Need Handwriting Help!!!

[momtofive]

I have a question regarding what to do about my 8yr. old son. He is going into third grade this year and will be joining his younger sister(6 1/2), in the Beyond program. There are several reasons for combining these two children and one of them is to give my son the chance to grow in a lot of areas and mature before going on to tougher material. That being said, one area is his handwriting. He does try to do a good job, however his formation isn't very good and the end product just looks sloppy and illegible. And that's just his printing. His cursive is completely illegible. I don't know if I should try to start over with him, and do a printing workbook like A Reason for Handwriting or do something else.

I did buy (earlier this year) A Reason for Handwriting- book C, in the hopes that the remainder of last year would improve his handwriting abilities. It did not. Now I am not so sure that he should move into this new cursive book until his manuscript improves.

According to his age/grade level, he should really be beyond this point and working on his cursive. I see in the Bigger program that it suggests using Cheerful Cursive or the Italic book. Maybe using the Cheerful Cursive would give him the extra practice he needs?

If anyone can give me some good advice on what to do I would really appreciate it!

In Christ,

Lisa

[water2wine]

Uh handwriting! I have flunked this so many times with my kids. What we have used though that worked the best was Italics for printing and Cheerful Cursive for cursive. Had the best results with these two programs. Probably because they are both just sort of plug in and go. But they both work very well.

[momtofive]

I have been doing a lot of research on different methods of teaching handwriting. With this particular child, he needs help in the formation of his letters. I have really let this area slide last year and now we have a real "mess" to work through. I am considering using New American Cursive 1 or the Cursive Connections programs because of their instruction on letter formation. (One is more expensive than I like.) I really don't know which to do, or if I should go with Cheerful Cursive. I really want to stick to Carrie's suggestions for handwriting, and I just can't get a feel for what Cheerful Cursive will be like. Does it show "how" to make each letter or just shows the letter and has the child trace it?

I feel like I haven't given this subject (with this child) enough attention in the past and I really don't want to pick the wrong program and waste more time with something that won't really help him.

This August he'll be starting Beyond Little Hearts and we are all so excited. I am wondering if there are any suggestions from others that may have had struggles with this, too. Or if others can just share what's worked for them. I always appreciate the time others give in helping!

In Christ,

Lisa

[moedertje]

My ds 7 is having some trouble with handwriting: spacing, letter formation, neatness, erratic sizing, letter reversals for manuscript. It has become worse this year with more demands in handwriting and I have been reading up on much stuff. I have read up on dysgraphia some.
We are doing Cheerful Cursive upon his request and he likes it. If you were to choose a cursive I would recommend sticking with Carrie's recommendation of Cheerful Cursive.
It does explain in a fun way how to form the letters, they have the kids reading cursive sentences and circling the cursive letter they learned in the sentence, connecting letters to make words as soon as they learn a few letters. He has done well remembering the letters since they also have the kids practice words from manuscript to cursive and vice versa. As well as adding some great grammar skills etc. later on in the book when they start on Uppercase cursive letters.
I have a sample that I received from the company who puts out this book last year... I could e-mail it to you if you pm me.
It is very systematic and a fun way learning of cursive. I am very glad that Carrie has it as a recommendation. I have a friend who's son went through another well respected cursive program only to find out that at the end he did not know the letters and he could not read cursive. She started him on Cheerful Cursive and he is doing great!
May the Lord guide you in the choice that would be most suitable for your kiddo's!

[momtofive]

Thank you so much for your kind words of encouragement! I am really thinking hard on this and feel like we'll probably go with the Cheerful Cursive. I believe that Carrie's suggestions will turn out to be the best for us! Thanks for all your help!

In Christ,

Lisa

Oh yeah, moedertje, I pm'd you!-Thanks!

[momofgreatones]

Your son is not as behind as mine is, if that makes you feel any better. My oldest ds is 9 and is still struggling with handwriting. Cursive is not even on our radar at this point. My approach is that he needs to be proficient at printing before even attempting cursive. We did do a formal handwriting program last year, but I have found that just practice through steady writing assignments and copywork that are found in our HOD program are what is helping him progress. He is progressing, just very slowly. He's a typical boy, who would rather be making forts and paper airplanes all day, and I feel that patience and gentle, steady practice will get him where he needs to be when he finally "blooms". This is my strategy also with his reading, which is also behind, he's still in the Emerging Readers. I hope this approach bears fruit. It's going to have to because I know pushing him hard isn't going to work either.

Most boys don't end up writing in cursive as adult men anyway, they revert back to printing. As a child, my husband was forced along with handwriting and then cursive, he never developed good handwriting, and as an adult he despises writing and avoids it whenver possible. He's also vocal that cursive is a "total waste of time". So we are just going slow and easy here, and when he's ready we'll do cursive, whenver that is. I think it's more a matter of blooming and maturity than of using a particular program. I've heard such great things about Cheerful Cursive that we'll use that when we get there.

This is just my thoughts and my approach!

[momtofive]

Thanks Monique,

I feel like your situation and mine are quite a bit alike. I have been hesitant to start him in a cursive program because his printing needs so much work. Last year I thought he was ready for cursive and I was totally wrong. He was definately not ready. I, too, feel like it might just be that he hasn't gotten to that point yet where he can do it well. So I'm not sure if cursive should be started this year until the printing improves. Maybe I should just get him a printing book and work on that coupled with doing a careful job on his assignments in manuscript, and when he shows signs of improvement, then worry about a cursive program.

I guess I should just keep praying about it. I've found that from the littlest to the biggest problems, if I bring it to the Lord, I usually find answers a lot quicker than just worrying and agonizing over it.

Thanks for "listening" and for the guidance!

In Christ,

Lisa

[3boysandagirl]

Just wanted to chime in, I have a 13 almost 14 yr old that is still struggling with this. He might never be able to do more than sign his name. I have self diagnosed him with dysgraphia. He struggles so much with pencil grip, spacing, letter formation, he tires really quickly and is unable to continue. It's not lack of effort, it is a true inability to continue; his hand cramps so much. We let him type most of his work, it's just less stressful. For both him and me . I'm going to look into that Cheerful Cursive though, looks like it might really help him, at least to learn to read cursive.

Thanks so much for this thread, it's great to know my child isn't alone in this struggle.

[Carrie]

Lisa,

The ladies have already been so helpful, so I'll just chime in with a few thoughts. My oldest son seemed to struggle with handwriting from an early stage. So, I used HWOT with him for years. No matter whether it was the HWOT program or just his own scrawling hand, his handwriting was large and pretty messy. When we switched from a handwriting program to pure copywork (CM style) and also in doing writing for his assignments, his writing began to slowly improve. Part of the reason was that he now saw a reason for the writing other than to just complete a handwriting workbook page. When he began writing daily written narrations, his handwriting improved even more.

As he's gotten older, he has finally down-sized the overall size of his writing and his writing is looking much more legible and readable. He is a still a boy, and his handwriting looks like a man's, but it is reaching a more acceptable level with me these days. He struggled mightily with cursive (as we again used HWOT for years and then tried BJU), but we didn't know about Cheerful Cursive (hence the recommendation for it now for our other children).

On the flipside, he writes volumes, and thoroughly enjoys writing as long (as it is purposeful). So, at HOD we believe in one year of a handwriting workbook (once when teaching manuscript and once again when teaching cursive). In between, we find copywork in small doses to be most effective for improving handwriting. If the writing being produced is not legible, downsize the assignment and expect a better product with less volume.

Blessings,
Carrie

[momtofive]

Thank you so much for your response, Carrie!

This is pretty much the path that I have settled upon for right now. I know that with time his writing will improve as he hones his skills. I am still going to do a handwriting book just to work on formation of a few letters that he seems to have trouble with. For some reason, a few of his letters are being made in a funny way. I don't know how that happened, but I think a very light approach to formation for a few minutes a day will help remedy that!

With more emphasis on quality, not quantity, I think he'll grow leaps and bounds this year. I love that so much of HOD really gently works on each academic area. It saves the teaching mom a lot of greif!!!

Thank you again for a wholesome and beautiful curriculum!

In Christ,
Lisa

[2girls2teach]

Here is a previous post someone gave me when I was contemplating the handwriting. Hope it helps.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4180&p=30768#p30768

[2girls2teach]

Ok....let's try that again. If you can't click it, just copy/paste:)

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4180&p=30768#p30768

[kvmck]

It is good to know that I'm not alone in handwriting struggles. My ds, age 9, gets frustrated by his handwriting--and doesn't understand why his sister, who is a year younger, can print and do cursive so much smaller and nicer than he can. He just can't seem to remember how to form the letters. It isn't second nature to him yet so when he gets writing, he starts making his letters incorrectly. I feel like I need to stop him when I see him doing this so he doesn't continue in bad habits, and then he gets even more frustrated. Copy work is a double edged sword--he is more motivated to do that than a workbook, but if he is forming his letters wrong (meaning that he starts from the bottom and goes clockwise instead of counter-clockwise etc...) then is it doing him any good? We still end up doing some of his work orally and I write it down for him (like DITHOR) since he isn't able to concentrate both on handwriting and the ideas that he has in his head. I also will have him dictate to me, I write it on a white board, and then he copies it down. That way he doesn't have to try to remember what he is saying and remember how to write the letters at the same time.