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seeker
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My 8yo dd has the worst handwriting! She went to public school until this year (and handwriting is no longer taught in school), so I've been having to try to rewire the bad habits she has picked up. I was having her do copywork from poetry books or her First Communion Catechism, but there doesn't seem to be any improvement.
She had a project in CCD on Sunday where she did a lot of handwriting (on construction paper) and she gave it to dh during Mass. It is now something dh is highly concerned about. He will be the first to tell you that he is not on board with hs'ing, so I have to fix this quickly! He suggests I go back and start having her write lines and lines of individual letters. Just as if she were first learning to write.
What would you do in this situation? (without spending money on a program)
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Gaudete in the Everyday
li'l macabbey lane: handpainted inspirational art
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JennGM
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Can I just say that we are in the EXACT same boat. My dh is super pleased with what my son does (age 8, too) except his handwriting. He is super concerned, and suggested things like your dh does.
I'm adding more writing to our schedule. I use StartWrite, so we're printing out pages, but there are free programs online to do this.
Worksheetworks.com
I had others bookmarked but I can't find them right now!
Make sure she is using the writing paper. Construction paper writing will be much sloppier because there are no lines.
I wouldn't make it into a drudgery, though. Have copywork that she enjoys. I'm also having my son learn calligraphy, which has inspired him to work on writing in all areas!
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Jennifer G. Miller
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JennGM
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Here are the sites I know of:
Worksheet Maker
Worksheet Works
Dad's Worksheets Blank handwriting pages
Handwriting Worksheets
Handwriting for Kids
Make Your Own Handwriting Sheets
Donna Young Penmanship
Free .pdf What About Penmanship?
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Jennifer G. Miller
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mommy4ever
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We really liked the books from CHC. It has some puzzles, interesting facts, bible quotes, relevant things to first communion. They are bound at the top of pages, so nothing to affect their hand placement. I started with the printed, then moved into cursive. The lessons are short. So it's not drudgery to do. She always comments when she does phrases about what she's learned. She is 8 as well.
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Mackfam
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I had a child who recognized their handwriting to be poor, and around 10 wanted to improve it. Toward this end, I used the ideas and principles in a Montessori presentation - Metal Insets - an exercise in which the child is careful and methodical about drawing very closely set parallel lines inside the shape of an object. You can do this easily with any shape object in your home - stencils and puzzle pieces work well but must be fairly large to be effective. Another great tool are the geometric stencils used by an industrial engineer. You can find these at Staples - they are plastic stencils with all manner of geometric shapes on them.
More inset exercises:
Activity 2
Activity 3
Activity 4 and 5
Activity 6
Activity 7
Activity 8
These exercises practiced consistently improve the grip and flow of the pencil across the paper. It remarkably improved my child's penmanship. After working with the insets for half a year this child moved onto calligraphy and now writes beautifully.
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Jen Mackintosh
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anitamarie
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Make sure she has proper pencil grip all.the.time. This is huge. She will not write well without that. Make her slow down and properly form each letter. Demonstrate for her if she isn't sure or if she is doing it wrong. Letters should always start at the top, not the bottom.
Lines and lines of a letter are a bad idea. The more they do, the sloppier they get. Then they are forming a bad habit of poor letter formation. So, 1 line of slowly, properly formed letters is much better in the long run, especially with you watching and coaching.
Dixon Ticonderago Tri-write pencils help us promote proper pencil grip. The triangular shape forces the fingers and thumb into better placement.
Watch her every time she writes and correct the pencil grip every time she slips. I have to remind one of my dc many times a day that the thumb should be on the pencil, not on top of the other fingers.
Maybe next year think about Handwriting without Tears. Lots of people don't like the modified alphabet, but we have found it beneficial for those who struggle with handwriting. Better to have clear handwriting in a less than beautiful style than to have illegible handwriting.
Good luck.
Anita
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SuzanneG
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This is what I've done:
Begin with:
:: 2/day, 5 minute sessions
:: You sit next to her. You have one piece of paper and two pencils.
:: uninterrupted time. Make every effort to separate yourself from all chaos.
:: you model writing one letter at a time (or tracing a letter, depending on her need).....very, very SLOWLY. Make sure she can SEE what you are writing...watch the process. It should take you approx. 8 seconds to write a 1 inch capital G. If it's any less than that, you're going too fast. "See how slowly I'm going? I'm going very slowly."
:: Her turn. Remind her that we are going very slowly, and this is to be her best work. You're not concerned about how many letters she writes or what they look like, you would just like her to go slowly and do her best work.
Things to focus on:
:: pencil grip
:: start at the "dot" (beginning of the letter)....make this for her
:: slanted paper
:: feet on the floor
:: "helper hand" holding the paper at the top corner
:: sitting back in the chair
:: torso up close to the table
:: sitting up straight
All you need for this is some large-lined paper and a pencil. Seriously no need to invest in ANY program. Most of the time, this is simply developing those muscles, skills and habit of attention under your close supervision at the beginning.
Little by little, you will be able to let her practice on her own, but in the beginning, you need to be there to encourage concentration, slow-work, and perseverance.
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Mackfam
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I needed to re-read your original post because I doubted what I suggested after Suzanne reminded me of the tried and true approach:
SuzanneG wrote:
This is what I've done:
Begin with:
:: 2/day, 5 minute sessions
:: You sit next to her. You have one piece of paper and two pencils.
:: uninterrupted time. Make every effort to separate yourself from all chaos.
:: you model writing one letter at a time (or tracing a letter, depending on her need).....very, very SLOWLY. Make sure she can SEE what you are writing...watch the process. It should take you approx. 8 seconds to write a 1 inch capital G. If it's any less than that, you're going too fast. "See how slowly I'm going? I'm going very slowly."
:: Her turn. Remind her that we are going very slowly, and this is to be her best work. You're not concerned about how many letters she writes or what they look like, you would just like her to go slowly and do her best work.
Things to focus on:
:: pencil grip
:: start at the "dot" (beginning of the letter)....make this for her
:: slanted paper
:: feet on the floor
:: "helper hand" holding the paper at the top corner
:: sitting back in the chair
:: torso up close to the table
:: sitting up straight
All you need for this is some large-lined paper and a pencil. Seriously no need to invest in ANY program. Most of the time, this is simply developing those muscles, skills and habit of attention under your close supervision at the beginning.
Little by little, you will be able to let her practice on her own, but in the beginning, you need to be there to encourage concentration, slow-work, and perseverance. |
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This is how I work with my beginning writers, and it is a good approach. It's intense but you're right there to encourage and help them in forming the habit of good penmanship and letter formation, and the really S-L-O-W writing really does help retrain the writing muscles. I do think that tracing and drawing can be a good help in retraining those muscles, and works especially well when remediating an older student. Suzanne's recommendation is probably the meat and potatoes of it though. Tracing the shapes would probably be more like the gravy. 
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Jen Mackintosh
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seeker
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Thank you. thank you, thank you for all of your replies!! I've gleaned something from every one of them!!
Jenn, thank you for digging up all of those links. I will be looking at them all.
mommy4ever, I have gone back and forth about the CHC books for a long time. Thanks for the suggestion!
Jen: Metal Insets! I feel so silly now because we have a set of them and I didn't even think about them. I guess I just tend to think of them as being for the preschool age. Thanks for reminding me!
Anita, I do need to pay special attention to whether she's using the right pencil grip, and I agree with your thoughts regarding lines upon lines of single letters.
Suzanne, thank you for the step-by-step! One of our big problems is sitting with correct posture and slowing it down.
Jen, I love your analogy! I'll take it!
I'm reminded time and time again why I come here: every person here gives such great advice. I can always count on leaving this site with a smile 
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SuzanneG
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Mackfam wrote:
| This is how I work with my beginning writers, and it is a good approach. It's intense but you're right there to encourage and help them in forming the habit of good penmanship and letter formation, and the really S-L-O-W writing really does help retrain the writing muscles. |
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Yes, this is how I work with my beginning writers too. But, don't be afraid of this approach because it seems "babyish." It's not. It works and it's simple. It IS important to separate from "everything else" so that other younger ones don't get the opportunity to "make fun" or say "so-and-so is doing 'baby-work.'" (Also so they can concentrate, of course and they realize how important "this" really is.)
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ekbell
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Since you've received plenty of good advice on how to improve, I'll just add some general observations.
Neat and legible handwriting is a good example of a never too late (but often too early) skill. It's, ironically enough, a skill easily destroyed through overwork (see years of notetaking->doctor's handwriting).
With my children I've noted that a desire to improve goes a lot further then anything else when it comes to handwriting although a change of style can help a good deal with some children when breaking bad habits (somehow it's easier to remember to take care, hold the pencil properly etc. when learning when learning a new font as well).
BTW with people who have particular difficulties, it's well worth experimenting, I personally find pencils much more *tiring* to work with then a good ballpoint pen, something that really matters if I'm writing more then a few sentences.
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seeker
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I'm going to try practicing with her this way starting tomorrow. Oddly enough, I just watched the Ambleside videos mentioned in this thread, and the St. Cyr's mentioned having the child correctly and attentively write only six of a letter rather than line after line which goes perfectly with this thread!
I'm also going to see if I can't find some pencil grips at the store like the ones I used as a child. I'm a lefty, so I had different difficulties, but I feel like maybe that would help. Have any of you found these grips to be helpful?
She says she hates to write, but she also wants to learn cursive so badly. I had been saying I'd start teaching her cursive when her printing showed consistent improvement. Now I'm not sure that was such a good think for me to say... another carrot? The funny thing is, had I been able to hs her from the beginning, I probably would have taught her cursive first...
Okay, now I'm rambling... Thanks again!
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JennGM
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My son's printing is not very good, but I decided to plunge ahead in cursive, and he's doing better there, and his printing is improving.
I'm rethinking my whole decision for my next one. I really wanted printing and cursive in that order, but I'm seeing more response to the Montessori method of cursive first then printing/Italic.
I'll have to pray about it.
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Jennifer G. Miller
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SuzanneG
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seeker wrote:
I'm also going to see if I can't find some pencil grips at the store like the ones I used as a child. I'm a lefty, so I had different difficulties, but I feel like maybe that would help. Have any of you found these grips to be helpful? |
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LOVE pencil grips!
I like the crossover grip the best. We've used all sorts, and this one is the easiest and most effective in our house. It helps an experienced writer get used to that feeling of three-fingers-on-the-pencil. There is no room for error, that's for sure.
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Suzanne in ID
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Erin
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Seeker
You've received some wonderful advice, advice that I'm taking for my own sitution, particularly Suzzane's to 'sit with them' I know I need to do that.
Just wanted to add an idea I read and have done in the past (and need to revisit). Ruth Beechick talked about having a 'handwriters bootcamp' for 3 weeks. The children know it's bootcamp time, you teach at the board the correct hold, place to start etc and you wander the room correcting. I'll have to dig out the book and if you're interested I'll be more specific.
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4Real Forums : Language Arts Come Alive
Topic: Horrible handwriting - Help!
