Need tips to improve copywork skills

[mom23]

I have a 9yo boy, 4th grader, doing Bigger this year. Writing is a big area of concentration for us this year, but I'm struggling because it doesn't seem to be getting much easier for him. The actual act of writing, I mean; his handwriting is beautiful, both in manuscript and in his beginning cursive. The process for him, though, is painstaking! It takes him forever to copy small, simple things. Partly, I think because he's unsure of his spelling and will often write a letter at a time, then look back at the sample to find his spot and write the next letter. I've begun to encourage him to look at the word, not just one letter, but he's just not very confident in his spelling. I'm hanging in there with his dictation and praying that spelling confidence will come. Then, he's such a perfectionist when it comes to his handwriting that he will erase nearly every letter, writing it two or three times, until it's absolutely perfect in his eyes. I don't want to discourage him from writing his best, but this is getting ridiculous. All of this adds up to make him really hate copywork. He'll be almost in tears because he hates it so much. I've tried setting the timer for 5 minutes, but then he'll only get a few words down on paper. A very sentence or less. I've tried having him write 2 or 3 sentences worth, and then it takes him forever. Any suggestions? I'm concerned looking at Preparing to follow this, because he's no where near ready for the writing requirements! Taking Bigger slowly is something I've tried. We went half speed for a couple of months, focusing on his writing, but it wasn't seeming to come any easier for him and he was needing more in all the other areas.

[StephanieU]

How about giving him a pencil without an eraser? Let him know you just want him to do the best his first time. If it isn't perfect, then that is okay. He could then "mark" the words he didn't write perfectly if he needed to. My daughter had ot copy a verse for AWANA this week, and using post-it notes on the verse really helped keep her place. We put one on the top of the line and one below the line, so she could only see the current line. It kept her from loosing her place.

[MelInKansas]

I have the exact opposite problem, a DD who rushes and doesn't do good work, but hates copywork because it is hard for her.

Maybe you should slow down if you think the writing is too much or too overwhelming? Do 1/2 speed, making sure to split up copywork so he is doing 1-2 of those per day instead of 3-4 things. I slowed Bigger Hearts down because like you, I felt my DD would be nowhere near ready for the amount of writing she would have to do in Preparing. She needed more time to mature.

As to the perfectionism, seeing as that is the reason why it is so agonizing for him, rather than not allowing him to erase or change at all, maybe have him write it all once without any corrections, then look it over and decide if he wants to correct anything. Does he do the same for dictation, or do you not allow him to erase and correct for that? Talk to him about the fact that while he needs to do his best work, maybe he is just being too picky and redoing things that don't need to be redone. I would find it hard to tell a child NOT to do the copywork so well, but it seems like from what you said the perfectionism is just crippling him from being able to get his work done.

I hope this helps.

[mom23]

Thanks for the ideas! Oddly enough, he does not erase over and over again during dictation. I think he's found there that if he stresses too much over the formation of each letter he forgets the words he's supposed to write next. (I try to be pretty firm about not repeating words for him.) The idea of having him write the whole thing and then go back to correct anything he wants to make better is a great one, though! I also hadn't thought seriously of marking his passages with sticky notes, either. That may help him with tracking.

As far as slowing down...I guess I need to think and pray through that one some more. I feel torn with it, because I feel like he doesn't have enough to do at half speed. He can easily take the History and Science readings, and Bible Activities, etc. It's really just the writing. I also feel pressured, for some reason, to have him moving forward in guides-I feel like he should be in Preparing by 5th grade at the latest, and really, would have rather had him there for 4th! Why am I like that?? Still, after 4 years of homeschooling, I am so afraid that I'm holding them back from "where they should be", instead of just relaxing and teaching them where they are at right now!

Here's another delimma I have, though, with slowing down: in my mind it seems like if writing is the struggle he should be doing more of it, rather than less. So to slow down and give him only half the amount of copywork, for example, seems counter-productive in a way. Like that's not really going to get him ready for the heavier requirements at full speed. Am I thinking backwards on this? I'm sure there's a lot to be said for letting a child grow into a skill, and maybe, even at 9 years old, my boy is just simply not developmentally ready to hack the writing and he will still grow into it?

[my3sons]

I put sticky notes around the section that needs to be copied. It seemed that ds would lose his place in the sea of words. This narrowed it down and helped him see where he was easily rather than taking time again and again to find his place again. What kind of paper is he writing on, and with what kind of pencil? These are both things we've found to make a difference. One of our sons could not use clicky pencils for awhile because he pressed so hard they kept breaking. Ticonderoga pencils were sturdy and worked well for him. Wyatt wanted to have extremely straight writing. He got hung up on this, so drawing lines with a ruler at the top or bottom of a blank sheet of paper (for BHFHG's notebooking, for example) helped him. Sometimes me writing a line first to show the approximate size and height desired helped. For Emmett's copywork, he does better when I write it for him to copy from a markerboard. I write each line in black, usually a stanza's worth on markerboard. He erases each line as he finishes it. Another idea would be to try to have him write on wide-lined notebook paper. This structure is helpful to some dc, as opposed to blank paper. He can then cut out the section of his wide-lined paper he wrote on and glue that to his blank notebooking paper, drawing the rest of the assignment he needs to. One last idea is to be sure ds understands that while quality of copy work is important, so is time management, especially as dc get older. I'd probably be very accepting of his writing then, not having him rewrite anything that is not flagrant. You could start the day with the copywork when he is fresh too. Maybe that would help? Giving him a small treat while he copies may help too. We do this for Emmett, letting him have his morning snack and drink during his copywork. I hope something here helps!!!

In Christ,
Julie

[MelInKansas]

My DD was the same way. The History, Storytime, Bible, etc she was all very capable of and the writing was what she was struggling with. She was on the young end so I think for her just time to grow was what she needed. The reason slowing down made sense was I did not want her to go ahead into Preparing because I knew she would not be ready. But she is doing Preparing now for 3rd/4th grade so she is still in the early range. And now she is doing well.

In your son's case, it seems like he CAN write, it is just stressful for him because he wants to do it perfectly. Again, it's great that he wants to do good work and has a good eye for detail, but it seems he is taking it a little too far. So ways to help him calm down and not do as much correcting, and start to feel successful at it is what you need to look for.

[mom23]

Again, thank you for the suggestions...gives me some things to ponder over the next few days. Right now we're all taking a break from our regular school routine and doing a short Unit Study. Hopefully, the break combined with a few new things for us to try will help when we return to our regular requirements. A great point to remember about looking toward time management as we go forward...the perfectionism is not just affecting his handwriting, but many areas of life. We're working on it on several fronts.