4Real Forums: CHC Handwriting Question

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Topic: CHC Handwriting Question

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cathhsmom
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Posted: June 04 2011 at 4:59pm \| IP Logged

I'm pondering this and can't make up my mind which to do.

Dd is finishing up K work now. She started K a year early by mutual decision - she was wanting to do school and learn to read. We are way way behind {end of February in lesson plans} due to having been sick and dealing with family issues. We're down to just handwriting and math left - math is no problem we can finish it easily. We follow CHC lesson plans as written.

Handwriting on the other hand is taking forever. We get barely a page a day done, and this endless handwriting is making DD not love writing like I want her to. We are on Week 7 of the CHC Handwriting K - will I totally mess things up if I say we're finished with Handwriting for the summer and just start Handwriting level 1 in the fall? I'm not worried about the phonics part as DD has that down, but the writing does concern me. DD is semi-proficient at writing, she has upper case learned and most of lower case but we are still working on putting lower case in the correct spot on the lines as well as a few letters.

What would you do? Is there another option that I haven't thought of?

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Mackfam
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Posted: June 04 2011 at 5:20pm \| IP Logged

Your daughter is 4, almost 5. Drop the handwriting workbook and don't give it another thought!!!!! If it were me, I'd drop it ALL and just enjoy some informal life-as-learning time!

If you like, set out a little tray of cornmeal for her and let her spend a little time tracing letters in the cornmeal with her finger. Or, maybe splurge on a little basket of sidewalk chalk and practice letters (as FUN ONLY!!! not as part of a lesson!!) out on the driveway. Or fingerpaint. Or...or...or... Are you getting the idea? At 4, fine motor skills are still developing, and workbooks with mandatory pages of work to be done are going to accomplish EXACTLY what you are seeing/sensing in your daughter -- snuff out a love of learning and doing.

I don't use workbooks for penmanship (or anything!!) at all anymore ( I KNOW!!! >> GASP <<

)because I was experiencing exactly what you are - a tangible expression of a loss of that joyful love of learning that all children have. My children enjoy and benefit from copywork.

Hope this helps cathhsmom!! Enjoy your summer break with your daughter!

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kristinannie
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Posted: June 04 2011 at 5:43pm \| IP Logged

We were doing CHC handwriting and it was like pulling teeth. I think the ball and stick was frustratingly slow for DS5 (he was 4 at the time). Also, there was a lot on each page which overwhelmed him. We switched to Zaner Bloser and now he loves handwriting. It is still cheap (about $10 a book) and it is so much easier (you don't have to keep picking up the pencil). If she is ready for handwriting, I would think about switching. If she isn't ready for handwriting, I would hold off (but still consider switching to something else).

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Posted: June 04 2011 at 6:07pm \| IP Logged

I would just drop it now and then start up again in the fall where you left off in the K book. It is amazing what summer break can do.

And I would leave off the math, too, and just have a fun summer

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ekbell
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Posted: June 04 2011 at 6:19pm \| IP Logged

Given that handwriting involves a certain physical ability which naturally develops over time, I'm inclined to see difficulties in young children as a sign to slow down or wait a while. Less chance of frustration at being asked to do something beyond the child's capacities or causing bad habits to be engrained. You have years and years to work on neat printing after all.

I didn't start one daughter with handwriting and she had no problems developing neat printing within a year and a very neat cursive hand the next year.

To tell the truth, the two daughters who started handwriting at a more regular time actually have had messier printing at the end of grade two and not that much more speed.

As for your practical concerns the grade one CHC workbook reviews all the letters so I see no reason why you couldn't simply start using it when your daughter is ready.

(if you want to continue with light writing practice my four and five year old children love making cards for relatives and adding brief messages inside- there are lots of fun paper crafts for that age which can be used to make cards)

ekbell
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Posted: June 04 2011 at 6:34pm \| IP Logged

Also given my experience with my early reader, there may well be a point where she'll stall out for a bit so I wouldn't plan on staying ahead on everything. The beauty of homeschooling is that you can spend three years over the kindergarten and grade one work if you want and then she'll be at a normal age for starting grade two (there's a fair jump between reading expectations for grade one and two in the CHC plan and a number of children end up needing extra time)

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