copywork/poetry in Beyond

[jessyb26]

Have you heard of the Startwrite software? It is a computer program where you can make your own handwriting pages. There may be some others out there or free things on the web but this is the program that we use. There are several different fonts so you can pick the one that most matches the handwriting style he is learning. What I love about this program is you can lighten the words or make the letters formed out of dots or dashes for the kids to trace. Maybe you could use this program to type the poem out in the form of handwriting worksheets for him to trace over the letters. Then he can practice handwriting but not feel so overwhelmed. I am thinking that as he gets faster and more confident in his handwriting you can slowly move over to copywork doing less of the poem preprinted on the page. I am not sure if this would work or not but I actually thought about doing this with my daughter when I started looking at Beyond last year for the upcoming school year because of her handwriting. Hope this helps.

[Carrie]

8smiths,

I'm so glad that your kiddos are enjoying Beyond! Hooray!

Jessyb26 gave you some great suggestions! As far as the copywork goes, I would have Emma break the poem into stanzas, copying approximately a stanza a day so that the poem is completely copied in 4 days. I would have high expectations for her copywork making sure it is neat, with everything spelled correctly, and spacing between her words consistent. On Day 5 of each week, I'd have her decorate her poem with drawings or decorative edgings so that by the end of the year she has a beautiful poetry book to save. One of my sons did this, as he was an outstanding copier too.

For Noah, you can easily have him work out of his handwriting workbook for the first half of the year and move toward adding in a small bit of copywork during the last half of the year (copying a sentence or two by year end to prepare for Bigger Hearts the following year). We will be doing this with our own 6 turning 7 year old with Beyond this year as well).

Blessings,
Carrie

[my3sons]

...I would have Emma break the poem into stanzas, copying approximately a stanza a day so that the poem is completely copied in 4 days. I would have high expectations for her copywork making sure it is neat, with everything spelled correctly, and spacing between her words consistent. On Day 5 of each week, I'd have her decorate her poem with drawings or decorative edgings so that by the end of the year she has a beautiful poetry book to save. One of my sons did this, as he was an outstanding copier too.

I had Wyatt do it this way because writing came easily to him. It worked well, and he still is proud of that poetry notebook.

For Noah, you can easily have him work out of his handwriting workbook for the first half of the year and move toward adding in a small bit of copywork during the last half of the year (copying a sentence or two by year end to prepare for Bigger Hearts the following year).

This is how we had to do it with Riley. He was not writing well enough to copy multiple sentences each day, so we started with A Reason for Handwriting A. Then, after awhile, I had him start copying 1 sentence of the poem each day, so he had about a stanza copied by the end of the week. He finally was able to copy all of it later in the year.

I think these are efficient ways to adapt this skill for different levels of maturity in writing, and I hope they work for you!

In Christ,
Julie