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pumpkinmom
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| Posted: Dec 27 2012 at 10:21pm | IP Logged
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I have an eight year old ds who is still struggling with handwriting. He makes all his letters the same size and I have a hard time getting him to notice and copy letters in the right proportion to each other. Word spacing and letter spacing are also an issue. He writes a few letters wrong and I can't get him to do it correctly no matter how many times I tell him and have him fix it (for example makes a 6 for a b). I use three line paper and using the lines is a struggle too. If I give him paper with just a botton line it is even worse. We are still doing copywork and we started learning cursive. He does better in his cursive book (Cheerful Cursive), but we haven't tried any cursive outside of the book (he is half way through the book). It seems like we practice and practice and practice and it doesn't improve. I'm out of ideas. Anyone have any?
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jawgee
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| Posted: Dec 28 2012 at 1:00am | IP Logged
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Do you use handwriting pages that have the passage above his writing for him to refer to?
In my experience, boys lag quite far behind girls in letter formation and handwriting. My 7YO has struggled with handwriting, too. He is making excellent progress, though, and seeing the progress he's made since September is just amazing. We use Presidential Penmanship, and each week I ask him to do just one passage. (It takes him a long time to write well, so one passage/week is just about right for him).
Each week we focus on just one thing. A few weeks ago the goal for the week was to leave a space the width of this pinkie finger between words. The next week our goal was to have the lowercase letters go up only to the dotted line, which I highlighted on his handwriting sheet. Last week he tried to focus on forming all of his lowercase letters starting at the top of the letter, since he has a tendency to start at the bottom (which makes transitioning to cursive difficult).
Usually one day/week I will also pick out one letter that he is forming incorrectly and show him "the way I do it". He'll watch me write that letter a few times and then usually he says, "Oh, that's a good way to do it". (LOL). He'll try to copy the way I do it and, almost all the time he changes the way he writes his letter to "my way".
Just a few months ago his handwriting was almost illegible. Now, though, I think his handwriting is *almost* where it should be for a 7YO boy.
Hope some of those ideas help you.
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Monica
C (12/2001), N (11/2005), M (5/2008), J (8/2009) and three angels
The Catholic Cup on Facebook
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Claire F
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| Posted: Dec 28 2012 at 1:54pm | IP Logged
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I agree with focusing on one thing at a time. I've been working on that with my 8 year old son. I tell him before we start what I'd like him to pay special attention to. He was running all his words together with no spaces, but some focused practice has helped.
He might just need time for that fine motor development to catch up.
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Claire
Mom to DS 12/04, DS 5/07, DD 8/09
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pumpkinmom
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| Posted: Feb 05 2013 at 12:16pm | IP Logged
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An update: We are doing copywork about three days a week. He usually writes two lines and I give him something to focus on improving. Letter spacing, word spacing, letter height, or a certain letter. He can do this, but he still can't do two at once or put together all that we work on. He admits if he slows down and concentrates on it he writes well. I asked him to always do that, but he like to hurry! Overall I'm not seeing much improvement. I have learned that he can do what he needs to do when we focus on it one at a time. I'm just not sure how to get him to put it all together and have nice writing most of the time. I'm hoping time will help. I'm also working on being more positive and telling him he is doing a nice job. I only point out mistakes on the problem we are focusing on that day. This is hard for me! 
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Cassie
Homeschooling my little patch of Ds-14 and Ds-10
Tending the Pumpkin Patch
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jawgee
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| Posted: Feb 05 2013 at 12:44pm | IP Logged
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Cassie, it's not easy!
My 7YO does 2-3 words/day - that's all. If he tries to do more, he loses concentration and doesn't do his best work. I wish I could scan a copy of the sheet he did back in August and compare it to the one he did last week. The difference is just incredible.
We only work on one goal each week (and actually some goals take several weeks). I don't want to overwhelm him.
Last month he wrote several thank you cards from his birthday. They involved a lot of handwriting but he did it (and they were very legible!). Baby steps....
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Monica
C (12/2001), N (11/2005), M (5/2008), J (8/2009) and three angels
The Catholic Cup on Facebook
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3ringcircus
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| Posted: Feb 05 2013 at 2:46pm | IP Logged
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I am amazed by how little writing we do, and how much better G's penmanship has gotten (newly 7yrs). It's the opposite of what you might think intuitively: more practice would make them better. I have to work on proper word spacing, too, but the letters themselves are looking so tidy. Because he's doing only a little, (like filling out a worksheet from his fav. Star Wars Phonics set) I can insist that he make the letters properly. Even still, I let a few things pass.
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Christine
Mom to my circus of boys: G-1/06, D-1/04, S-4/10
Started HS in Fall'12
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4Real Forums : Language Arts Come Alive
Topic: Handwriting
