Am I right to not worry about handwriting?

[DesertBlossom]

My just turned 6 year old DS is doing well in LOE B right now. He's technically 1st grade because I put him in a one day a week enrichment program with our PS, but he's young for his grade and it shows. I am NOT at all worried about him. I feel like he's doing great for his age and his go-with-the-flow personality.

 

My concern is with handwriting. It's slow and painful and I feel like he struggles with forming his letters correctly. He doesn't have any fine motor problems. He's just 6. So I haven't worried too much about it. We do the exercises in the book but for the spelling lists I always let him use letter tiles to minimize the writing.

 

Tell me this is okay. Tell me that we can get more picky about handwriting next year. Or, if you disagree, tell me why not.

[LMD]

I think that less writing is fine, I'd just make sure that what he does write is correct/neat. I do pretty much the same with my immature but fine 6y/o.

 

I had to remediate with one child after being too lax on quality - not quantity.

[Dinsfamily]

I've never used LOE but I definitely fall into the camp of quality, not quantity. I have found that my boys do really well with a white board because it has less resistance so we use that more often than paper.

 

FWIW, I remember talking to my ped about the attention span of one of my boys and she gently reminded me that he was a 6yo boy. It was good to have my expextations knocked back down to reality. Glad you already have that perspective!

 

 

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[tammylingle]

I wouldn't worry too much. My now 10 year old also struggled when he was 6. Since it was also noticeable to me I did some research and discovered hundreds of free printable practice worksheets that I would download instantly and give him to do in the evenings. To be honest, it turned into a game (bonus points for me!) Here's two free printable that might help you: http://www.educents.com/sight-word-practice-worksheets.html, http://www.educents.com/handwriting-alphabet-worksheets-with-zoo-animals.html.Good luck!

[Ellie]

My just turned 6 year old DS is doing well in LOE B right now. He's technically 1st grade because I put him in a one day a week enrichment program with our PS, but he's young for his grade and it shows. I am NOT at all worried about him. I feel like he's doing great for his age and his go-with-the-flow personality.

 

My concern is with handwriting. It's slow and painful and I feel like he struggles with forming his letters correctly. He doesn't have any fine motor problems. He's just 6. So I haven't worried too much about it. We do the exercises in the book but for the spelling lists I always let him use letter tiles to minimize the writing.

 

Tell me this is okay. Tell me that we can get more picky about handwriting next year. Or, if you disagree, tell me why not.

 

His "grade level" is irrelevant. He's still 6. How long have you been doing LOE? When was his birthday (IOE, how long has he been 6)? If he is struggling that much, you might be just a little bit concerned, depending on how long you've been doing LOE.  It could just be that you have not required him to write much.

[OneStepAtATime]

Fine motor skills can take time to develop. Absolutely, work on quality not quantity as others have posted. Work in targeted fashion in short sessions on the quality of his writing and do it consistently but scribe for him, use a dry erase board, etc for the rest of his writing output.

 

If in a year or two he is really struggling you might do some research on dysgraphia and see if anything makes sense to you but right now? Nope.

[DesertBlossom]

His "grade level" is irrelevant. He's still 6. How long have you been doing LOE? When was his birthday (IOE, how long has he been 6)? If he is struggling that much, you might be just a little bit concerned, depending on how long you've been doing LOE.  It could just be that you have not required him to write much.

 

He turned six last month.  We started LOE last August but we went really slow at first. Like really slow. He didn't seem to remember what we had done the day before and  seemed to get frustrated easily so I didn't push it. About January we picked things up a little more, but then didn't do much over the summer. We started school and got back into things 2 weeks ago. I feel like he is retaining things a lot better now. He remembers what he learned the day before at least!  We're only on lesson 50 though. :) He just has a limited attention span so we do the practice handwriting in his book (which isn't much) but that's it.  I let him do the spelling words with tiles. 

Edited August 24, 2016 by DesertBlossom

[nature girl]

I wouldn't worry all that much about handwriting at that age, but I would require he practice it daily. It takes practice to acquire automaticity...I also was pretty lax with my DD last year, and it took some time for her writing to become more automatic. She still has a bit of trouble thinking of what to write while writing, so although she can write pretty quickly, she's not all the way there yet.

 

I think, too, that for O-G programs like LOE, the phonemes are in part taught kinesthetically, so that writing them is a part of learning the spelling. I'm not sure moving tiles would teach phonemes quite as effectively. (We didn't use an O-E program though, so I'm no expert. Ellie, maybe you can comment on that?)

 

(ETA: I wouldn't worry about it being a sign of anything at this point...If it's still an issue in a year or so then maybe, but at this point I think it's just that he hasn't practiced much.)

Edited August 24, 2016 by nature girl

[Bluegoat]

I think that is pretty common, I've had kids who simply didn't have the motor control to write neatly at that age.  It came soon enough. 

 

I think you could just wait, if you want to.  If you want to keep working, I'd go with quality too, even if it is just one word or even letter a day - I think what you want to avoid is bad motor habits and frustration.  And you might look at some totally different activities to build those muscles.

[UnlikelyHomeschoolingMama]

My 6 year old (7 next month) is doing better this year than last.  He is 1st grade, so his work requires more writing.  He is reading well, doing great in math and tags along with MFW ECC with his older sister.  However I just do a lot for him.  His math for instance...he normally writes one side of the sheet and we do the other side orally or I write it.  Helps with frustration and keeps thing neater that way.  :)  I do notice (even just since the end of last school year) that his stamina is increasing.  

[EmseB]

I would worry about pencil grip more than the handwriting itself.

[Loowit]

The only things I would concentrate on at that age is making sure he is gripping the pencil correctly when he writes and quality.  Start off slowly, but with daily work on handwriting.  Otherwise I wouldn't worry about making him do a lot of handwriting at this age.  I was lazy about pencil grip with my youngest and it was a mistake.  It took a long time to correct and a lot of frustration on both our parts.

[Guest]

This is OK.

[MerryAtHope]

I wouldn't worry about it, but I would work on it. Some suggestions:

 

Have him work on one letter at a time--either one per day or one for the whole week. He should write that letter 3-5 times, focusing on forming the letter in the correct way. Let him put a star or sticker above the letter that he thinks he did the best. (Have him tell you why he thinks it's best. If you think another one is best, you could say, "That one is good! I also like the way you made a nice straight line on this one..." pointing to one that you like.) Getting him to slow down, make just a few letters, and identify the one he thinks was best will help him pay more careful attention to formation and help make writing become easier for him.

 

Some kids are not quite ready for handwriting lines. You may want to let him practice on a white board. Show him an example letter, and then let him try it. Focus on forming the letter correctly--round circles, straight lines, starting at the correct spot etc...

 

Incorporate kinesthetic practice, such as writing with a finger in sand, cornmeal, whipped cream, on carpet squares or sandpaper, in snow, etc... This will reinforce the neurological connections needed for handwriting, and will make the motions more memorable.

 

Make sure to incorporate lots of large-muscle play in his day--running, jumping, climbing, swinging...anything that strengthens core muscles and gross motor muscles. These are incredibly important to handwriting. (Many people think of handwriting as a fine motor activity, but it's the gross motors--the trunk muscles that hold the body up so kids don't lean on their arms as they write, the shoulder and arm muscles that control arm movements etc... that are really important). 

 

Mazes, dot-to-dot, coloring, legos, playing with cars, cutting, pasting, painting etc... are good for reinforcing fine-motor skills needed. You can also write letters or words on the white board and then have him finger erase it using proper strokes.

 

Have fun and enjoy your 6 year-old! Handwriting will come in time!