Last week I explained what Charlotte Mason’s studied dictation was, and gave an example of a lesson plan. This week I want to share with you a modified Charlotte Mason dictation lesson that I developed for one of my daughters. It combines Charlotte Mason’s idea of studying a passage from literature with an analytical style spelling program. I heavily relied on Uncovering the Logic of English by Denise Eide to plan this lesson. I want to stress that this is not dictation as Mason described. It does not contain her method of visualization, and pulls apart the words for analysis far more than Mason would.
My oldest daughter learned to read very quickly. After learning her letters and a few of the most common multiple phonograms, she taught herself whole words. This was great for fast reading, not so great for breaking down the words for spelling. When it came to writing words, she had no idea how to break up a word into its sounds. She didn’t have the phonetic tools. So I developed a plan that focused on phonograms, common spelling rules, and rules for punctuation. My daughter was 11 when we began these lessons. They served as a crash course to give her phonetic tools quickly. After a year, it was clear that this kind of lesson was no longer necessary and we have gone back to the standard Charlotte Mason Dictation lesson as described here.
Download the PDF version.
From The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford.
Suddenly, there was a sound of a heavy body pushing through the underbrush, accompanied by a sharp cracking of branches, and the spell was broken.
Phonograms: th, ou, ea, sh, ng, ough, er, ed, ar, ck, ch
- heavy, body. Rule: English words do not end with IUVJ. Rule: I and Y may say /i/ or /I/ at the end of a syllable.
- accompany – accompanied. Y changes to i when adding ed
- branch – branches. Add es when pluralizing a word that hisses
- broke – broken. Silent final e makes the o say O. Every syllable must have a written vowel.
- Suddenly, – Use a comma after introductory adverbs.
“Finally, I went running.”
“Unsurprisingly, I saw a duck when I went running.”
“Many adverbs end in “ly” and answer the question “how?” How did someone do something? How did something happen? Adverbs that don’t end in “ly,” such as “when” or “while,” usually introduce a dependent clause, which rule number two in this post already covered.
Also insert a comma when “however” starts a sentence, too. Phrases like “on the other hand” and “furthermore” also fall into this category. Starting a sentence with “however,” however, is discouraged by many careful writers. A better method would be to use “however” within a sentence after the phrase you want to negate, as in the previous sentence.” (1)
- branches, – Comma Before And That Joins Two Independent Clauses
“The word and is a conjunction, and when a conjunction joins two independent clauses, you should use a comma with it. The proper place for the comma is before the conjunction.
“On Monday we’ll see the Eiffel Tower, and on Tuesday we’ll visit the Louvre.”
The sentence above contains two independent clauses, so it requires a comma before and. (By the way, you can tell they’re independent clauses because each one could stand on its own as a complete sentence.)” (2)
4. Uncovering The Logic of English by Denise Eide
- Underline all multiple phonograms and write above it which number sound is being used. (e.g. heavy – ea 2nd sound)
- Mark known rules.
- Take note of comma placement.
- Use for copywork.
- Teach the spelling of unknown words (as many as can be taught in 10 – 15 minutes).
- Every syllable must have a vowel. Have students identify the syllable by drawing a dotted line through each syllable of each word on their student paper. Write out the word with the syllabic breaks in them.
e.g. sud den ly, un der brush. bod y, heav y, ac com pan ied, brok en.
- Analyze the word in the direction of writing.
sud den – all first sound vowels
ly – Rule: English words do not end with IUVJ. Rule: Y says /E/ only at the end of a multi syllable word.
- Analyze roots for spelling
sudden – add suffix ‘ly’
- Write from memory
- Teach adding suffixes to single vowel Y words.
- Write on board: Single vowel Y changes to I when adding any ending, unless the ending begins with I.
So there are two questions to ask: does it end with a single vowel Y? Does the suffix begin with any letter except I? If the answer is yes to both of these, change the Y to I and add the suffix. If the answer is no to either, just add the ending.
- Do some examples on the board.
try – tries, happy – happiness, busy – business, boy – boys (phonogram ‘oy,’ not a single vowel Y), worry – worrisome, annoy – annoyed (phonogram ‘oy,’ not a single vowel Y) cry – crier, study – studied.
- Review any words learned this week and teach comma rules above.
- Continue teaching the rest of the words, following the pattern of Day 2&3
e.g. Teach accompanied.
- Identify syllables – ac com pan ied.
- Analyse the word in the direction of writing.
ac com pan – all first sounds
ied – Rule: Single vowel Y changes to I when adding any ending, unless the ending begins with I.
- Analyze roots for spelling – accompany
– does it end with a single vowel Y? Yes
– Does the suffix begin with any letter except I? Yes
Then Y changes to I and add the suffix.
- Write out the word accompanied from memory.
- Review comma placement
- Discuss spelling of challenging words learned.
- Practice writing the sentence out without looking. Provide help when needed.
- Bonus challenge: spell unseen words that use the same rules we have learned the last two weeks.
- Rule: English words do not end with IUVJ. and, Rule: Y says /E/ only at the end of a multi syllable word. sandy
- Rule: Single vowel Y changes to I when adding an ending, unless the ending begins with I. puppies, cried, toys, blindness
- Rule: The vowel says its long sound because of the E. spoke
- Rule: Every syllable must have a vowel. Rule: AEOU usually say AEOU at the end of a syllable: despite