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Erin
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| Posted: May 22 2007 at 11:30pm | IP Logged
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Just wanted to share my excitement  9months ago I started an intensive effort with my dc regards regular spelling program and daily dictation.
Before we began I tested dd13 and her spelling age was way down about a nine year old level (although the program/test I used was written in the 1950s so I imagine it is of a high standard today)
Today we did the test again and dd13 has improved SO much  Her spelling level is now where a 13 yr old girl should be Just wanted to share my excitement.
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Erin
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aussieannie
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Erin, I'm so excited for you!!! I remember your thoughts that time back - please share a little more, exactly how you went about it all.
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Paula in MN
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This is wonderful! What program are you using?
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 Paula
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alicegunther
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I am so happy to hear it! Wonderful!
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Angie Mc
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Happy day! Erin, you are reminding me of another tool that has worked well for us (in addition to those mentioned in your Real Learning post.) We will use an intensive time of work on a particular skill...we call it "boot camp." I have a handwriting boot camp lined up for my boys this summer  .
Keep up the awesome work!
Love,
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italianalaskan
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| Posted: May 23 2007 at 9:29pm | IP Logged
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Congratulation!
Do you mind sharing your secret?
I have an 11 year old who struggles with spelling and I don't know what to do about it anymore.
Thank you,
Simona
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Alison
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| Posted: May 24 2007 at 3:52am | IP Logged
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Has anyone used "Learning to spell through copywork" from this site:http://www.queenhomeschool.com/ and if so could you please comment on its effectiveness.
thanks
Alison
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Erin
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| Posted: May 24 2007 at 6:49am | IP Logged
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Anne, Paula and Simona
The spelling approach we have used it a little booklet written in 1952 by an Englishman Fred Schonell; The Essential Spelling Book This book contains the 300 most common used words (perhaps not the most common of today) The approach is what is called synthetic phonics, not too sure how to explain that  . Each week the children will learn a set of new words, some will be family words, some are a little irregular for example.
Group 2 8yrs approx.
lamp, camp, damp
rent, spent, spend
wing, swing, sting
stamp, string, west
It is recommended that dc write three words a day, then revise and test at the end of the week. Some of my dc like to write all words out at the beginning of the week and revise daily doing the visualising approach. Look, cover , imagine it written. Very rarely have they been getting many incorrect. One ds did struggle alot at the beginning but he is making steady progress.
Simona
As the others may remember my dc have struggled with spelling but I came to realise that for us most of the problem was that we didn't write enough, they didn't practice. I realise this is not the reason for many but it is for my dc. Both my dh and I are strong spellers and therefore I didn't really expect a learning issue with dc. I thought back to why were dh and I solid and I realised that we had a lot of good formation in our primary years. Which lead to dictation as well.
We have been doing dictation daily (mostly) for the last nine months. It is a huge effort but it is now paying off. Previously we had always done copywork (still do) but it didn't seem to help in the area of spelling or punctuation, I think they were so focused on penmanship. I really don't think it matters what you use as long as you are consistent.
Over the months we have used a variety of reading materials, we have used short stories, selections from the Queensland Readers, poetry, psalms and at present the older two are writing paragraphs a day from Redwall. Jacques sure uses some tricky words At the beginning of this year I added in my second son, he carried on a treat how hard it was etc and now it is his favourite time of the day I started using a DK Level 1 reader with him. Recently I also started my third son, he also cried etc when he settled down (and I ignored his nonsense) he realised he loves it.
When each child starts with dictation I start them with 'studied dictation' that is they can study the words and punctuation before I dictate. They may only start with one sentence. For my boys that was all they could handle in the beginning. As they became better they gradually built up to paragraphs and not doing studied dictations but straight dictations.
One tip though if you have a few children, is don't try and have more than two at the most three children doing dictation at the same time, it is way too chaotic.
Hope this gives you a little idea of what we have done.
Angie
The boot camp of writing reminds me of Ruth Beechick, I believe she recommends doing that. I also was thinking of doing that with the boys handwriting, they start their letters in dreadful places
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Shari in NY
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Erin,
Thanks for showing us how you did this. We grouse about dictation here (yes, even me ) but you've inspired me to give it another try. Congratulations on your sucess .
Shari in NY
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JennyMaine
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| Posted: May 24 2007 at 7:06pm | IP Logged
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Thanks for sharing! Congratulations on the improvements.
My daughter is on the dyslexic side and her spelling is awful. She tries to spell everything phonetically. Well, this year she's been writing stories on her own (just for fun) and doing copying as the mood strikes her. I've noticed her spelling is improving. I know it's not from studying spelling lists, because she still misses most of them!
Hmmmm. . .I think we're on to something!
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Karen E.
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Erin,
Thanks for sharing your methods and your successes! Congrats to all of your dc (and to you, Mom!) This is such an encouraging thread, and I loved hearing the nuts and bolts.
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Karen E.
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Visit my blog, with its shockingly clever title, "Karen Edmisten."
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italianalaskan
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Yes, thank you for sharing.
Simona
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4Real Forums : Language Arts Come Alive
Topic: Dictation/Spelling Pays Off!!!
