Recently, I sat down with a cup of coffee in hand to look through the new Downunder Dictation and Teacher’s Guide. (I was given an advance copy – it will be available soon!) I’m glad that I did set aside a period of time because this resource does demand that, if you are going to get the best out of it.
Michelle Morrow has written some excellent notes on the importance of dictation in the life of your child’s learning. It is to your detriment if you try to skip past these notes at the beginning of the book and launch straight into the first lesson. These introductory pages help you to organize your thoughts on dictation, give the importance of preparing a passage and have great tips for how to tackle different genres of literature.
In the back, there are appendices with basic spelling rules, sample grammar lessons from Charlotte Mason, and checklists with common questions to ask your children in language studies.
All of this gives you the foundation you need to make copy work and dictation a regular part of your week, without the stress and hassle of not knowing where to look next.
However, it was the section in the middle; the selections for dictation that was a delight. Some of the best known Australian authors are represented here. Wonderful poems, ballads, narratives, tales of the bush, adventures on the high seas and inspiring heroes in our history. My only problem was that there weren’t enough! Don’t misunderstand me, 32 separate pieces will take you a while, perhaps one a week if you want to use them regularly, I just enjoyed it so much that I was sad to reach the end.
One of the stated aims of this guide is that it will whet your child’s appetite for more. Perhaps it will encourage you to get the book from which the extract was taken, or read more about a topic. I think we will be doing some of those things in our household as we go through it together.
This review is glowing and I usually like to mention the things I didn’t like about a resource as well. I don’t have much to say on this point. I think Michelle gets the balance right. She gives guidance but does not script each lesson for you. This suits my style but you may look for more detail. If you do prefer a more scripted lesson, this resource will still aid you. Take more time to digest the introductory pages, perhaps plan out a few of the lessons yourself using the notes at the start to guide you. Your child will benefit from the more individualized planning that you do.
The only other "down side" to this guide is that I didn’t have it sooner. I would have loved it a couple of years ago.
Thanks Downunder Literature for making this resource available now and blessing current and future (home) educators with your labours.
For more information, look at their website – www.downunderlit.com
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