . Maybe I will have to rethink level 3, it might make him a bit more consistent. Thank you!

[daybreaking]

The goal is that dc do all of that and eventually even memorize the whole paragraph that you are dictating and do it all from memory in the later years, so there is no need to rush into the more difficult passages. Success

This is the first time I've heard anything about the children needing to memorize the whole passage. I don't recall reading that in the manuals. Did I miss it somewhere?

[my3sons]

Good dialogue here! HOD doesn't intend for dc to memorize the passages for its current levels of 2-8. The directions before the first passage of dictation in the Appendix can be read for more specifics of doing dictation as well (for those of you who are new to dictation and have not used it within HOD yet). HTH!

In Christ,
Julie