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I am wondering how well my son needs to print before we move into copywork. He has fine motor issues for which he receives OT. I am trying to decide if we should move on to copywork, or stick with handwriting books until he further solidifies his handwriting skills.

How well do they need to print before we move on to copywork?

Thanks!

I was thinking having him copy on age-appropriate lined paper, as much as he can do without frustration, would help his handwriting improve more than handwriting books alone. This could be three sentences, or two, or even one, as long as he can do it well and cheerfully.

blessedmomof4 wrote:I was thinking having him copy on age-appropriate lined paper, as much as he can do without frustration, would help his handwriting improve more than handwriting books alone. This could be three sentences, or two, or even one, as long as he can do it well and cheerfully.

I agree with this 100%! My ds started with copying only a few words of the copywork. Now he copies the whole poem. We ditched those handwriting books and his practice each day is in his copywork!

Hi Shannon,

I was concerned with my son's handwriting at the beginning of Beyond, so we've been doing handwriting practice in A Reason for Handwriting A, until last week...when I decided to have him try copying a line of that week's poem per day, like the ladies suggested above. His writing has improved even in this short amount of time and so has his attitude! I wrote a note to him and told him that I thought he was capable of copying part of his poem now, and that if he could write one line each day, using his very best handwriting, then I wouldn't make him practice anymore. He was so excited! I sat with him each day last week to help him correct mistakes as he was writing (like lowercase a's, who kept wanting to go below the line, "into the basement," and we worked on leaving spaces between the words), and this week I don't see him making the same mistakes that he was last week. We weren't making that kind of progress with the writing book, although he already knew how to form most of his letters...just not that neatly. His other writing (spelling words and sentences) has also improved. Its been very encouraging.

Hope this helps!
Amy

amarie wrote:...I wrote a note to him and told him that I thought he was capable of copying part of his poem now, and that if he could write one line each day, using his very best handwriting, then I wouldn't make him practice anymore. He was so excited! ...

Amy - I just had to say I thought this was such a neat idea! I write the dc notes as if I'm the tooth fairy when they lose a tooth and put it under their pillow (they've always known I'm the tooth fairy , but we still think it's fun to pretend). They love it! In fact, I've seen they save the notes in their "special" drawer in their room. I am going to have to do like you do and write some special notes for school. Thanks for this idea!

In Christ,
Julie

Shannon - you've gotten good advice here already! I'll just add that once dc can properly form their letters and write short words fairly well, I think they are ready for copywork. We did "A Reason for Handwriting A" during Beyond, just to help solidify the letter formation and the writing of words. However, I only had my dc write a few letters/words per line, rather than filling the lines. This made the pages go quite quickly and helped make sure they knew how to properly form their letters in stand alone form as well as within words. I also had each of our dc do one line of poetry a day for awhile. So, they finished about 4 lines of poetry a week. By the end of the year, I had a goal for them to be able to copy the entire poem. I think if your ds can form his letters properly and can write short words fairly well, he can start copywork, but ease into it slowly. You can decide if doing some of another handwriting program would be beneficial or not. There are many paths to good writing, and you will know the one that seems to fit your sweetie the best! There are many good ideas in this thread, and somewhere within them all is the best fit for your little one. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

He still has a hard time remembering how to form his letters correctly...especially lowercase. So, we may need to practice that a bit more. He hates it like poison! Poor guy!