Position in Writing.<\/em><\/strong>\u2013\u2013For the writing position children should sit so that light reaches them from the left, and desk or table should be at a comfortable height. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>(Vol 1 Page 239)<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote>

Note that Miss Mason is writing this for the right-handed student. If you have a left-handed student, feel free to adjust the recommendation, with the light coming from the right side of the student! <\/p>

Next, she talks about the proper way of holding the pen: <\/p>

It would be a great gain if children were taught from the first to hold the pen between the first and second fingers, steadying it with the thumb. This position avoids the uncomfortable strain on the muscles produced by the usual way of holding a pen\u2013\u2013a strain which causes writer’s cramp in later days when there is much writing to be done. The pen should be held in a comfortable position, rather near the point, fingers and thumb somewhat bent, and the hand resting on the paper. <\/em><\/p>(Vol 1 Page 239)<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote>

Finally, she adds a note about supporting oneself with the other hand: <\/p>

The writer should also be allowed to support himself with the left hand on the paper, and should write in an easy position, with bent head but not with stooping figure. It would be unnecessary to say that the flat of the nib should be used if children had not a happy gift for making spider marks with the nib held sideways. <\/em><\/p>(Vol 1 Page 239)<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote>

5. Feel free to use a blackboard or dry erase board. <\/strong><\/h3>

In all writing lessons, free use should be made of the black-board by both teacher and children by way of model and practice.<\/em><\/p> (Vol 1 Page 239)\u00a0<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote>

Miss Mason was speaking to a time when the blackboard was a mainstay in schools and in homeschools. In our day, we might use a dry erase board more easily. The goal here is to know that these tools are used for modeling and practice. <\/p>

6. Use good quality desks to aid good posture. <\/strong><\/h3>

Do you know that Miss Mason even went as far as to make recommendations for the student\u2019s writing desk? Many of us may not think so far as that. Here is what she says: <\/p>

Desks.<\/em><\/strong>\u2013\u2013The best desks I know are those recommended by Dr Roth, single desks which may be raised or lowered, moved backwards or forwards, with seat, back, and a back pad, and rests for the feet. There may be others as good, even better, in the market, but these seem to answer every purpose. (Vol 1 Page 239) <\/em><\/p>

Isn\u2019t this interesting? She already had a recommendation for a desk that may be raised or lowered and adjusted backwards and forwards\u2014kind of like the more revolutionary desks we see being sold online these days that can be used in various heights! <\/p>

7. Be watchful of mistaken spellings as the child writes. <\/strong><\/h3>

Now, this next step is one of the powers of CM copywork\/transcription work. We don\u2019t just leave the child to copy on their own; the parent\/teacher actually has to sit nearby, watching as the child writes, so that at the first sign of a misspelling, we erase the word and encourage the child to copy it correctly. <\/p>

Why is this important? Miss Mason has observed that one of the main causes for poor spelling is the eye\u2019s inability to retain an image of the correct spelling of a word. She discourages a common practice in her day wherein a teacher will let a student write words with wrong spellings, then correct them with red ink, return them to the student, and expect the latter to write it correctly the next time. Instead, she emphasizes the need to have our student see the correct spelling as often as possible, and the wrong spelling as rarely as possible.\u00a0<\/p>

This is how she puts it: <\/p>

The Rationale of Spelling.<\/em><\/strong>\u2013\u2013<\/em>But the fact is, the gift of spelling depends upon the power the eye possesses to ‘take’ (in a photographic sense) a detailed picture of a word; and this is a power and habit which must be cultivated in children from the first. When they have read ‘cat,’ they must be encouraged to see the word with their eyes shut, and the same habit will enable them to image ‘Thermopylae.’<\/em><\/strong> This picturing of words upon the retina appears to be to be the only royal road to spelling; an error once made and corrected leads to fearful doubt for the rest of one’s life, as to which was the wrong way and which is the right. Most of us are haunted by some doubt as to whether ‘balance,’ for instance, should have one ‘l’ or two; and\u00a0the doubt is born of a correction. Once the eye sees a misspelt word, that image remains; and if there is also the image of the word rightly spelt, we are perplexed as to which is which. Now we see why there could not be a more ingenious way of making bad spellers than ‘dictation’ as it is commonly taught. Every misspelt word is in image in the child’s brain not to be obliterated by the right spelling. It becomes, therefore, the teacher’s business to prevent false spelling, and, if an error has been made, to hide it away, as it were, so that the impression may not become fixed. <\/em><\/p>(Vol 1 Page 241)\u00a0<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote>

Include Transcription in the Daily Schedule<\/h2>

The power in transcription comes when it\u2019s done regularly and consistently. We encourage you to include it in your daily schedule, possibly as a \u201cbreak\u201d in between stories, to give your child\u2019s mind a chance to rest before going back to another reading or listening lesson.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After learning to do copywork, the next phase in the Charlotte Mason book-keeping is transcription. It is an important introduction to spelling, and usually happens between the ages of 7 to 8 years old. Of course, this is not set in stone and every child develops at their own pace, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2327,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"WB4WB4WP_MODE":"","WB4WP_PAGE_SCRIPTS":"","WB4WP_PAGE_STYLES":"","WB4WP_PAGE_FONTS":"","WB4WP_PAGE_HEADER":"","WB4WP_PAGE_FOOTER":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[78],"tags":[79,20,40,19,116],"class_list":["post-2326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-copywork","tag-charlotte-mason-copywork","tag-charlotte-mason-homeschool","tag-charlotte-mason-language-arts","tag-charlotte-mason-philosophy","tag-charlotte-mason-transcription"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/charlottemasoninternational.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/pexels-photo-1925536.jpeg?fit=1880%2C1253&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/charlottemasoninternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2326"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/charlottemasoninternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/charlottemasoninternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/charlottemasoninternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/charlottemasoninternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2326"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/charlottemasoninternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2326\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2328,"href":"https:\/\/charlottemasoninternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2326\/revisions\/2328"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/charlottemasoninternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/charlottemasoninternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/charlottemasoninternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/charlottemasoninternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}