My dd has horrible penmanship. Part of it is due to the fact that she did traditional manuscript in 1st grade and D'Nealian last year until we pulled her out. Now she's so confused, she hates to write at all! :x (However she loves to write stories, but would prefer to dictate and have someone else do the actual writing.) I want her to have at least legible handwriting. Mine is quite good, but that comes from teaching K & 1st for 5 years. My hubby's isn't and he doesn't want the same for his kids. So is this important or am I blowing it out of proportion? I'm leary of starting her on cursive until her printing improves; but wonder if I should just jump into cursive and see if her attitude improves. Than of course, there's the question of what curriculum (if any) for penmanship to use with her.:roll: So basically, I can't believe how stressed I am over something so "minor". Help!
I'm going to sound like a commercial but I swear they don't pay me. . . I love handwriting without tears. My oldest dd had horrible penmanship until we switched. She was just slow to pick up fine motor skills. In any case, I would concur that it is not good to teach cursive before having mastered printing. I would also say not to get too bent out of shape over it. Neat penmanship is good, but it's not the end all to a great education. Also, if you push penmanship to the point of making her not want to write. . .that's detrimental. With that said, I imagine that if you give very small penmanship assignments but let her just write stories (dictated if need be) then it will all come eventually. Did you mention how old she was?
I have a little perfectionist who did not like writing because she could not do it well every time. I did two different things that seemed to help. 1. I gave her lined paper and had her write entire lines of a certain letter. I would later circle the 3 best. She loved looking on and watching me select the good ones. 2. I have a board that has rules on it that is dry erase. I have her practice lettering on that and she feels okay with it because she can wipe it out and try again if she is not happy with a row of letters.
We were in the same boat & for pretty much the same reasons. It has taken my dd nearly 2 years to overcome the negativity some poor feedback from people who should have known better created. I let her dictate for years because she enjoyed creating stories & you can learn things like sequencing skills, plot structure etc from doing verbal exercises. For a while all her writing was on the computer for legibility reasons. On a positive note I have often been told poor handwriting is one indicator of ''giftedness'' ~ I have certainly known lots of bright kiddies with apalling handwriting.
When my daughter started cursive, her manuscript improved! But I hear that is not always the case, that quite the opposite happens. If you don't mind scripture based, I LOVE the Horizons Penmenship. One sheet a day. OR...for my eldest (and now, I'm doing for my middle child), I used www.edhelper.com 's handwriting sheet generator. I would put in the date, her name, where she lived and her phone number everyday (to help her memorize that) then a few lines about her day. I'd let her help me figure out what to say for each day. She did one sheet a day. My middle child hates to sit and do anything, but will do 1 page a day...if he gets to help write it. Maybe you could type up her stories and she could trace them, using the program. Maybe if it's HER story she'd be motivated. I've heard Draw, Write, Now is a good program too.
I held back on teaching my dd cursive due to poor manuscript writing. However, I finally started cursive because at the rate we were going she would be retired by the time we got to cursive. lol. I am sorry I held off she is pretty good at cursive. She hates writing in general but gets a bit of a kick out of cursive so she tries harder. My son has very neat manuscript and cursive. He is a perfectionist and will sit and do a letter over and over until it looks right. Drives me crazy. I think decent handwriting is important. I, myself, have bad handwriting. I hate it. It often embarresses me. I don't want anyone reading my notes or anything. lol. YOu can read it but it is sloppy and well...sometimes you can't read it...lol. anyway, I do think that as important as writing is as a form of communication both by process and physcial writing, one should put forth an effort to be good at it. A child will not see the significance of such a boring task so it can be a struggle. As an adult with bad handwriting, I wish I would have put forth more of an effort. I know that people type so much more now but that does not mean we throw away basic skills. Funny, most people can't type either. lol.
Thanks everybody so much!!!!! I have decided to hold off on cursive for at least a while. She is 8 and will be 3rd grade. I'm not real familiar with Handwriting Without Tears, but have heard good reports. I'll have to check on it; along with all the other great ideas from you wonderful ladies. I also like the idea of having her copy her dictated stories. That may go over better. Right now, she loves to type emails to her grandparents. Yes, she hunts and pecks, but typing skills are not high priority right now. LOL I'm also planning to get a dry erase board as she writes neater when she doesn't have to constrain herself to lines. It drives me nuts, as I can't write straight without lines. Oh, well. Obviously I'm trying to keep her curriculum this year light on workbook activities. I'm looking at SOS for a few things, and definitely want to give Apologia science a try. (So, yes Krista, Christian themes are fine with me.) Again, thank you for all the suggestions!
My dd has a "workbook" more like a dry erase workbook for handwriting. She loves it! She has one for cursive and one for manuscript. Kids really get into that dry erase stuff. Claraskids...I love your sig! Out the door like a herd of turtles! LOL. When I read that I just crack up! that really describes my family members...not me...just the rest of those turtles. I am quick like a bunny. I have a problem with needing to be on time. lol.
We're using "A Reason for Handwriting" and dd really likes it. I had also looked at Handwriting without Tears but I didn't like the way the letters were formed and dd had already learned how to form her letters similar to ARW in preschool so we had always continued that. ARW has short lessons each day and they copy a verse at the end of the week- at least in the manuscript A book we are using write now. I had to retrain dd because in public school they had NO handwriting practice whatsoever in kindergarten so she'd formed some REALLY bad habits. I'm kind of stickler about writing though. I grew up with an elementary teacher for a mom lol, and everything had to be perfect. I don't expect it to be perfect by any means, but I know how well she can do and the lessons in ARW are short enough that she can do it and do a good job without getting frustrated.
Ava Rose - thanks for the compliment! I'd never heard the phrase (....herd of turtles) before; but my college roommate always used it. It stuck. I too used to be early for everything - then I had kids! LOL Kim - DD used ARW in 1st grade and I'm considering going back to it. I also liked the short assignments; as well as the Scripture application.
My son's handwriting is horrible.. really really horrible. I learned the more I say take your time and write neatly the worse it is! He is very intrigued by cursive so I will teach him this year.. we aren't using a curriculum, just a really nice poster I got at the teaching store. It was up all of last year too and he tried to do it when he had spare time and did rather well so I am hoping for great improvement. As far as her learning the 2 styles of printing I'm sure it has confused her a bit. I feel it is ok for the child to create their own style of writing.. mine is a mix of cursive and printing and it is never quite the same look... so I figure eventually they will write their own way anyway.
We are using the handwriting program from Bob Jones. If you get a chance to see the books, please do, it is a very well laid out program. Good handwriting is a kind thing to do. Communication is important and when one takes the time to write neatly, no matter what the age, it conveys the message that you are thinking of the other person above yourself.
