Copy Work Please Help

[misty316]

I have read so many wonderful post about how well everyone loves HOD. How all your dc love it to. Well I love it to my dd likes some of it. But dd hates the copy work. She is 8. She likes to hear the poems. She just absolutely cannot stand to write if she has to. We had a rough time with it today. She was suppose to copy the first 3 lines of Daybreak. She wrote about one or maybe 2 sentences and began dawdling(sp?). I told her that she didn't have to copy all of it today just part of it each day. She just kept sitting there. I explained that sometimes when you have to do something you really don't want to do. It's best to just do it with a good attitude and get it over with. After copying the first sentence or two I told her she could take and 20 min break cause we had been doing math. When 20 min was up she came back to her seat and thats when it got bad. Everything I tried she would just sit there. Then she began getting frustrated and began whinning etc.. I told her she had 15 min to finish or she would get a spanking, usually this works well and is a last resort but it seem to make it worse today. Then the phone rang, they know the rule is to be quiet when I have to be on the phone. Well to get out of the work she began to whine louder, then became upset with her 3yo sister who said something to her. Then they began to argue. I ask the person to hold on. I told her to go to her room to calm down until I was off the phone. She thought that if she interuppted I would tell her to go play and she would not have to do just to get her to be quit while I was on the phone I think. I sat her down and talked to her after getting off the phone. After a conversation of her frowning and telling me she didn't want to do it and that I made it hard on her when I set the time limit. She finally did it with me helping by keeping my finger on each word and reading each word out to her. She began to smile and get done. After she was done. I said now it was not that bad was it. It was not worth all of that.

So do you think this is something she is really just not ready for. Or something that I should just make her do anyway.
By the way I don't make her read either, I want her to love to read. So she reads with me sometimes when I'm reading she will just jump in and read if its something she really likes. Sometimes I will read a sentence and then she will read a sentence. I read to them everyday if possible.

[Vicki]

misty316,

I responded on your other post about a similar issue, but here's what works for us.

When we started with Beyond, copy work was not among my little guy's favorites. He has had trouble with handwriting, and I realize it probably was a fine motor skill issue. I let him play with playdough frequently, and try to have him do some other things which help develop this skill. We have some Montessori trays set up for sorting with tweezers, chopsticks, tongs, etc. My little guy loves sorting out the plastic water-filled ice cube thingies (they're probably on clearance in the stores right about now). Doing some of these things has definitely helped his fine motor skill and pencil grasp---thus alleviating some of the frustration and "I can't do this" complaints.

I will tell you also that there is a huge difference in his handwriting since we've implemented copywork into our day. I can look back on his earlier writing, and it's amazing to see the difference!!

I don't know where the thread is, and you could do a search on "copy work", but this also may help. I think Carrie or Julie suggested once to let Friday be their "copy work decoration day". Give them a tray of stickers, markers, stamps, etc. and let them go for it! Something I do is to give the gentle suggestion of decorating according to what the poem is about or the author is trying to say.

One more thing...last night at bath time we were discussing the poem of the week, and my dgs said, "Was our poem by Longfellow this week?". I had forgotten to write the author's name at the bottom of our dry-erase board today, so he didn't know himself. (Gotta invest in a couple of those dry-erase shower board things at Lowe's. They're worth their weight in gold! ) I was taken aback that this child can rattle off poets names from memory... This is all just to say that you will see the benefits of copywork--even if it is later than sooner--I believe you will see fruition from it.

Hope these words help you some today. Hang in there.

[netpea]

Only you will know for sure if your child is balking at doing the work because she doesn't want to or because she's not ready. Read this post by Carrie in response to my problems with my 8yo who balks at doing any written work:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1682&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=15#p13807

[6timeboymom]

My boys hate to write, too-I think they allergic to pencils.
We've come up with some things that we can agree on; I make concessions, they make concessions, and we both win. I would tell you what we do, but it varies from day to day. There's a lot of negotiations going on every day! My 8 yr old will do an extra page of math in order to get out of copywork sometimes, so that's one way we can negotiate. I'll trade math for copywork

But like netpea said, only you will know if she's not ready or not willing. That's one of the things I love about homeschooling-I KNOW my boys.

[Dorla]

From reading previous posts about copywork on this HOD board, I learned about using a timer. So from the first day of Beyond I set the timer for 10 minutes and it has worked. It is not 100% magic but there is a goal AND snack time is always after copywork. I also print the poem with Startwrite so that he may have a larger model to copy and lines to guide him. This allows for only 2 lines to be written per page - and then it does not seem so much work.

I am sure that by the responses you receive on this board you will find a suggestion that will work!
Dorla

[Carrie]

misty316,

Here's the post another mom referred to about decorating copywork and a few other suggestions that may help:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=77

Blessings,
Carrie

[MamaMary]

Misty, copywork is a weak area for me. I love all the suggestions you got! These women are WONDERFULLY GIFTED!!!

[Natreez]

Copywork is an area we struggle with as my son has vision problems which causes the lines to jump all over the page obviously making it difficult for him to write neatly. Although I try to do as much as possible orally in order to limit the amount of handwriting he has to do, I do feel copywork is important too. Vickie you had some really good ideas on how to make copywork seem more fun. I've tried having him color and/or draw a picture to coordinate with his writing but he hates to do that too. So...needless to say, I appreciate everyone's ideas on this topic.

Natreez

[Carrie]

Natreez,

I've had kiddos who didn't enjoy coloring either, but they DID like cutting. So, I got some fancy scissors from a scrapbook store (scalloping, zig-zag, etc.) and let them cut around their copied poem and then glue it on another piece of paper when done (instead of having them draw and color a picture). Of course, none of these things are necessary! They can just copy it and file it. We have done that too! But, if cutting is motivating, you could use that as a reward instead!

I've also let the kiddos add 1 or 2 stickers to their poem as a reward. Stickers were very motivating to some of my kiddos. I did limit the number of stickers through!

Blessings,
Carrie