How is Handwriting Handled in Beyond?

[cagrits]

We will be starting HOD this summer. I can't seem to figure out how handwriting is handled in Beyond. My daughter is 8.5 but can not spell basic words and still reverses some letters and numbers. She also is inconsistent in her letter sizes, spacing and in keeping her words on the lines. She also just started reading chapter books like Cam Jansen this year. I am not terribly concerned as she has a very severe vision correction (plus 8 with crossed eyes and lesser vision in one eye) so I think it is just very difficult for her to train herself to do this type of work. Her eye doctor says with her glasses on if she is looking directly through the center of the lenses she should be able to do all of this it just takes a lot of effort and training. Still I don't want learning to be too difficult for her so I think Beyond is the right place for her.

I am comfortable with everything I see on the website in regards to Beyond but I know I need to work on her handwriting and need to know how that is addressed in Beyond or if I need to add something else in. The occupational therapist (who works with school districts) says she is 2-3 grade levels behind and says we should just use a computer with a speech to text translator and give up on her writing but I'm not OK with that. She is my second homeschooled daughter so I have been around enough homeschoolers to know that all kids learn at different rates and there are different ways to do things. I just need to keep working with her right now.

Thanks in advanced for your help,

Jennifer

[HappyMama]

In Beyond, copywork is scheduled four times a week where the child copies a portion of the poem. You could easily substitute your own handwriting program though if want. HTH!

[raceNzanesmom]

In Beyond, copywork is scheduled four times a week where the child copies a portion of the poem. You could easily substitute your own handwriting program though if want. HTH!

I agree. My son has a few letters that he still needs to practice- keeping it on the line or proper placement. I plan to do copywork 2 days and handwriting from his workbook 2 days. Once he gets better with the few letters he's having difficulty with we'll switch to copywork 4 days.

[MomtoJGJE]

My oldest wasn't ready for copywork to that extent when we did Beyond, so I just had her do A Reason for Handwriting - A one page per day (skipping the review at the beginning) Once she finished that book she started doing a smaller amount of copywork per day (one line typically).

[my3sons]

My ds needed more work on his handwriting, but I wanted him to make progress with his copywork too, as those are two different skills to learn. So, I had him do "A Reason for Handwriting A" and one line of poetry copywork each day to begin with. I told him if he had 3-4 great letters on each line in "A Reason for HW A", that would be good enough, as quality was more important than quantity. If he didn't have 3-4 great letters, he knew I'd ask him to do more. I did the same with the words, just 2-3 per line were good enough if done well. For the poetry copywork, about a month into it, I had him start to do 2 lines a day. Then another month in, about a stanza a day or so, and finally we divided the whole poem evenly out over 4 days and had him do that many lines to be able to complete it. In case this might help, here's a post I did about how his handwriting progressed with pics...
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5605&p=41147#p41147

Dc really do progress with their writing, but it just takes time. I think your dd will too, just as our sons did and continue to do so. HOD has a good plan in place for this progression - HTH!
In Christ,
Julie

[cagrits]

Thank you so much! I like Julie's ideas for handwriting assistance during copywork and showed Charlotte all of the pictures. We then tried copying some a few lines using the idea of highlighting the spaces and she was able to do it! She really doesn't want to do handwriting instruction again as she says she feels like a baby. So I explained that if she could keep up the good work with the tips we have been given we will not add anything additional to the program. However if she continues to reverse letters and make other errors we will start one a handwriting program. She was happy with that and I think she will keep working. I think it helped her to see pictures of someone else progressing through the challenge of handwriting. It made her realize it will get better with hard work. I don't think she could visualize what the results of her efforts would be previously. So thanks!

This board and the women on it sure are a blessing!

Jennifer