Greetings everyone!
I've been reading the forums for a while but am just getting my feet wet with homeschooling our 7yo son. He's in 1st grade, technically, though we are transitioning him out of school in part because he's all over the map with his abilities. He's doing 4th grade math and middle/high school level science, reads well, but struggles a lot with writing.
His school took the approach that any writing was good, regardless of spelling/letter formation, and he was never taught to do either properly (e.g. he forms many letters "bottom up" instead of from the top line down). He flips many letters--not just b/d but also a, c, s, p, q, and a few others occasionally. I worked with him last summer to teach him cursive which helps a lot (he doesn't flip when writing in cursive) but that slows him down and his teachers encouraged him to print in school throughout the year. He is slow at writing in general, because he struggles with spelling and tends toward being a perfectionist, so he is afraid of making mistakes.
We are a few lessons in to Rod and Staff spelling, which is very gentle, but so far the words are a bit too easy (he can spell out most CVC words). I assume it will pick up in complexity? Is there a program that teaches more explicit rules? And is there something that will help with letter-flipping apart from just insisting on cursive?
Thanks for any and all suggestions!