Bigger and cursive/hand writing practice

[edsnyder]

We will be starting bigger with my ds8 this fall and I don't think he is ready for cursive - He is not a strong writer - and I have him write a lot. He still gets some of his letters backwards (not every time with the same letter) it is almost like he is in a hurry and doesn't think about it. I am really not sure what or if I should add anything to his studies to work on this - we do the guide as written as far as writing the poetry we did add in a different grammar program in beyond bc he was ready for a little more than what was in the Beyond guide. (we did the guide 1/2 speed so it took us two years to get through it) We will go back with the guide recommendations for grammar in Bigger. But there isn't really anything else to help with that - bc he should have it down by now. This kid is a smart kid, he is just not a sit down and do it type. He wants to be outside. Where we live it is hard to do school outside bc of the wind so we don't really have that option.
Any advice? We are still a few units out on completing Beyond but will be moving into Bigger in the fall so we still have the summer we could add a little something if there is something that would be recommended.

Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!
Thanks,
Elisa

[StephanieU]

Maybe cursive would actually help. Because the letters connect and are loopy, some times it helps kids not write them backwards. Some families/curriculums actually start with cursive and then do traditional manuscript, so I don't think mastering one is necessarily important for the other. I would say try cursive and see how it goes. You might be surprised at how well he does with it.

[my3sons]

Hi there! StephanieU made a good point - some dc really do take to cursive more than print, and that could be the case for your little guy. That being said, I have a quick question - you'd mentioned you have your ds write a lot, but he did Beyond half-speed, so my question is in regard to what he was writing? That may help as we chat through this! What a child is trying to write and what he is using to write can make a difference in how he does - thanks!!!

In Christ,
Julie

[edsnyder]

Hi there! StephanieU made a good point - some dc really do take to cursive more than print, and that could be the case for your little guy. That being said, I have a quick question - you'd mentioned you have your ds write a lot, but he did Beyond half-speed, so my question is in regard to what he was writing? That may help as we chat through this! What a child is trying to write and what he is using to write can make a difference in how he does - thanks!!!

In Christ,
Julie

Julie - we did his copy work for the poem (usually copying the complete poem by the end of the unit) and spelling and he wrote for the grammar pages. I guess it may not really be a lot of writing. This is how we did beyond - 1st year we completed to unit 16-17 ish and I hate to admit this but we skipped some things but we were really trying to work and focus on him reading - he didn't want to read - again - he just wants to be outside - so on year 2 of Beyond we started over from the beginning - I know you don't recommend this - but we didn't do enough of it that I was confident that we would have seriously struggled in Bigger. So our 2nd year in Beyond we were using it for "second grade" and he was reading the ERs and doing Singapore 2a & 2b.

While he was doing his copy work he did really good, but when he writes out his name or spelling words he gets his letters backwards in my opinion to often. His name he always has at least two letters backwards, however, it is not always the same letters.

Does that make sense at all?

[my3sons]

Thanks for explaining - that helps! I am thinking of the writing in BHFHG, and much of it is still copying from a correct model. I think that your ds will do fine with this approach to writing, as he did fine with his poetry copywork. I would look at this year as a year for him to copy from a correct model, making sure he does all of the work required in the guide, so that he strengthens those fine motor skills 'muscles.' Experimenting with finding the right pencil could be important to progress as well. Cheap clicky pencils (which is what I bought ) have not worked well for most of our boys when beginning to work on increasing the amount they are writing (as is done in BHFHG). Heavier lead pencils and grippers if still necessary worked better. Also, the moment you see your ds write the letters of his name backwards I'd write a correct model of his first name and have him fix it using your model to copy from. He needs to see his name written properly over and over until it only 'looks right' the right way. As far as his other writing, as I've said, much of it is in the form of copying from a proper model in BHFHG. When he has to copy from his history or science books for his note booking assignments, you may want to section off what he is copying with sticky notes. This helped our sons pay careful attention to what they were copying. Again, if ds misspells something, try to quickly jot it down on a markerboard (in black marker) or on a sticky note, so he quickly erases his error, sees the model of it written properly, and fixes it. This, along with doing daily dictation, helped my oldest ds (who struggled with spelling early on) become an excellent speller who makes few errors. HTH!!!

In Christ,
Julie

[edsnyder]

Just to make sure I'm completely understanding . Don't hold off on the cursive and he will still continue to practice his penmanship with the other work. Correct?

[my3sons]

Just to make sure I'm completely understanding . Don't hold off on the cursive and he will still continue to practice his penmanship with the other work. Correct?

Yes - unless cursive is super frustrating, in which case hold off a year and do it next year in PHFHG instead! HTH!

In Christ,
Julie