I guess I won't worry about it. Her handwriting is legible, I just thought her grip was slowing her writing speed. When she writes fast her legibility goes way down. Honestly, it's probably every bit a matter of just not caring what her handwriting looks like. She's 14, but this particular grip is fairly new,apparently developed in middle school. I don't know why it changed, but it did. Thanks for the replies.

My daughter has been in public school the last 3 years (6th-8th). Before that she was homeschooled for 2 years. This year,for 9th, we brought her back home for various reasons and at her request. When she was at home the first time there were no issues with handwriting. She's left handed. Her writing was fairly neat and she used a standard grip. Now, however, I've noticed her using what looks to me to be an awkward grip. Her handwriting is not as nice, but is legible with a definite backward slant. I think the awkward grip is keeping her from being able to write quickly and legibly. Her writing speed definitely makes assignments take longer than I feel like they should. I know that she's physically doing more writing at home than she was at school, so this might naturally sort itself out. Is it even worth addressing at this point? Also, I would like to improve her reading speed. Right now I have her read most of her assignments aloud to me. I can check comprehension as we go, and I think this forces her to pay more attention. I think she just skims, otherwise. Thoughts? Opinions? Just keep plugging away?

I had a somewhat similar experience with my daughter in middle school. She was a bright kid, capable of better grades than she was getting, and enjoying all the social aspects of school. She just didn't care about the schoolwork and was also forming less than desirable friendships. After a few incidents and warnings from us, and continuing poor performance, we stepped in. We came up with a solid game plan, sat her down one night, and lowered the boom. She was told that since she had shown herself incapable of making good decisions, all decision making was being taken out of her hands and we would be making all decisions for her. She was told what was expected with her grades, and our expectations were reasonable. Nothing like, "You must have straight A's." We were available to help, but would not be asking her if she needed help. She would have to take the initiative. But the kicker was, to make sure that she had the necessary time to get her work done, we basically took everything away. We took the phone away entirely for about 8 months. Yes, I paid for a phone that was never used. She had to come straight home after school. There was almost no getting together with friends, there were no sleepovers. Every invite was turned down. Did she like us? Not really. Was her attitude worse for awhile. Yep. We just didn't engage. We would calmly repeat the rules and remind her what would need to occur before she was allowed more freedom again. It was up to her. We knew this would only work if we stayed consistent and didn't back down. And I'm not going to lie. It was sometimes hard. It restricted us as well. But we knew it wasn't going to be a quick fix. She did eventually decide that never getting to do anything wasn't any fun. Her attitude improved, her grades improved, and she became a much nicer person. Her grades still aren't what I'd like, and I don't think she works as hard as she could, but they're decent. They're good enough. She's fun to be with and I truly enjoy her company now. And I trust her. That's my story. I don't know if that will work in your situation or not. It wasn't fast, it wasn't easy, but it worked for us so I thought I'd share.

Ok. Since I'll only get one more payment this year, I'll just transfer the money to their savings as I have done and wait to see what kind of reporting I have to do. I can make a decision later. The thing is, they set it up to be automatically deposited into my checking. So I actually go in each month and request a transfer. I'll dig out the paperwork to see if it gives any more guidance. Honestly, while I'm thankful for the peace of mind it gives, the whole situation just makes me so sad.

Thanks for the input. I think for now I will put the money into my personal savings account, and wait to see what kind of records I have to give. My understanding was that it's a short form with just 5 questions and I don't have to supply any proof. I can probably better determine my best course when I get it.

Thanks ladies. I wonder, though, because I realized I wasn't quite clear in my original post. The money we receive from social security is actually a death benefit my children each receive due to my husband's death. I don't receive anything myself. But it goes into my account and I have full control of it since they're both minors. I'll go ahead and designate the money differently because it certainly won't hurt. I have to tell the government each year how it was used, so they will have a record of it going to savings. This might be beyond the scope of anyone on this board, but I appreciate the help. I just want to maximize financial aid options, while being completely above board about it.

I was reading through a thread on a another forum, which brought up a question for me. I currently have a Junior. In regards to the FAFSA, it seems as though they look heavily at parents income, but maybe not as much at savings. I am a widow. Since my children are both minors, I receive a social security payment each month. It is deposited directly into my checking. Because we don't need to use that for monthly expenses, I transfer that money each month into savings accounts in their names. Would it be better if that money were in an account in my name? I never really thought about it before, because my intent was always to use that money for college.

I took a look at these and think they could work out well. Thank you!

I have been a long time lurker,but find myself in need of some help or support or maybe just some sympathy. I'm not even sure. A little background information would probably be helpful. I have 2 daughters. My oldest is a junior at our local high school. It's a good school and she's thriving. My youngest was a freshman at the same school, but I recently pulled her out to begin homeschooling at her request. She had attended a private school K-3, was homeschooled for 4th and 5th, and went to our public school from 6th-8th. She's never been a particularly academic student,but it's more a matter of motivation than ability. She's just not interested. In junior high she got decent grades, but wasn't very good about paying attention, completing homework, or even just turning stuff in. She had a tendency to be much more concerned with the social aspect and stupid drama (sigh). Her dad and I came up with a plan to address these issues and by the time school ended she seemed to be mostly back on track and ready to move on to high school. Unfortunately over the summer her dad passed away very suddenly and unexpectedly. 9th grade has understandably been a struggle. She complains of not sleeping well, having trouble concentrating, and general anxiety. I agreed with her that homeschooling for her core subjects is probably best right now and the school has been pretty good at working with us. They are letting her do choir and show choir and will allow her to return for 10th grade. We'll show a portfolio of our work and they will award either a pass/fail for 9th grade studies. All in all, I think they've been pretty supportive. Because the goal at the moment is to have her ready to return for 10th grade, I need to make sure we're doing adequate work. I can't deny that she's gone through something hard, but she's also shown a tendency in the past to make excuses to not work. So I'm trying to find the right balance. It's so hard. I think we've got Algebra and Biology going well and I'm satisfied with that. I'm using The American Odyssey from K12 and really like it. I have been going through and writing questions for her to answer which is ok, but she didn't remember a thing from the chapter we just read last week. So today I sat with her and went slowly over one section with lots of talking and discussing and writing short answers. I think this is what she needs, and we're going to keep at it to improve study skills. She's never really learned how to read for understanding. But I would also like to use some sort of workbook to supplement things. Is there some sort of general U.S. History workbook that isn't tied to a particular curriculum that we could use? Or even one that is that I could adapt a little for our text? (My goal is to use this text to teach reading for understanding, note taking and general study skills. I want the workbook because she likes that and it does seem to help reinforce information. And it will be something she can work on independently and sometimes I'll need her to do that.) And my apologies if I've broken an etiquette rule by jumping right in! Thanks in advance! I'm sure I'll have more questions, but this was beginning to feel like a novel.