Dictation was practiced every day in Charlotte Mason's schools.
Through dictation, the student studies only the mechanics of writing, allowing her to really concentrate on spelling and punctuation without being distracted by the creative process of composition.
This is what dictation looks like at our house.
I choose a few sentences from our history reading (currently The Landing of The Pilgrims, by James Daugherty). My daughter copies this passage neatly into her
notebook paying special attention to spelling and punctuation.
The next day, she studies the passage briefly, and then puts it aside. Next, I dictate one of the passage's sentences to her as she writes it on her little white board.
Finally, she corrects her own work by comparing the sentence on the white board to the entry in her notebook. Any mistakes are easily erased and corrected.
Simple. Yes, even fun sometimes-- like a word puzzle. And yet, dictation is a powerful tool when practiced daily.
Give it a try!
| 