Seriously frusterated

[blessedmomof3girls]

I am so frusterated with my daughter. She turns 7 on Sunday. She is very smart and catches on to things very easily. We're doing Bigger Hearts for His Glory this year. The work is not too hard for her. But getting her to write anythning is near impossible. Copy work, just to write one sentence it can take up to 30 minutes. And this is just printing it. I don't know what to do to make writing easier for her. I dread telling her it is time to do copy work and she dreads doing it. A friend of mine suggested starting her on cursive, but I am so scared that, it will continue to be a battle. I can get my daughter to do anything orally and she can easilly answer the questions correctly, but to do anything written is a huge battle that ends up her crying or throwing a huge fit. This has been a battle since kindergarten. I know she is only 7 and she will eventually get it, but in the mean time, what should I do? This is what I have tried, writing letters in shaving cream, sand, sidewalk chalk, chalk board on the wall, white board, tracing on paper, writing the letter as big as she can, as small as she can, as neat as she can, as messy as she can. I have put stickers on her best handwriting. I only make her erase it if it is backwards or if I really can't figure out what it is. I am totally at a loss here. I want my daughter to love to learn, and I am afraid that if we keep battling the writing that she will come to hate it.

[Tansy]

Has she has an eye exam in the last year?
Have you tried letting her write on unlined paper?

In my experiences with my dd, many of her frustrations stemmed from minor underlying medical issues that she could not express. Because she thought this is the way to hear not realizing. Most people hear clearly not like they live under water. My DD hated writing for a good long time she has strabismus (one eye's signals to the brain are being ignored) she still has tracking problems and always write neater on unlined paper (yet not in a straight line) as the line she is writing is not moving on her. the large boards will use the gross motor skills and may not give the same result as a plain paper.

Give it a try. Close one eye while you write.. then once in a while open the other one as well for say 2 seconds and don't stop writing!! That line will jump all over on you. Maybe that is how she is experiencing handwriting, and she thinks its normal. I think we often look at the world from our view point, and forget the child's experiences may not match our own.

If she checks out ok. Then move on to discipline issues.

edit for clarity

[momof4]

First, I agree with Tansy, get her eyes checked (my son's were ok, but my nephew's were not and it made all the difference in the world to my nephew).

Otherwise, we are doing Beyond and my ds did not want to copy the poems. It was the same scenario as yours. So we took a break. Got his eyes checked. Then I got a notebook with space for drawing on the top and writing on the bottom. After his reading (emerging readers), I ask him what he would like to write today about what he read. He tells me. I write it in another notebook. He copies it into his and draws a picture of it when he is done. I make sure that we are increasing the length and that we hit all letters as we go. I try to add new words too. He loves it! I guess it seems alittle more fun this way to him. Hopefully, I'm not missing anything this way, but it has removed the battle.

Laurie

[Carrie]

blessedmomof3girls,

I just wanted to pop-in and check if your 7 year old is the only one using Bigger Hearts, or if she is combined with some of your other girls? The reason I ask is because normally I'd recommend slowing down Bigger Hearts to half-speed for a 7 year old who is struggling with writing. This would allow her time to mature in this area. Or, if she hasn't already done Beyond that may be a better fit.

If you get a chance to pop back and give a few more details that would help us advise you a bit better.

Blessings,
Carrie