Homeschooling Downunder
Home Education Resources
for Australia and New Zealand
that save you time, money and stress.
Dictation, Spelling and Grammar
Use copywork and dictation in your homeschool to introduce quality literature and encourage excellent handwriting, grammar and spelling. 
Dictation can be used in the homeschool to assess how your homeschool student is progressing in spelling, punctuation, handwriting and comprehension. A natural start to teaching dictation begins with copy work.
Well-chosen passages expose children to good literature and a variety of writing styles that help them recognise and use well-structured sentences, good grammar and correct punctuation.
The dictation method that Charlotte Mason suggests is not what most of us would remember from school. A great emphasis is placed on preparing the dictation passage before they are required to write it. This can be done using copy work, word study and careful examination of the piece to be written (more on this later). The goal is to get it right the first time.
Charlotte Mason and Ruth Beechick suggest starting dictation during the primary education years.
To help you get started with copywork and dictation we have some excellent resources. Our resources will help you get comfortable with incorporating this method into your homeschool.
Spelling and Dictation
When you and your student are preparing a dictation passage, have them look for words that they may find difficult and then do a word study. This can involve: carefully copying out the word; visualizing the word in their mind with their eyes closed; practice writing the words (make sure they are practising the correct spelling). After the word or words have been identified, allow time for the student to learn the spelling. When the student feels confident that they can spell the word correctly, begin the dictation. Look at your student’s dictation and see where the errors are. From this you can make individualised spelling lists. You may also wish to introduce some spelling rules to help them with the word.
Remember to correct misspelt words as soon as possible so that you don’t risk the student memorising the incorrect spelling.
‘The gift of spelling depends upon the power the eye possesses to “take” (in a photographic sense) a detailed picture of a word; and this is a power and habit which must be cultivated in children from the first. When they have read “cat”, they must be encouraged to see the word with their eyes shut, and the same habit will enable them to image “Thermopylae”. This picturing of words upon the retina appears to be to be the only royal road to spelling; an error once made and corrected leads to fearful doubt for the rest of one's life, as to which was the wrong way and which is the right. Most of us are haunted by some doubt as to whether “balance”, for instance, should have one “l” or two; and the doubt is born of a correction. Once the eye sees a misspelt word, that image remains; and if there is also the image of the word rightly spelt, we are perplexed as to which is which. Now we see why there could not be a more ingenious way of making bad spellers than “dictation” as it is commonly taught. Every misspelt word is in image in the child's brain not to be obliterated by the right spelling. It becomes, therefore, the teacher's business to prevent false spelling, and, if an error has been made, to hide it away, as it were, so that the impression may not become fixed.’
Charlotte Mason. Home Education.
Punctuation and Dictation
Until the 18th century, punctuation was closely related to spoken delivery, but in more recent times it has been based mainly on grammatical structure. There are two styles of punctuation in practice; open punctuation (light), and close punctuation (heavy). The close style is favoured in America.
In Australian schools open punctuation is taught. This has less punctuation than the close style and uses only the punctuation that is necessary to prevent misreading. Some of the rules that apply when using a close style of punctuation are not applicable when using the open punctuation style. In open punctuation, addresses and contractions, such as ‘Mr’, are stripped of punctuation. The number of commas is reduced in the body of the text and paragraph indents are replaced by double ‘carriage returns’ (or line spaces). With open punctuation it is often a matter of good judgment and ease of reading that helps determine if a passage is correct.When preparing the dictation passage, examine the punctuation used and ask your students questions about specific punctuation marks. Have them read aloud the passage, paying attention to pause when the punctuation indicates. Remind them that they need to study not only the spelling of words, but also the punctuation used.
The way you read a passage will help them work out the natural pauses for commas and full stops. You should work towards giving no punctuation prompts during dictation.
There are many punctuation rules to learn, some are very complex, and of course there are always the exceptions. Focus on the basics and make sure you have a good reference.
Grammar and Dictation
Grammar is the way we describe our language. It is talking with rules. It gives us the infrastructure for creative writing and for learning a second language. In the 1970s, grammar was removed from the Australian and New Zealand curriculum because, it was believed, too much emphasis was being placed on the formal aspects of the language and not enough on creativity. Some believe falling literacy standards are a direct result of this decision. Whether or not this is the case —grammar is back on the curriculum for Australian and New Zealand primary children.
To teach grammar in the midst of quality literature is an effective way of approaching this topic.
An essential in teaching this area is a good grammar reference. Familiarising your student with this grammar reference will be a valuable skill, which will help you and your student find out definitions and correct grammar usage. Many intensive grammar programs exist to help consolidate this subject.
Teaching Handwriting, Spelling and Grammar. Charlotte Mason Style.
This 25 page ebook shows you how to teach handwriting from first letters to mastering handwriting. Using the ideas gleaned from Charlotte Mason and Ruth Beechick we have put together a helpful resource that you can begin using immediately.
Table of Content
Teaching handwriting
Steps in teaching handwriting
Handwriting styles-what font should I use?
Skills that lead to mastering writing.
Copywork
Dictation
Spelling
Grammar
Charlotte Mason’s grammar lessons
Other Articles that may be of Interest to you are
Getting Your Six Year old to Write
Some good Australian grammar books that we have found are;
- The Little Grammar People by Nuri Mass. This book is out of print, but if you can locate it, enjoy reading it with your children. The story is based around two children who are transported to Grammar Land. Here they meet all the characters in the sentence, such as Miss Noun and Sir Pronoun.
- The Briefest English Grammar Ever! For English Speakers Who Didn't Learn Grammar at School by Ruth Colman. Copyright 2005. This is a 35 page basic grammar book that takes you through the eight parts of speech and explains them simply. I would recommend this book for the primary years. It does not discuss punctuation.
- The Little Green Grammar Book by Mark Tredinnick. Copyright 2008. This is a more comprehensive grammar book written in a narrative style. It discusses grammar in more detail, but not in a dull and boring way. The author uses good literature in many of his examples. The punctuation section is very helpful and interesting to read.