Questions about dictation and writing
Hello everyone!
I have a few more questions regarding the curriculum as described in LCC.
1. I noticed that it didn't mention dictation - it only mentioned copywork. Does this mean that LCC considers copywork better than dictation. If so, why?
2. Are any of you familiar with the Excellence in Writing program by Andrew Pudewa? Can this program be a reasonable substitute for CW or CC?
Thanks for any tips you can give me. I hope you all have a wonderful Thansgiving! (Make sure you all take some time off school and let the children help with the preparations!)
May we continue to thank God for the wonderful blessing of being able to homeschool our children. MaryAnn
Copywork
It's not that dictation is in some way inferior. ;) It's just that copywork, done consistently and attentively, is sufficient to teach writing mechanics (capitalization, punctuation). Dictation is one way of testing a student's knowledge of mechanics once they have been learned. But you can also catch any problems of that sort in written exercises across the curriculum or by working through a composition program. So while there's nothing wrong with dictation, it seems to me an unnecessary step, and LCC is all about streamlining.
Writing skills beyond mechanics are taught through a combination of narration, the progymnasmata, classical rhetoric, and translation to and from the classical languages.
I've not used Mr. Pudewa's program myself, so I'll let others chime in there.
HTH!
-Drew
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"I wonder how far I shall carry any opinion with me when I plead for active effort to revive the general use of Latin?" - Hilaire Belloc
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