A new struggle with WWE 2

[Jenny in GA]

My daughter is nine and a half, in fourth grade, and in WWE 2. I think she is on about Lesson 29.

 

We have just gotten to the point in the book where they start dropping copywork. In other words, you simply write a sentence from dictation a sentence you've never seen before.

 

My daughter is a terrible speller, and she really struggles with this because she has trouble spelling about every third word. It is very hard and slow for her to get through the single sentence, and she is wearing out her eraser, which must be very discouraging.

 

Anyway, I'm wondering if any one else has had this problem, and how to handle it. I'm considering writing it out and having her still do it as copywork first. But on the other hand, she's almost ten years old! If she can't write a single sentence from dictation now, when is she?? Shouldn't she be progressing?

 

So should I just have her struggle? Is there a way to make it easier for her without babying her about it? Do I spell words for her, or just have her fix them all after she spells them wrong?

 

Any ideas? BTW, we just started All About Spelling Level 3.

 

Jenny

[Jenny Piaaree]

Sometimes if I suspect my dd won't know how to spell a word in the dictation, I'll go over that word with her before she begins to write. Also, (although I don't do this :blush:), SWB recommends watching over dc's shoulder as they write and correcting mistakes as they happen. So if you see her putting in a wrong letter, you can correct it before she gets the whole word wrong.

[deeinfl]

I think having your daughter write it out as copywork first is a great idea...one that I may apply myself. My son is a fourth grader and we are on lesson 4 of WWE 2, but are doing two to three lessons a day when they are easy for him, in order to catch up to our chronological week. (week 11)

 

I may use the more difficult dictation passages in a more CM style by having him do a "studied" dictation instead.

 

Make the program work for you. In the end you will get to the same place and your daughter will mature in the process.

 

Blessings!!

 

Dee

[Researcher]

We sometimes use the sentence as copywork first and then dictation the next day. If I see he him put down the wrong letter in a word, I'll stop him and remind him of the spelling rule for that word. It may be a little slower this way but I'm very pleased with the progress I'm seeing in his work.

 

HTH!

[razorbackmama]

I know this goes against the true "purpose" of dictation (holding it "correctly" in your mind first and then writing it down), but I don't stress spelling INCREDIBLY much. Part of the writing process is proofreading, which includes finding and correcting spelling mistakes.

 

I like the suggestions listed above, but outside that, I don't stress it too much. As long as my kids can get the THOUGHT down on paper, I consider it a bonus if everything else (spelling, punctuation, etc.) is correct.

[Mom-ninja.]

My ds is the same. He cannot spell. He's also in level 3 of AAS. He's in WWE 3. So you can progress with WWE and not be a good speller. SWB states that dictation is not an exercise in spelling so help with any spelling needed. I try to keep that in mind. Dictation skills are not the same as spelling skills. My ds is getting pretty good with dictation. His spelling is at a second grade level though.

 

I do sit right with ds during dictation and correct him right away if he starts to misspell a word. If he asks me how to spell a word, I spell it using sounds instead of letter names.

[kokotg]

I know this goes against the true "purpose" of dictation (holding it "correctly" in your mind first and then writing it down), but I don't stress spelling INCREDIBLY much. Part of the writing process is proofreading, which includes finding and correcting spelling mistakes.

 

 

 

DS7 just started WWE2 a couple of weeks ago, and it actually says in the instructions for the first dictation, "if the student asks you how to spell a word, tell him; this is not a spelling exercise." I watch him as he writes and ask him if he knows how to spell the trickier words as he comes to them.

[kwg]

I am not sure how helpful this will be but I have been trying to use some of Charlotte Mason's (I think??) ideas. You have the student study the sentence first. Go over any words you think he/she will miss, punctuation, etc. I tell him he will need to write it without looking and he does actually try to remember the spellings. THEN I read the sentence 2 times and have him write it. If he forgets he can ask me, no big deal but he really wants to be able to just do it.

 

Ds is a terrible speller too.

[ABQmom]

I often let my 9yo see the sentence first. I also write out particularly challenging words on a scrap piece of paper so that he can copy them when he gets to them.

 

Progress here has been much slower than I would have liked (or what the book seems to suggest would be appropriate), but it is progress nonetheless. Slow and steady . . .

 

This is a great idea! I've been choosing sentences that are simpler in spelling, but if I wrote words down on a scrap of paper or the white board, I could see us doing more complex sentences.

 

Lots of great ideas in this thread.

[Mom0012]

I haven't read all the replies, but SWB explicitly says that if a child is having trouble spelling a word, you are to tell them this is not a spelling exercise. If my daughter (who actually spells very well) doesn't know how to spell something, I help her sound it out or I just tell her if it's not a word I think she can sound out.

 

Lisa

[cschnee]

I know this goes against the true "purpose" of dictation (holding it "correctly" in your mind first and then writing it down), but I don't stress spelling INCREDIBLY much. Part of the writing process is proofreading, which includes finding and correcting spelling mistakes.

:iagree:

With my daughter (who is actually a great speller), I'd dictate and then after ask her what words she thought she spelled wrong. We'd edit her work at this point.

[Susie in CA]

SWB has put up a YouTube video doing dictation with her son. I think, if you watch it you will feel much better about it.

 

Susie

[Capt_Uhura]

What I do is to have DS write any word I think he won't be able to spell on the very bottom. If he gets it wrong, I help him to spell it correctly and we mark it up using SWR methodology to help him remember it. Then when he's doing the dictation, we're nearing the end of level 3, he can refer to the bottom of the page. If I spend too much time correcting spelling, he forgets the passage. now if she has too many words she can't spell, I'd do it as copywork first, but work on spelling separately. The one thing I tend to agree is that if kids write words incorrectly for too long, it imprints that wrong spelling. So I think it's better to keep doing it as copywork so that she's copying good writing and doing it as dictation the next day.

[kalanamak]

 

My daughter is a terrible speller, and she really struggles with this because she has trouble spelling about every third word.

 

Any ideas? BTW, we just started All About Spelling Level 3.

 

 

Poor thing! I use finger spelling from SWR, and when we are coming to a word I think he might make a mistake on, I proffer my fingers. If he says no-no, I watch and at the first mistake I give him verbal cues (/sK/, you missed the /k/ or the third sound of A). If he is really stumped, he is happy to take the finger spelling. Since he is decent at phonics, I might pronounce it the way it is spelled, e.g. SUB-tle.

 

I wouldn't let the spelling get in the way. If you say "subtle is spelled s-u-b-t-l-e" fairly quickly, can she follow you? Or is it a painful s.....u...?

You could also write out the tough words in a column.

 

These are just some ideas. HTH

[MerryAtHope]

Any ideas? BTW, we just started All About Spelling Level 3.

 

Jenny

 

If she just started AAS 3, then she IS doing dictation. She may not be to the level of dictation that is in WWE, but she is working towards that. AAS is working on all of these skills. I would just let her keep working towards them at her pace and not push her by having her do dictation she's not ready for.

 

If you want to use the dictations for copywork, that can be beneficial, but only if you walk her through the sounds first. If she's copying by thinking of words as a string of letters without understanding how they work together and that she is writing sound symbols, then the copywork isn't fruitful either.

 

Hang in there, she'll get there! Merry :-)

[LizzyBee]

I would have her do it as copywork one day and dictation the next day. That's what I did in the past with my older kids and it worked great. We will be starting WWE 2 next week with my 9 yo dyslexic dd, and I'm sure we'll have to do the same thing with her.

[Mom-ninja.]

You are using two good programs, WWE and AAS. By sticking with both your dd will make progress.

 

You can do the adaptations to WWE dictation as others have suggested.

 

I strongly encourage you to really use AAS to its full extent. Review, review, review. Put together your review box and use it. I didn't really use the card box before, but now I do. I have noticed a difference.

 

Are you doing the dictation in AAS? My ds likes those because they are so much easier for him compared to WWE. They give him confidence booster. :001_smile: The sentences in AAS are made from words that the child has already gone over.

 

As Merry said, when you gat midway through level 3, you start the Writing Station. Mary Rippel states that many children can spell words during lessons but have a hard time transitions their spelling skills outside of lessons. The Writing Station is supposed to help.