Is this enough writing for a 2nd grader?

[snickelfritz]

We are doing MFW Adventures, but having trouble getting to it. I've temporarily postponed it until next week to give us more time to get all the basics into a good flow (plus, our neighborhood pool closes Labor Day, so we won't be tempted to go swimming when it's not busy... :) ) All that to say, it has some notebooking and such....but I don't want to count on it. If anything slides this year, it will be this program while I make sure math, writing, reading, and violin get done for both kids.

 

dd is 7. She's pretty comfortable writing, as far as mechanics go. No issues with fatigue or anything diagnosed. She still mixes up capital/lowercase letters within words.

 

Things we use that have her writing:

 

Reason for Handwriting Transitions--this has her practice a few letters or words each day leading up to a verse on the 4th day. We're doing the whole book, which will give her a review of printing before transitioning to cursive.

 

WWE II

 

FLL 2 (I'm wondering if I should have her go ahead and do the copywork here instead of leaving it out?)

 

Math Mammoth 2. We're also using Miquon, which has a little writing.

 

We just don't do lots of worksheets and I'm wondering if she's getting in the quantity of writing that is appropriate for a second grader. I'm not talking about composition and her writing a paragraph or story on her own. I'm talking about building up to the stamina, speed, smoothness, etc... that a 2nd grader should have in their handwriting.

[coffeegal]

I'm not certain how much handwriting is in your programs, but my current goal for my 2nd grader is around 5 sentences a day. It's a bit of a stretch for him, since he ended 1st grade writing 3-4 sentences a day. My goal is for ds to be able to write 10-12 sentences a day by the end of 2nd grade... Without too much grumbling. ;) Oh, the sentences tend to be on the shorter side. Next year, 3rd grade, we'll work on more complex sentences. :001_smile:

 

My longer term goal is for my children to be able to put pencil to paper and write a page or two at a sitting sometime around 5th grade.

[5LittleMonkeys]

In one day my dd2nd does 2 sentences from WWE, 2 sentences from poetry, 2 pages from ETC which may be as little as 7 words or as many as 14. She also does 1 page in penmanship, and will do half of her grammar lesson in writing which is as little as 5 words to 5 very short sentences. In addition to this she writes about 2 sentences from history and 2 from science per week.

 

That being said, if I tried to get my dd11 to do that much writing when she was that age she would have melted into a pool of tears. It all depends on the child. If you are unsure of what she is capable of then add in 1 sentence a day in varying subjects until you reach a point that she complains. If she is like my dd she will definitely let you know as soon as she has reached her limit.

[SilverMoon]

That sounds like plenty to me. Really, really. :001_smile:

 

My little guy who will be a second grader this year will have near daily copywork, FLL 2 (he does FLL copywork on the whiteboard), spelling 4x a week, R&S math, and he does a little bit of writing in science and history. He did slightly less in first grade. For a wiggly 6.5yo he does pretty good with writing.

[snickelfritz]

Ok, I added it up. This next week, she will write:

Day 1: Cc, Ee, each (3-4 of each). WWE has a narration exercise and FLL has oral review.

Day 2: peace, Live(3-4 each) And 2 short copywork sentences

Day 3: 3 more words, 2 copwork sentences

Day 4: short Bible verse and 1 copywork sentence

 

That just doesn't seem like much. The FLL has some enrichment exercises, which I will go back and add. It has her copy a short poem instead of a sentence. That still doesn't seem like much, but we can start there and gradually add.

[monalisa]

FWIW, I also have a second grader. I just got the newest FLL 2, and they left in all the copywork from what I can see (I thought it was coming out, to align more with WWE). I am at the moment planning to have her do all the FLL2 copywork, in addition to the WWE 2 copywork, spelling (AAS 2), and HWT cursive. Plus she will eventually start writing a little of her SOTW 2 narrations (or copying a sentence is probably more like it).

[Lovedtodeath]

"a 9 year old should be writing perhaps the equivalent of 3-5 sentences per day by hand"

[nancyb]

"a 9 year old should be writing perhaps the equivalent of 3-5 sentences per day by hand"

 

Thank you so much for asking this question and thank you for this answer! After a painful first week of school, I made the decision to do most of my son's work orally. I was afraid this was not expecting enough. I have found this thread and video extremely freeing. Thank you!

[snickelfritz]

Ok, 3-5 sentences for a 9 year old makes me feel better.

 

Especially since this was the first day with ALL our basics (spelling, FLL, and WWE were added in) and I'm not sure how we'll ever fit in history and science and the related notebooking assignments. :)

[In2why]

Thank you so much for asking this question and thank you for this answer! After a painful first week of school, I made the decision to do most of my son's work orally. I was afraid this was not expecting enough. I have found this thread and video extremely freeing. Thank you!

 

 

I agree. My son is a perfectionist and melts down if he makes a mistake that he feels he needs to erase. He writes well, and neatly so I don't worry about it too much. I concentrate more on him being able to see his dictation sentences in his head and then putting them on to the paper. I don't even touch self-editing yet.

[Tree House Academy]

I have no idea how much is "enough" but I will tell you what my 7 y/o 2nd grader is writing:

 

Poetry copywork daily - 2 sentences per day that must be 100% correct.

10 spelling words daily (sometimes on whiteboard, sometimes paper)

Writing in CLE workbook and Singapore workbook daily

Journal writing once a week

Writing in Language Arts (I am beta testing CLE LA 2), 1 lesson per day and

one writing assignment per week (paragraph type stories)

Pentime Handwriting - one lesson per day (cursive)

 

I am sure there are a few more things here and there, but this is the bulk of it. He doesn't mind to write or do copywork, really. We are lucky there! LOL

[Tree House Academy]

"a 9 year old should be writing perhaps the equivalent of 3-5 sentences per day by hand"

 

 

:001_huh: WOW! Maybe I expect too much of my kids. My 11 year old writes 3-5 sentences in part A of his English assignment. That doesn't include the essays in history, narrations in Science, etc. etc. etc.

[Satori]

Hmmm... My 5 year old writes way more than 50 sentences a day. She gets up in the morning and writes. She'll end the day with writing. She writes her own stories, letters, and science journal entries. I do not ask her to do any of this. I knew she loved writing, but didn't know she was only expected to write 3-5 sentences in 4 more years.

[snickelfritz]

Satori Hmmm... My 5 year old writes way more than 50 sentences a day. She gets up in the morning and writes. She'll end the day with writing. She writes her own stories, letters, and science journal entries. I do not ask her to do any of this. I knew she loved writing, but didn't know she was only expected to write 3-5 sentences in 4 more years.

 

My dd writes more than I have described. But I don't check all of her free writing for proper letter formation, neatness, etc. If she mixes up capital and lower case, I don't say anything. In fact, she usually chooses unlined paper and writes songs , poems, books that she illustrates, etc. She writes enough on her own that I'm not worried about muscle or dexterity problems ( plus violin works that too).

 

For copywork and assignments, I do check for neatness and proper formation and she either does it correctly or erases it and does it again. That's the type of writing that I wondered if we needed more of.

[Kuovonne]

"a 9 year old should be writing perhaps the equivalent of 3-5 sentences per day by hand"

 

When watching that video, I got the impression that 3-5 sentences was a minimum at that age. After giving the 3-5 sentences guideline, SWB adds that "kids who are co-ordinated and not struggling can do more."

[Lovedtodeath]

Thank you so much for asking this question and thank you for this answer! After a painful first week of school, I made the decision to do most of my son's work orally. I was afraid this was not expecting enough. I have found this thread and video extremely freeing. Thank you!

I asked this question for Emily in second grade and everyone told me that she should be writing more. I didn't change anything and we are doing fine.

 

When watching that video, I got the impression that 3-5 sentences was a minimum at that age. After giving the 3-5 sentences guideline, SWB adds that "kids who are co-ordinated and not struggling can do more."

Of course there is more to it than that small quote. I encourage everyone to watch the video. It is the last 1/3 of it as other questions are answered first.

[Kuovonne]

When watching that video, I got the impression that 3-5 sentences was a minimum at that age. After giving the 3-5 sentences guideline, SWB adds that "kids who are co-ordinated and not struggling can do more."

 

Of course there is more to it than that small quote. I encourage everyone to watch the video. It is the last 1/3 of it as other questions are answered first.

 

Oh, yes, it's a great video. However, after seeing the 3-5 sentences guideline in several threads here I was starting to wonder if I was having my daughter do too much writing. She does fine with her current writing load, even though it is more than SWB recommends for her age. Watching the video and hearing that little bit saying that it's okay for kids to do more if they aren't struggling helped me realize that I'm not asking too much.

[Lovedtodeath]

 

Oh, yes, it's a great video. However, after seeing the 3-5 sentences guideline in several threads here I was starting to wonder if I was having my daughter do too much writing. She does fine with her current writing load, even though it is more than SWB recommends for her age. Watching the video and hearing that little bit saying that it's okay for kids to do more if they aren't struggling helped me realize that I'm not asking too much.

Yes, it is pretty clear that the need to reduce the writing load is if a child is struggling with the amount that they have. :)