"Then, as for the 'living creatures,' here is a field of unbounded interest and delight." ~ Charlotte Mason Vol 1 pg 56 This past week our nature study seems to have turned a little squirrely. We spent quite awhile Sunday watching a squirrel dig a hole, check the size repeatedly until he had just the right fit for his pecan, use his little forepaws to rake the dirt back in the hole then swiftly pat the dirt down to protect his hidden treasure. (How I wish I had had my camera.)
Fortunately, I did have it Friday when this little guy was very adamantly insisting that Georgi and I leave his territory. Unfortunately for him, his "territory" is a pine tree in our front yard! So, he's just going to have to learn to accept our presence in his space.
(Turn your speakers up to hear him telling us off.)
"After the sort of preparation I have described, which takes ten minutes or less, there is rarely an error in spelling. If there be, it is well worth while for the teacher to be on the watch with slips of stamp-paper to put over the wrong word, that its image may be erased as far as possible. At the end of the lesson, the child should again study the wrong word in his book until he says he is sure of, and should write it correctly on the stamp-paper."~ Charlotte Mason Vol 1 pg 242
The effectiveness of simple dictation has astounded me. Georgi has had very few spelling lessons, all in 2nd grade (before I discovered Ambleside Online), yet, at 11 she spells wonderfully. We have used Charlotte Mason's methods of teaching spelling (lots of quality books, copywork and dictation) for three years now and I am thrilled with the results. In addition to spelling well, she actually enjoys the dictation lessons!
I use Spelling Wisdom as our source for dictation passages. It just makes me feel good to know that all of the important words are being covered, and it's nice to not have to choose a dictation section each week.
Just as Miss Mason recommends, I allow Georgi to study the passage to be dictated, paying careful attention to punctuation or "the pointing". When she is ready I read the passage to her, clause by clause, pausing at the places where punctuation should be until she remembers to put it there. Since I'm unsure what "stamp-paper" is and have no idea where to buy it, I use the post-it page flags cut into thinner strips. If any words or punctuation are missed in the passage, we will repeat the lesson later in the week. Here is an example of our latest lesson.
This is her first try, she doesn't usually miss a word, but she only put one "m" in "commandment". As soon as I covered it she figured out her error and spelled it correctly the second time. At the end of the lesson she wrote it on the post-it flag and then we repeated the same lesson a couple of days later with perfect results.
And, lest you think her handwriting excessively sloppy, here is a sample of her copywork.
This sample is shorter than usual, but I use our memory work for copywork, and this week's catechism was short.
I don't judge the handwriting too harshly during dictation, that is when I want Georgi to focus on the words as a whole, on proper spelling and punctuation. It is during copywork that I expect her to take the time to focus on the proper formation of each letter in addition to the spelling and punctuation.
If you are struggling to understand how to implement dictation in your homeschool, watch this video by Sonya Shafer, she does a fabulous job of laying it all out which helped me tremendously when I was first learning the art of dictation.
"We were all meant to be naturalists, each in his degree, and it is inexcusable to live in a world so full of the marvels of plant and animal life and to care for none of these things."Charlotte Mason Vol 1 pg 61
Our most recent nature walk took place at Tiger Creek, a local tiger refuge. We were invited there to celebrate the birthday of one of Georgi's friends from our homeschool group. We had an amazing day and Georgi took dozens of pictures. Here are a few of my favorites. (Click on the pictures to super-size them.)
"They learn what to observe, and make discoveries for themselves, original so far as they are concerned." ~ Charlotte Mason Vol 3 pg 238
Of all subjects I have found mathematics to be the most difficult to apply Miss Mason's principles to. Last week the concepts of radius and diameter were introduced to Georgi in our math text Life of Fred - Fractions.
I thought she grasped the concept pretty well, but today, she was at a total loss as to how to figure out the diameter of a circle whose radius was 32.
After numerous attempts to prod her memory I finally thought about Miss Mason's emphasis on children discovering ideas for themselves, owning the information. I thought, "What's the CM way to teach this" then I used a compass to draw several circles on a piece of paper, told her to draw a line and measure the radius, then the diameter and figure out what the relationship is between them. After four circles she told me the radius is half the diameter and the diameter is two times the radius. Yes! Now the really neat part is that late this evening, eight hours after she made this discovery, out of the blue, I asked her to tell me the relationship between the radius and diameter of a circle. She didn't hesitate as she rattled off the answer. She discovered it. She remembers it. It is hers.
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