Handwriting trouble with 7yo ds - long - help!

[ssruckman]

Hi! I think this may be my first post, though I've been lurking for quite a while! I'm Suzanne, mom to 2 boys, ages 7 and 11. We've been homeschooling since my oldest finished 2nd grade in a Christian Classical school.

 

I am having a problem with my 7 yo ds's handwriting. A little background:

He taught himself to read at age 4, without phonics instruction or any help from me. As my focus at that time was getting my older son's curriculum squared away, and I had no clue what I was doing, I let him read on his own, read to both of them daily, and didn't worry about it. He is very much a self-learner; he would prefer to do it on his own, without anyone showing him how to do it. If any instruction is needed from me, it has to be short and sweet.

 

A year or so later, when I had a chance to breathe, I began to look at handwriting and spelling for him (younger ds.) It was then that I realized I needed to teach him phonics for spelling. We went through 100 Easy Lessons in about a week - very easy for him, but I wasn't convinced that it was enough. I tried to do Writing Road, it was too overwhelming for me. Finally, I found TATRAS, and we've almost completed that, and both of us kept our sanity.

 

We are currently using McGuffey's 2nd reader for him to read aloud to me, then I orally quiz him on the spelling words at the end of the reading. If he misses a word, which may be 2 or 3 out of 15, I tell him the correct spelling, he repeats it, he looks at it on the page, etc. I quiz him on those words again the next day.

 

We just began using Handwriting Without Tears from the very 1st workbook, at his request, (he heard about HWT and said "why don't we use that since I always have tears when I have to write?) because he doesn't like to write if it's not his idea, his handwriting is at the level of a 4 year old's, he still mixes upper and lower case letters - even in his name, he reverses some letters and numbers. I don't think these issues are due to any sort of processing disorder, just immaturity and lack of practice, but I'm no expert! He is making his Christmas list now, which he writes without fuss because he wants to, but it looks the same as the one he wrote 2 years ago.

 

HWT at this level is painstakingly slow, one uppercase letter a day, and I see no light at the end of the tunnel. I'm doing as much as I can orally with him. I had back surgery recently, and I'm in bed for three more weeks. I signed him up for Time4Learning to get him through this period of my recovery, though I'm not crazy about it; we still do reading, spelling, handwriting and math together on my bed. Not ideal, but it is what it is.

 

Anyway, I am searching for an answer to how to help him with spelling and handwriting without going back through the basics of phonics. It seems that everything I look at that includes basic handwriting instruction is for K-1st grade, and he doesn't need that. He is actually a pretty good speller and a great reader, he just needs practice with spelling.

 

Am I worrying over nothing? Am I already doing the right thing? I would appreciate any advice anyone can give!

 

Thanks,

Suzanne

[boscopup]

We just began using Handwriting Without Tears from the very 1st workbook, at his request, (he heard about HWT and said "why don't we use that since I always have tears when I have to write?) because he doesn't like to write if it's not his idea, his handwriting is at the level of a 4 year old's, he still mixes upper and lower case letters - even in his name, he reverses some letters and numbers. I don't think these issues are due to any sort of processing disorder, just immaturity and lack of practice, but I'm no expert! He is making his Christmas list now, which he writes without fuss because he wants to, but it looks the same as the one he wrote 2 years ago.

 

My son has a somewhat similar history of early reading without phonics instruction, though he did get handwriting instruction in KG (private school), he now forms his letters really weird, and he doesn't enjoy writing. One thing I noticed was his grip was awful, and that probably isn't helping his writing. He's still in private school right now, but over Christmas break, I plan to go through HWT, starting at the K book. Did you get the pre-K or K book? For this age child, I think the K book is more appropriate. It still goes slow enough to teach them proper formation, but it has the upper and lower case letters in the same book, plus words and short sentences at the end.

 

My plan (and I haven't done it yet, so it very well may not work! ;) ) is to go through several letters a day - basically, however many we can do in a sitting. I don't think it will take us long, as he already knows what the letters look like and basically how to make them. He just needs to learn how to form them properly (ie, start at the top, draw the left side before the right side, etc.). Once we get through the letters, I'll give him copywork along with the HWT book (I have K, 1, and 2 books... he's in first grade right now, so we probably won't get to 2 until next year, which is completely fine). I think copywork with ME WATCHING CLOSELY will be the best thing for him. We will also concentrate a lot on proper grip.

 

I don't plan to have him do any writing on his own (though he does have to do some at school - typical "journaling" and such). He has dictation sentences with his spelling, but they're simple and he has studied the spelling, so is ok with those. They aren't every week right now. When I homeschool him next year, I'll be using AAS as our spelling program, and that also has dictation. I just won't have him writing something that he hasn't seen, as I know he is not confident in his spelling and thus doesn't want to write a word he doesn't know for sure how to spell (perfectionist). Phonics (at school) is helping this a LOT, and I think AAS will help it even more. As he's taught the spelling "rules", he's understanding them quickly, and he always aces his spelling tests at school. His spelling level is way below his reading level, but that's ok.

 

Don't know if any of that helps or not. I would see if you can move a little faster through the HWT book - maybe 3-4 letters a day? And see if you can get him doing some copywork soon. Maybe find some fun copywork about something that interests him or maybe silly sentences or jokes that will make writing more fun.

 

Also, make sure you do a lot of sky writing, sand writing, rice writing, shaving cream writing, etc.

[SonshineLearner]

I'd suggest skipping ahead, and doing the Grade 3, cursive. Get the teacher's guide, too. This is what I've done for my 7 year old. It's working. He might never have beautiful handwriting, but it's must nicer.

I also told him that he MUST hold his pencil correctly. There's a "pencil flip" hint that had him doing ...in less than 5 minutes.... that I had been trying to do for 3 years!!.

:)

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

Don't know if any of that helps or not. I would see if you can move a little faster through the HWT book - maybe 3-4 letters a day? And see if you can get him doing some copywork soon. Maybe find some fun copywork about something that interests him or maybe silly sentences or jokes that will make writing more fun.

 

Also, make sure you do a lot of sky writing, sand writing, rice writing, shaving cream writing, etc.

 

I would definitely try to speed things up. Only my 4yo does one page in his handwriting book a day. DD does at least 2, often more. I would recommend putting an emphasis on the handwriting book for now. If you think he's up for it, I might even consider doing 2 sessions a day through the kindergarten book (which goes through all upper and lowercase letters). When he is done I would start copywork.

[boscopup]

Thanks for pointing out that pencil flip! I saw that in the TM (I got the K level TM, but none of the others), but hadn't tried it. I just tried it myself, and wow, that's cool! I'm sure it will help my son greatly!

[PeterPan]

I'd go to a developmental optometrist and get an evaluation, just to eliminate it as an issue. You really have a lot of assumptions there. Reading level doesn't mean he can't have a visual processing, convergence, or focusing problem. You seem to suggest his writing is poor because he resists you on writing, but it might be just the opposite that he resists you because he knows he has a problem. To me the big red flag is his own use of the word tears. I would get him evaluated.

 

Just for reference, he sounds now similar to the way my dd did at that age. At that age I too thought it was her peculiarities, didn't see the problem. Kids can be so strong overall that they are compensating for their problems. His own perception of his spelling is very telling. My dd used to say that, that she "couldn't spell", even though her scores were quite good and always well above grade level. It's that she couldn't spell what she WANTED to spell or would spell. When you have bright kids, it gets a little more complex, eh?

 

It takes a couple weeks to get into appointments with developmental optometrists, etc. You could go ahead and find a good one, make the appointment, and try other things like switching to cursive while you wait. The developmental optometrist can test and assess all kinds of subtleties with visual processing that can cause the symptoms you're talking about. (closure, foreground, spatial, etc.)