Using Charlotte Mason’s Studied Dictation Method to Help Older Struggling Spellers

Using Charlotte Mason’s Studied Dictation Method to Help Older Struggling Spellers

What should you do if you have an older child who struggles with spelling? Well, Charlotte Mason’s studied dictation method helps children steadily improve their spelling. Beginning with Bigger Hearts for His Glory (BHFHG), each of Heart of Dakota’s (HOD’s) guides include dictation passages. Each HOD guide also includes specific instructions for properly implementing Charlotte Mason’s studied dictation method. These instructions are easy to follow and can be found in each guide’s Appendix, just prior to the dictation passages.

But what if you have used dictation for several years with your struggling speller? You’ve probably seen some improvement, but you’d like to see more.

I recently helped a fellow homeschool mom who told me this very thing. She went on to share that she had been a struggling speller in school too. Of her three children, two were struggling spellers. The oldest daughter, however, was an excellent speller. Her heart hurt seeing her son struggle with spelling especially. He was getting older. She asked about doing a basic spelling list over the summer. She also asked what more she could do with dictation. Very good questions!

Maybe you also have a child who is older, who has done a fair share of dictation, and who still misspells many things.  If so, don’t despair! This post is for you! This is what I shared with her, and a summer and a year later, she shared she is seeing steady improvement in her son’s spelling. Praise God!

Steady Practice with Dictation Helps

Unfortunately, spelling is a natural ability pretty deeply tied to visualizing words. The good news is that studied dictation is very focused upon seeing a word spelled correctly and doing the work to get the correct image of a word in and the incorrect image out.

I would be inclined to suggest that you move toward doing studied dictation daily with your son who is struggling with spelling. You could do it this summer as one of your only subjects. You will see improvement, but steady practice daily will make that happen. Steady practice even in high school reaps big rewards. You could do a different spelling program, but being a recipient of that in your school days you can see that spelling programs aren’t all they are cracked up to be!

I would lean toward steady practice in dictation and helping him proofread his written work as a means of focusing on the issues. If you don’t have time to proofread his written work, you could have your strong speller help proofread. Underline in pencil anything that is not spelled correctly. Then, write the correct spelling in pencil in the margin. Have the child who is working on spelling, erase the incorrect word. Then, have him copy the correctly spelled word from the margin. Last, erase the word in the margin, leaving only the correctly spelled word in its proper place in the written work. I know there may be many words in the margin at first. Over time, this strategy combined with studied dictation does help. It just takes a long time to see fruit!

Blessings,
Carrie