Handwriting - no dotted line and still neat for gr. 3?

[homeforhim]

Hello Ladies,

I have a handwriting question for keeping all these entries for Preparing neatly done for their science, history, etc notebooks. My son began learning cursive last year in grade 2 and will continue this coming year when we use Preparing. He is doing fine but I found with my older son having already passed this point that kids will not do a very neat job with letter formation and proper height if they don't have that handy dotted interline between the two solid lines (do you KWIM?) during this transitional time to being easier cursive writers and printers.

How have you all handled using the experiment page provided in the manual, unlined notebook paper (I would have to put some lines to keep it on level!), and ruled paper in compostition books and the like that have smaller spacing and don't have that great dotted interline! I would like to be able to hand them paper that has the greatest potential to produce a good result the first time rather than spending time redoing handwriting that doesn't pass muster and isn't necessarily their fault - they aren't quite there yet motor skills wise and practice wise.

Am I making too much of this? I think handwriting is important and want their Preparing lessons to be something they are proud of (and me too!). It would be interesting to hear Carrie's perspective on this with her teaching background. I don't know how soon kids are handed regular "looseleaf" and just go with that for their assignments in public school.

By the way, I am so excited having seen the CTC notebook sample pages!! They look wonderful and I look forward to using it this fall with my grade 5!

Blessings,
Rachael

[Carrie]

Rachael,

I understand what you're saying, as some kiddos need some extra hand-holding and time to strengthen and develop their fine motor skills within their handwriting. It's pretty typical for third graders to do all of their writing on wide-lined loose leaf paper, and their sketching and labeling on typing/copy paper. The only special handwriting paper that was used in third grade in our district (of 25 elementary schools) was for cursive handwriting (and this was because cursive was a new skill taught in third grade). Now, many schools have moved cursive instruction down to second grade and have second graders writing on regular wide-lined paper!

So, while most school districts take the approach that kiddos will only learn to write on notebook/loose-leaf paper by writing on it daily and for all assignments, you can easily choose in your homeschool to move more gradually into that skill. Each kiddo is an individual, and I think it is terrific that you are carefully monitoring each of your kiddo's needs.

You may wish to check out millerpadsandpaper.com, as they have a variety of writing paper that would most likely suit your needs.

Blessings,
Carrie

[kiloyd]

Thank you for posting this! I've been wondering the exact same thing. My ds will be going into 3rd grade with Bigger.

katherine
ds8 Bigger
dd4 LHTH
dd2

[homeforhim]

Thank you, Katharine, Carrie and Ang! It is wonderful to get input on this area. I have some notebooks that are like the ones sold by Miller Pads and Paper that Carrie suggested so I think I will purchase a few more for this year and move him into looseleaf for grade 4. I see your point, Carrie, about some school boards taking the perspective that if you don't make them practice on looseleaf they won't get proficient at it. I will keep that in mind!

Thanks everyone!
Rachael

[my3sons]

Just to put your mind at ease - I also taught 3rd. grade for many years, and we didn't use special paper. However, to transition to wide-lined paper, the Miller Pad and Paper handwriting papers work great.

In Christ,
Julie