So, I am planning to order the my first school book for my lefty DD this year to begin her handwriting but now I am wondering if that is the best step. If I decided for some reason not to continue the program next year is it hard for them to transition to writing on regular paper since they teach them to write in the blocks in the beginning. Should I mix it with some regular print off sheets as well?
I use it with my soon to be 2nd and 4th grader and they have no issues with writing and doing copy work with the regular lines! So I don't think it should be a problem! =)
Chan, speaking as a lefty myself, just make sure she has a proper pencil grasp and turns her paper to an appropriate degree according to whatever your chosen system says. Both my son and his son (they're righties, but just sayin') got "indoctrinated" in ps kindy that their paper MUST be totally vertical and it doesn't matter how you hold your pencil. WRONG! Paper should slant and there IS a right way to hold the pencil! Parents/teachers of lefties need to be very particular about this to get them started off correctly.
Lindina- Thanks.. I have been researching this quite a bit because myself, my DH, and DS are all righties and I didn't want to teach her wrong or cause her to have the "hooked hand" a lot of lefties get because of trying to do things the way right handed people do. I tilt my paper so I assume I have her tilt hers opposite.. lol.. Also I can see it being harder because right handed people "push" the pencil where lefties have to learn to pull when writing. She just turned 3 and I have had people tell me to try to get her to write with her right hand because it would be "easier" but she has shown strong preference for at LEAST a year and a half now that I can remember because we bought her a left handed ball glove when we were buying her brother's tball stuff and she wasn't even 2 yet
I am left-handed and as much as the teachers tried to teach me to write the way they wanted me to write, I stuck with what was comfortable for me. I write toward my body with my paper completely sideways. I do not write with a hooked hand. Did that make sense? It seemed that when the teachers weren't trying to make me a righty, then I was always smearing my work across my paper when doing it their way. Now I write and my hands stay clean. ...and you are right for allowing her to be a lefty if she wants to be a lefty. Her brain is programmed a certain way and as much as people have tried in the past, it isn't always easy for lefties to become righties. I am a true lefty to the death! :lol:
I almost forgot, I was always able to write on any sort of paper as a youngster as long as I could do it my way. I held the pencil correctly but I had to position the paper differently. A slight slant didn't work for me.
I to am a lefty! I hold my pencil like a righty and slant my paper, I do not hook my hand either. Just whatch her and she will find her comfortable spot and she should be able to transition to regular paper like a righty. Also, I make my check marks backwards!!!! It's easier that way for a lefty! Also, one bit of lefty advise! When she starts cooking, make sure you have clear Pyrex measuring cups with the measurements in red. She can have the handle on the left side and see through to the measurement markings on the other side!
OH FOR REAL!!! People (righties) have always laughed because I do my paper that way too! My teachers never tried to make me a righty. BUT I tried to do it myself in first grade (we didn't have kindy), because I was the only lefty in the class of 30. I don't know if that caused my "directionality challenge" or was the result of it (turn right - no, the other right!). I also make my checkmarks with the "tail" toward the left. My mom hated to have me in the kitchen with her because she thought I was so awkward that I'd hurt myself. Right now I have at my school a little girl who claims that she's a natural lefty but her previous teachers insisted she learn to write righty. Her handwriting is horrible, pencil grasp awkward, unless she's VERY diligently working at it. She makes her checkmarks backwards anyway, even though writing righty. She still prints, and is entering fourth grade. I was not successful in teaching her cursive last half-year (she enrolled at mid-term), but we'll have more time to work on it this coming year. I have NO idea whether I should encourage her to keep going righty or attempt to make the transition to lefty. (Opinions? Suggestions?) She has organization problems, too, like how she arranges her book/notebook on her desk to write, how to arrange a notebook page, and how to keep her book box in order.
Sounds familiar! My son is about that age, and is a natural lefty. Around 5-6 years old, he would start writing with his left, but switch to his right when his left hand got tired (which happened alot, he was doing both 50% of the time). So, basically, he never built up the writing muscles (he also couldn't cut well). The best thing we did, at about 7, was tell him one hand only for writing (left) and start working on proper positioning, and building those muscles with squeeze balls, tough clay, cutting, drawing, journaling, ect. All the organizational issues, the "messiness", losing everything - sounds just like my son! He hated writing & no one could read a word of what he wrote. For the semester he went to PS they said he had dysgraphia (we never had him officaially diagnosed, but his teacher said those were all symptoms of it). Anyway, he is doing alot better now. He's nearly 11 and still does a handwriting course (HWOT 5th) just for practice. It took 2 years to build up his left hand muscles enough for him to be comfortable writing for an entire school day (homeschool day!) and 1.5 years to get his cursive legible. Now his print also looks really good, but its just because of the hand control and intense practice. We still work alot with organizational issues, but its better because I know what I need to do to help - a few times a day I'm like: is all your ____ (sports equip, school supplies, shoes, clothes, whatever) in its proper place? Usually not, so he finds it and puts it up correctly... I have found if everything is in its proper place daily he loses less stuff!
Thanks for all the advice everyone! Shilman- funny the things I didn't think of- like cooking! however, I have the Pampered Chef easy read measuring cups so the measurements are actually inside the cup so they shouldn't be any trouble! =)
One other thing... when you start letting her use scissors, see if she is trying to use her left or right hand. If she starts with her left, start looking for left handed scissors. Otherwise, let her be a right handed cutter! I grew up with right handed scissors and don't think I could even use left handed ones now!!!
