AudreyTN Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 Is it common for the first "real" copywork assignment to be full of mistakes? My dd7 started LLATL Yellow yesterday and the first thing she had to do was copy a passage. It had 4-5 sentences. Some of it was just her HORRIBLE handwriting (that we are working on). I've seen some say that they make the child completely recopy the passage... Do you do that even when they are just beginning? Or do you wait until they have some "experience" with copywork? Thanks a lot! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisawa Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 I think this is how she will learn, but pointing out everything can turn her off.... I know when I first began; I sat with them and talked them through it. It takes a little getting used to. I would work on 1 thing at a time. What was the most common mistake? Focus on that one for a few assignments and when that doesn’t seem to be a problem, move to the next.... HTH~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AudreyTN Posted February 5, 2008 Author Share Posted February 5, 2008 What was the most common mistake? Mainly, it was her handwriting, like she dotted her i's on the line above so that they looked like a period. Did that make sense? She forgot a period. I couldn't tell if some of her letters were supposed to be uppercase or lowercase. Two of the sentences had the same first 4-5 words and she combined the two. I know she didn't do it on purpose, but it was a big mistake. And like I said this was her first "real" copywork assignment so I just nicely explained her errors and had her erase and fix them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue G in PA Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 Try breaking it up into 2 sentence chunks? I know my ds7 (almost 7) can only handle 1-2 short sentences of copywork in addition to the other writing her does each day w/ ETC and SWO. Perhaps try doing 2 sentences each day and work up to 3-4 after a few weeks of her doing consistent, neat, almost mistake-free copywork. I'm no expert by any means and I'm sure you'll get better advice, but this is what works here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jennefer@SSA Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 Four to five sentences seems like a lot if this is her very first copywork assignment. I started with ds 6 with short sentences, no more than 5-8 words. We have gradually built up over the year until he can successfully write 25-30 words at a time, broken up into a few sentences. Maybe she could do that same copywork but only do one sentence at a time. Stop to check for mistakes with mom and then move on to sentence 2??? I also did "Words for Nerds" when we started copywork. My little guy was hesitant about writing (what he perceived to be) too much, so at the end of the passage he would get a nerd for every words written correctly and neatly. It wasn't long until he was begging for longer copywork passages to he could get more nerds. (I should add that my kids hardly ever get candy so 20 nerds to him is like a ton) Maybe some type of incentive might help your dd be a little more careful. I do have him correct all mistakes - or recopy the passage if it is not in his best handwriting. But again we started really slowly to ease him in. I agree with Lisawa that she may get really frustrated with having to correct tons of mistakes from 5 sentences. Hth and good luck finding what works for you. Copywork has been a real blessing for us and I hope it's that for you, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie in GA Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 n Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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