You all know Vicki has ADHD and ODD. My question is how can I make her write her work neater. She can write and spell but she doesn't slow down enough to do a good handprinting. This worries me because she needs to learn the fundementals now. I don't have the best handwriting in the world. I want hers to be a lot better. Please any suggestions would help.
Trish... I don't have a lot of great advice for you. But, I do understand. My dd can have beautiful handwriting but usually chooses to hurry through her assignments resulting in messy work. I constantly remind her and that helps a little. I have learned to slack off a bit on other assignments and be more strict with "handwriting" assignments. I love handwriting so it is hard for me to accept her sloppiness. I don't think it is really too big of a deal as long as the can do it correctly when asked to do so, and if you are still able to read their work when they don't take time to be neat. I think the most important thing for them to understand is that others may need to read it and therefore it must be neat enough for that reason alone.
Trish.. I can't remember how old Vicki is? But I know for my boys, doing smaller amounts of handwriting EVERYDAY is so much better. Also do you have her do copywork? I love DRAW WRITE NOW. The sentences are short and the pictures are fun to draw. The pictures make them slow down and pay attention to drawing and detail the same way you would when they are writing. My son is 9 and I'm having him do it because he's my reluctant writer. The series is fun because they are concentrating on their art but they see also see good print model to follow. The sentences are short so even older kids can benefit.
Trish, My dd (age 10) has never been diagnosed with ADD or ADHD; but I've always wondered if she doesn't borderline on it! It was so frustrating for me to work with her on her writing when she was younger- I'm a perfectionist when it comes to writing and paperwork; she, on the other hand, is always in a hurry and her writing tends to be pretty sloppy as a result. Now, after 2 1/2 years of ps, I'm so looking forward to homeschooling her again. One of the things that I hope that I'll be different on this time around is my frustration with her sloppy writing. I'm going to try really hard to be calmer this time! We have always used ABeka (if I remember correctly, this is what you use too). As much as I love most of their books, IMHO their handwriting calls for entirely too much writing! There were many days that we skipped some of the writing they had suggested. For that reason, this year are going with A Reason For.....Handwriting for both our girls (ages 10 and almost 4). They require only writing a few lines of work each day. The week finishes up with writing a Bible verse- neatness counts as you are writing it on a nice piece of paper that you can color/decorate and are encouraged to give as a gift. In this way, you could be a bit more laid back all week; then on Friday stress that "neatness counts". HTH, Heidi
Heidi you are right I do use Abeka. She does write a lot. Ilove Abeka but they do do a lot of writing in it. They start out in cursive I didn't. I thought she needed manuscript first. Tina TX where you can find the Draw Write Now at? I have never heard of it. Thanks
Trish, We used the manuscript also. I didn't start with cursive until 2nd grade. I don't really agree with starting out with cursive first; although I guess they do have some good points in their reasoning. I hope whatever you decide will work better for both of you. Heidi
Trish Here is their website http://www.drawwrite.com/ I have all 8 books and imho hey are as wonderful as they say they are. This is only part of our handwriting curriculum. But it is so much fun and it takes all the stress imho out of writing, especially if they are having a hard time with it. I use DWN to keep the other boys busy while I'm teaching one. There are so nice because its art and writing wrapped up into one. I actually ordered mine from my local Barnes and Noble, and then used my educators discount. They say its for ages 6 to like 10 yo I believe. The books do not go by grade level. Each book just has a different theme. You can can use them for writing prompts also. I do! They copy a few of the sentences out of the book,they may do some research about the animal or place they are writing about then they extend a story from the sentences they copied. Its been a nice supplement and breather from our composition work. Hope this help Blessings TinaTx
We also use Draw, Write Now I love it too. My dd thought it was neat for the firts 10-15 lessons and then sort of got board with it. She also does other handwriting assignments to mix it up as well. I think it is an excellent way to tie in drawing and make handwriting a little less boring. I have also ordered a program very similar to that to add to next years curriculum. I think it's called Draw and Write.
