Beginning handwriting

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  • August 7, 2012 at 4:01 am
    cotk
    Member

    My dd loves to write.  She’s 5.  Last week she copied something she saw all on her own. 

    Right now, her writing has very big capital letters, and she doesn’t know the concept of letters close together form a word, and a space between letters is a space between words.  I guess I don’t understand my role in handwriting.  Do I just give her a sheet of copy work and let her figure it out with practice?  How do I guide her?  Do I teach her that if she starts a word close to the edge of the page, she can’t just put the last letter or 2 on the next line?  I don’t get what the goal is in the very, very beginning. 

    August 7, 2012 at 5:43 am
    MamaSnow
    Participant

    Start out very slowly, teaching her to form each letter correctly. I would teach the lower case letters first (or teach the upper and lower together), since lower case letters are used more often. You will need to sit with her, model the correct formation (and talk through what you are doing: for example for lower case ‘a’ I would say something like “we make a round ball that stays in the ‘downstairs’ (using that paper with the dashed line in the middle) and then a stick for a handle”). Then let her try. You may want to have her trace the letters with her finger first – either on the paper or in a tray of sand or salt or other ‘texture’. Gently encourage her to do each letter to the best of her ability, and stop before she gets frustrated or bored, even if you’ve only written one or two letters. As she gets more proficient you can do whole words (and teach the things like letter spacing), and then whole sentences (and then teach her things like moving down the next line when you run out of space). You will need to sit with her at first and guide her into good habits, and as she shows that she can do them you can back off and let her go on her own.

    There are handwriting curriculums/workbooks out there if you care to use them if you feel like you need more direction or support (or if your child is struggling and needs a different approach)- maybe someone else can give reccomendations – but I personally prefer to use the simple model above and save my curriculum $$ for other things. =)

    HTH some,

    Jen

    August 7, 2012 at 12:53 pm
    eawerner
    Participant

    Line by line copywork helps for spacing since the child should try to copy the letters right under where they are shown above. (Line by line just means there is a line of model writing, then a blank line under it, then another model line, then another blank line.  As opposed to 4 or 5 lines of model at the top of the page with a bunch of blank lines underneath.)

    I would recommend checking out Bogart Family Resources, a little company that makes copywork books for download.  They have a ‘copying the basics’ book that will go through the letters, numbers, and other basic info.  They also have other hymns, poems, etc.  Right now they are having a really good sale! Most of the books are $.88 or $1.48.  A pretty small investment for the amount of help it will give you. 

    Here is their free guide about copywork and the different styles of  handwriting…

    http://bogartfamilyresources.com/products/free-downloads/

    Here is a link to their store at currclick with all the sale prices. You can also preview the books here.

    http://www.currclick.com/cclick_backtoschool.php?manufacturers_id=323&filters=0_0_0_0_0_0_24403&page=3

     

    I hope that helps. 

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