Son taking lots of time to go from thinking to writing, How can I help him?

[Kendall]

My 10 year old is taking a lot of time to move something from his brain to his paper. This occurred recently in even one of his favorite subjects (Latin) and it is frustrating him. In 20-25 minutes he is writing down the English to Latin translation of just one sentence(He is in Henle Unit 3). In the same amount of time with me doing the writing he can translate 5-6 sentences.

 

Do you know of any activities that would help him to get faster at writing?

 

I’m not sure just writing speed is the only issue because it happens at the keyboard, too.

 

Thanks,

Kendall

[Rhondabee]

my 10yo son has "fast" days and "slow" days, and it doesn't seem to be influenced by diet, amount of sleep, amount of exercise, or any particular method of mine, or where I let him do his work (or, "think" about his work - LOL!).

 

Sometimes we have a few fast days in a row, and I'm tempted to think, "Oh, I'm such a good teacher!" But, then we have a week of slow days, and my theory is confirmed: he is a 10yo boy!

 

I do expect him to finish his work. However long it takes is up to him.

 

One caveat: If I *know* he didn't sleep well or if I'm *sure* he's not feeling well, I may just sit and do all of his work with him. Takes more time from me, but that way I don't feel like a total crab of a mom!

 

:)

[Suzannah]

My 10yo DS has been doing this a lot lately. He's always been a bit faster answering questions orally than in writing, but once he (mostly) got over his handwriting phobia it seemed to get better.

 

I thought it was mostly confined to math. But math has been taking so long lately he hasn't had much of an opportunity to write in other subjects.

 

Any suggestions would be most appreciated. With math I've tried timing him (which freaks him out because he thinks he won't have enough time) to letting him work in a room by himself (where he often gets distracted) to making him work at the table with the rest of us (where he says everyone else is distracting him).

[Carol in Cal.]

With copywork, he doesn't have to think of what to write. He just gets the exercise of seeing letters, picturing them, and writing them down. Carefully chosen passages also can illuminated and reinforce your grammar and punctuation lessons.