heartofdakota.com

DS just turned 6 in December and is a K'er. His motor skills overall are excellent, but when it comes to writing, it's awful! He can draw and color very well, but he can't write letters well at all. I tried printing and it flopped and read somewhere that cursive is sometimes easier, so we're trying that. Although he is smoother and a little better with that, we are still having trouble with both. Is it normal for 6yo little boys to just not be ready for handwriting instruction? What should I be doing to help him be ready? He already draws A LOT and we've also tried the white board. It seems that he's not really observant-- like he's not paying attention to the details of how to write the letter and then just goes after it anyway. I've shown him how and help him do it, point out the details, starting points, etc.

I think it's a normal 6 year old boy thing! My 6 year old only writes neatly when he concentrates on it SUPER hard. Most of the time his writing is a mess. I have to remind him constantly to write neatly. I also had to get him pencil grips because he had his thumb crossed over.

Try taking a 3" 3 ring binder and using it (as a slanted surface) for his handwriting.
A slanted surface did wonders for my 10 year olds handwriting. She is able to see it better so she writes neater.
Can't hurt might help.
Also making sure his feet are solidly on something like a foot stool that is not sliding around or a packing crate. He then can stabilize his body with his feet instead of his hands/arms.

mom2monkeys,

I too think that is very normal for a 6 year old boy. Here are some things that we have done to work on those skills:

Easy mazes
Ready Writer by the same people who do Calculadders
Leggos
Writing in sand, pudding, oat meal, with side walk chalk, finger paint
working with tweezers or tongs to move small objects
cutting strips of paper
puzzles
stacking pennies
lacing
using clothes pins to hang things

These are all fine motor exercises to help him strengthen those skills. You had mentioned that he can draw and color really well. Does he have trouble distinguishing the letters while reading? Perhaps some fun ways to explain how to form the letters. We used to outline the top lines of our our paper with blue, the bottom with green, and the dotted brown. I would tell ds, "Start at the sky and draw a straight line down to the grass." The brown dotted line was the fence. Sometimes writing without lines at all is a good way to start. I have used Handwriting Without Tears for years because of the way the stokes were explained and the order of the letters being learned. It also has alot of extra activities I would have never thought to do. HWT's "Wet, Dry, Try" and forming letters with foam or wood pieces are great.

Carrie has us doing so many of these exact activities I'm mentioning in LHTH with my youngest ds now.

I think the main thing is patience and practice. I don't know if I would switch to cursive just yet. My buddy who is an Occupational Therapist agrees with you that it is easier for those who struggle. My oldest has had a major struggle with handwriting and fine motor skills. He has done wonders as he transitioned to cursive (not until 3rd grade). But when he was younger I thought it was important that he did know manuscript; and with slowing down, not giving up, and working with him patiently (which with me was not always easy ) he did learn.

Hope that helps a little,
Cindy

I can't remember which HW program you chose? If it wasn't "A Reason for Handwriting", I'd throw out some kuddos for that series. We enjoyed "K" and "A", and that was enough to get the ball rolling for our dc. I do think boys take longer to write well. I had a tough time with my middle ds seeing stopping points and having appropriate spacing. I don't know if these are concerns for your ds or not, but here is a past post where I described some simple things that really helped my ds:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4618&p=34014

If he can draw and color, I do think he'll continue building those fine motor skills and will eventually write just fine. I know there is much debate about whether to do cursive first or not, and I do think both sides have their points. For my ds though, cursive would have been much more difficult for him than printing first. You will know your ds best though.

In Christ,
Julie

My 6 year old had terrible handwriting until I used smaller lined paper. Turns out drawing the large letters on the primary paper was difficult for her, but using smaller lined paper like the 3-4 grades use did the trick and now she has nice handwriting. I know that it's not normal for this to be the solution, but it's something to keep in mind if nothing else works.

The smaller lined paper does help, he just can't get the proportions down, or doesn't recognize the parts of the letter in respect to the lines. He can't remember the strokes or starting points. We've also done he unlined paper to get some basic forms and that was okay. He did okay with Italics A, but once the book is closed, it's like we never did the lesson. He prefers to write in all caps, and can't make unslanted, complete circle letters (block style). For print, he does best with starfall's type of letters in their free printables. Slightly slanted, less circular, but not italic. I really like A Reason For Handwriting, but in light of how much trouble he's having, I can't afford to buy another program and continue this same path.
He needs reason, so maybe we'll do the letters alongside his phonics lessons so they serve a purpose.

I'm sure it's just a boy thing...We'll keep on trying and add in some of the suggestions you've all given and see what happens!