Copywork
Copywork has long been the method of educating kings and world leaders; its effectiveness has been proven through the ages, from the King’s of England to our own founding fathers. Though our current educational method continues to show a marked decline in the intelligence and wisdom of today’s teens, an educated eighth grader a hundred years ago was often more educated then today’s college graduates. What was the foundation for their amazing aptitude in the English language? Copywork. Today, in museums across the world, we can see the copybooks of famous personalities through the ages.
Copywork is able to educate the child in all facets of academics, character and truth. In fact, John Quincy Adams, at the age of ten, wrote these words at the end of a letter to his father, President John Adams:
P.S. Sir, if you will be so good as to favor me with a blank book, I will transcribe the most remarkable occurrences I meet with in my reading, which will serve to fix them upon my mind.
This same man graduated from law school at the age of 17. Perhaps we should rethink our multitude of workbooks and look at what method carries the weight and evidence of actually being effective. Copywork is the key, and it has hundreds of years of evidence to support its cause.
The act of copying from one’s reading requires a great deal more from the child than one would expect. It requires precise eye tracking coordination needed for reading fluency, it enhances visual perception skills needed for reading and math, it improves handwriting, imparts proper spelling, enhances grammar and language usage, and if proper selections are made, imparts wisdom, discernment and fortification to the spirit of the child, even when the mind is too young to fully understand the meaning of what is copied.
How to Implement a Language Arts Program Using Copywork
Choose a passage of Scripture to work on over a series of days. A child under the age of 10 should not be required to write for more than ten minutes each day. Set aside ten minutes for the actual task of copying the passage.
Take a few minutes before and after to discuss the passage and its particulars, such as the meaning, its punctuation, and words that are difficult to spell. Talk about why certain grammatical conventions were used, such as a comma or semi-colon (if you are not sure, get the book Elements of Style by Strunk and White). Call attention to the capital letters.
If using a copybook, such as The Shelter: Psalms 91, each day the child should copy the selected passage on the lines below. The child will copy the passage over again for several days before they are asked to dictate the passage. They will then dictate the passage for several days before moving on to the next selection.
By the end of the book, the child will be able to write the entire passage from memory. Additionally, the child will have learned a great many spelling words, grammar conventions and will have strengthened his writing skills dramatically.
To benefit the most, the teacher should follow certain procedures to enhance the child’s learning of spelling, grammar and language usage during copywork.
Spelling
In order for a child to learn spelling as they do copywork, it is important that you teach the child not to copy a word by looking at each letter in turn. They must study the word and without looking, write the entire word from memory. If it is a difficult word, allow them to use the spelling procedure below.
1. Study the word.
2. Spell it out loud while looking at it.
3. Imagine taking a picture of the word to imprint in the mind.
4. Close your eyes and imagine the word.
5. Study it again.
6. Without looking, spell it out loud.
7. Study the word again before writing it.
8. Without looking at the word, write it from memory.
Grammar
To promote the use of proper grammar and language usage, as I mentioned previously, you should discuss the grammatical marks and conventions used in each copywork passage.
Your goal is to give your child the greatest opportunity for success with dictation. This success will translate to other areas of writing. Before you begin the dictation exercise, allow the child to study each passage. Discuss with them where the marks should go. Discuss any words they may have trouble spelling and have them write out and commit those words to memory using the same spelling procedure above, except you will have the child write the word on a separate sheet of paper before they begin the dictation exercise.
When you are dictating to the child, Charlotte Mason suggested that you, the teacher, should use your finger to indicate where the punctuation marks should go as you are dictating. This way, the child can see the marks with their mind as they are listening to the passage. This may seem to be “giving it away” to the child. However, our job is to give our children success in writing that will translate to other written works. This procedure will allow them to hear and see punctuation, learning where it goes and knowing instinctively when to use it in other writing. They must still think about it and put the correct mark in the correct place. The extra hint will enable them to learn correct grammar usage through success, rather than failure.
Copywork Books
To make your job of teaching Language Arts through copywork, I have created a copywork e-book that promotes this procedure using Psalms 91, one of the most remarkable, comforting and inspiring passages in Scripture about God’s unconditional protection.
Go to the products page to purchase your copy.
