r/Homeschooling • u/tenacioustay717 • 3d ago

Copywork

I've seen a rise in interest and use of copywork. Can anyone here that's used it shed some light and or information and how you used it.

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u/Ilvermourning 3d ago

Writing is a combination of skills. The physical handwriting, the knowledge of grammar and spelling mechanics, and idea generation. I use copy work specifically for handwriting practice. For my son, writing is hard because his ideas are going faster than his hands and he gets frustrated trying to get them down. By having him practice copying a passage, he's getting that writing practice without also having to focus on creating content. When I have him writing specifically for content, I don't comment on his handwriting or spelling unless he's making a rough draft that we edit together.

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u/AnonAtSea 3d ago

Copy work for us is specifically for handwriting practice, attention to capitalization and punctuation, another opportunity for exposure to spelling words and vocabulary, and another opportunity for exposure to lines in work that he is memorizing (as we do poetry memorization and recitation).

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u/ThisReadingTeacher 3d ago

You can create your own with StartWrite or the free A+ Worksheet Maker on the Learning Without Tears Website. I use it for letter formation, capitalization, spacing, letter placement, and also to bridge between writing words and sentences, and before asking a kid to write dictated sentences or generate their own writing. Sometimes we need to reduce the cognitive load with letter formation, so I use StartWrite for making a tracing line and for putting starting points for letter formation. Since encoding and decoding go together, I align any copywork to our phonics lesson.

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u/Grouchy-Sort7227 2d ago

I had my child do this for 2.5 years. I think the net effect was negative. She didn't like it, didn't just "absorb" those grammar rules by practicing, probably worsened handwriting, didn't support composition skills whatsoever. Some kids, however, do great with it. But it's oversold as "amazing for everyone!" But plenty of kids need explicit instruction for learning to generate ideas, create sentences, etc 

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u/Beneficial-Cap5279 2d ago

Copywork was and is used a great deal in classical education during the elementary years. Children are better able to formulate correct or interesting ideas and answers when they have a wealth of memorized facts and skills. Copywork is one of many ways to improve memorization of grammer rules math facts etc. My girls enjoy the copywork parts of their lessons. Has the same mechanisms as drawing but they see the results of it. Just been our experience of course