Copywork: A launching pad to great writing

 

So, I took some time last week to intentionally think about and do a little planning for our next school year. “School” of course, for us, happens all the time but with a baby brother entering our world (hopefully sometime before the end of the year) and the girls getting a little older, I’m choosing a few key categories to focus on, in addition to the bible and all their daily life experiences. 

Despite the extreme heat here, we actually get tons of reading and learning done during the summer months. I’m much more relaxed and it becomes one of my favorite times of year. 

Our summer focus:

• Reading, reading and more reading- the girls will participate in a couple of summer reading programs and as a family, we will be constantly reading to them. I think last summer, we read 10 chapter books together. It was marvelous!
• Catechism- we use these little books from Door Posts and the girls really enjoy the daily drills.
• Math- A few times a week, daddy plans to start teaching them using Math U-See. We’ve never done a formal math curriculum but we enjoyed the demo we saw at last year’s CHEA convention. I managed to find a second hand set through a local homeschool group so we’ll give it a try. Each lesson is only about 15 minutes long and the program is multi-sensory, using manipulatives to illustrate and teach math concepts. I think the girls will have fun with it.
• Piano- We’re on a piano break for the summer. However, our teacher gave us a few new pieces to practice. Although I won’t require the girls to practice every day, they seem to gravitate towards the piano and play without prompting, anyway. I think it helps that they really enjoy the songs they’ve been given. They’ve also got a cute duet piece they’re working on.

Lastly, we will focus on copywork. I introduced this a few weeks ago and the girls absolutely LOVE it. When I say it’s time for copywork, they actually get really excited about doing it and always ask if they can do more than one page. I have various ones I plan to do throughout the summer (all online and all FREE).  We’re currently working on Psalm 23. Each day, they copy one verse and by the end of six days, they will have written and memorized the entire Psalm-- complete with their own artwork!

Psalm 23 Copywork

I have to admit, the concept of copywork is fairly new to me. 

Why Copywork?

This article from creation.com gives an excellent description of what it is and how it works.

Introducing children to the skill of writing need not be an ominous task. One must merely keep in mind that young children are also young thinkers who need exposure to the world of ideas before they can be expected to put their thoughts into complete and coherent sentences. Often, young students are required to write from what is within them, and therein lies the problem. Young children simply lack the life experience and expertise of their adult counterparts. Therefore, the task of organizing their thoughts (on paper) in a structured manner is overwhelming and too often a recipe for failure. Therefore, what many young learners need is a model for their writing, a kind of visual map to show them, literally, what organized words and sentences look like. This is easily accomplished through the method of copywork, which is merely copying a sentence, a paragraph, or a page from a selected passage of writing.

The practice of copywork has numerous benefits, the first of which is that it gives the emerging writer a safe place to start—a place where he can concentrate on the skill of handwriting, without the added layers of complexity that come with putting one’s own thoughts on paper. This is an advanced skill that will come gracefully, with time and maturity. In the meantime, the emerging writer needs clear directions.

The practice of copywork enables children to make a smooth transition from writing the words of others to writing words of their own.

Another advantage of copywork is the exposure it provides to beautiful and/or profound thoughts. When the printed word is given as a model for handwriting, the ideas represented by those words are also being modeled for the young mind. In this respect, copywork exercises are similar (in the advantages they provide) to reading aloud to your child. In both instances, the child’s developing mind is given increasing exposure to the world of thoughts and ideas. After all, in order to absorb ideas, one must first be exposed to them! Therefore, copywork provides the unique opportunity for great authors and other thinkers to “speak” to your child, while his own thought processes continue to mature.

Another benefit of children writing out passages from great authors and thinkers is that they are taught to pay attention to detail. In order to write out a passage accurately, the young writer must pay attention to every “jot and tittle,” so to speak, and copying letters and words exactly as they are written. In this respect, copywork is a great tool for teaching accuracy. It is also a great tool for sharpening cognitive thought, especially when the student matures enough so that he can compare his work with the original passage and find any inconsistencies, rather than relying on his parent to do the same. As you can see, copywork teaches so much more than penmanship!

Indeed, copywork is a great “launching pad” for beginning writers. After your student has practiced (and practiced and practiced) writing, using the words and thought of others, he will have had time for further cognitive development. He will now have something worthwhile to say. He will be more ready for creative writing, descriptive writing, book reports, essays, journaling and journalism, and whatever other avenues of writing he would like to pursue. He will have gained confidence in the world of words because he is no longer intimidated by words. On the contrary, he will have become familiar and well acquainted with words, and ideally, words are now his friends—and useful friends at that. More importantly, he will be ready for the act of writing, which is merely giving voice to one’s thoughts.

Remember, a child who says, “I don’t know what to write” is usually saying, “I don’t know what to think.” But please don’t misunderstand. Copywork is not something merely for “slow” students or reluctant writers. Copywork is for everyone. Accomplished writer and inventor Benjamin Franklin taught himself to write using a method of copywork—the details are in his autobiography. But the point is this: the practice of copywork was tremendously advantageous to the students of yesteryear, and those who use this same structure today will be well served. Thanks in part to this old-fashioned method of learning to write, it is possible to produce articulate writers. In fact, it is more than possible; it is highly probable (and achievable). Just allow your child’s mind to be filled with great ideas and thoughts before you give him his first writing assignment. Sharpen those pencils and let the writing begin!

For me, copywork goes way beyond penmanship or proper use of grammar. Reading, writing, and being able to articulate and communicate your thoughts (verbally as well as on paper) are extremely important life skills to have, for anyone, in any line of work or human relationship. Therefore, copywork makes sense to me. Thankfully, the girls enjoy it, too! 

We only spend about 10 minutes a day on it (depending on what it is) and it’s totally OK if we don’t do it everyday. After all, it is summer!  And summer is all about a relaxed (and fun!) state of mind.  

In taking the time to write down our plans and focus for the summer, it seems like a lot but actually we can get everything done in less than an hour (aside from the on-going reading that’s happening all the time). This still leaves plenty of time during the day for play, swim, dance, or time spent with friends and family.

Hooray for summer… it’s officially here!!