Five More Minutes Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 DD4 refuses to play when her older sister is doing writing / grammar / spelling. She wants (demands!) to have her own pages to write. If she doesn't have her own worksheet, she sits at the table with us anyway and distracts big sister or me. (Either will do.) I have tried maze books, dot-to-dots, and colouring books to no avail: only something that looks like writing will do. (I am trying to give her a JK experience with lots of play! Honest!) I'm ready to give in and am toying with the idea of making up some copywork pages for her. What do you think? Good idea? Bad idea? And anyone been there already and have some really good ideas of things to copy for this age? Thanks ... (PS Since I know that there are different opinions out there on the usefulness of copywork for non-readers ... She is reading at around a Grade 1 or 2 level.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 If she is capable of it and wants to do it, I don't see any harm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurelia Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 Ariel did Beatrix Potter Copywork for Beginners from Currclick. We liked it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Five More Minutes Posted September 2, 2011 Author Share Posted September 2, 2011 I LOVE these forums. Thanks for alleviating my guilty conscience. Copywork it shall be, and I'll look up the Beatrix Potter resource. Thanks for that suggestion! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeganW Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 I made the big mistake of refusing to teach my young 4 year old handwriting. I thought she was too young, and it wouldn't hurt to let her just "play". Now, she has figured out her own approximations of every letter. Her capital R is a circle with legs, and so on and so on. And since she already knows how to do it her way, she isn't interested in learning my way. It has become a huge nightmare. I SOOO wish I had bought the Handwriting Without Tears preschool program and implemented it with her from the start when I knew that she was going to write one way or the other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScoutTN Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 We have the same situation here. DS is very interested in writing letters. We got the HWT preschool book and will probably get to the K one before the year is out. Both of mine are lefties and HWT is great for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeganW Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 The wooden letters & magnetic board are worth getting. And playdoh. We haven't gotten as much use out of the slate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nansk Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 There is a free Blinky Bill Italics Alphabet copybook on Currclick (from the same publisher as the Beatrix Potter copybook). You can also download one of the free Italic fonts to your computer to make your own copywork. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KristenR Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 I just recently did a blog post on the same subject. My two year old (closer to three actually) feels so left out when her older sister and I do "school work". I finally caved in and I AM SO GLAD I did. She surpassed what i would have expected of her. She genuinely enjoys it. We ended up stumbling into our own mini-unit on the alphabet. We used a dry erase board, a cheapo alphabet coloring book, and Starfall.com followed by weekly showings of Leap Frog's Letter Factory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Five More Minutes Posted September 2, 2011 Author Share Posted September 2, 2011 Thank you all for the great (and encouraging) replies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Occasionally Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 My K-er loves his Draw Write Now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
go_go_gadget Posted September 3, 2011 Share Posted September 3, 2011 Mine both practiced their fine motor skills with Kumon books before beginning a formal penmanship curriculum (Getty-Dubay Italic Handwriting). I don't like them to do much writing until they've done the first penmanship book because I don't want them to form bad habits, so we don't start copywork until they start Book B. If your daughter's motor skills are ready, I'd go ahead and get her working on a penmanship curriculum. Hopefully that'll be enough like copywork to satisfy her, and if not maybe she'll move through it quickly enough that she can start on copywork soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chepyl Posted September 3, 2011 Share Posted September 3, 2011 Someone on this forum suggested this website for making your own pages. You could type out letters, words to repeat, or type a short poem/Bible verse for her to practice. I was very excited and we have played around with it a little bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eternalknot Posted September 3, 2011 Share Posted September 3, 2011 My little one was the same way, and insisted on doing seatwork alongside my older one. I printed manuscript letters and dot-to-dot pictures, laminated them, and put them in a folder just for her. She would sit alongside us, selecting a worksheet to work on, and then mark it up with wet erase markers. She felt like a "real" student, and bonus (!) her penmanship is pretty nice for her age. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirch Posted September 3, 2011 Share Posted September 3, 2011 (edited) DD4 refuses to play when her older sister is doing writing / grammar / spelling. She wants (demands!) to have her own pages to write. If she doesn't have her own worksheet, she sits at the table with us anyway and distracts big sister or me. (Either will do.) I have tried maze books, dot-to-dots, and colouring books to no avail: only something that looks like writing will do. (I am trying to give her a JK experience with lots of play! Honest!) I'm ready to give in and am toying with the idea of making up some copywork pages for her. What do you think? Good idea? Bad idea? And anyone been there already and have some really good ideas of things to copy for this age? Thanks ... (PS Since I know that there are different opinions out there on the usefulness of copywork for non-readers ... She is reading at around a Grade 1 or 2 level.) Haven't read the other responses, but my K'er does copywork every day. He was already starting to *really* write as an early 4 yo and I could tell he was ready for more, so we used HWT Kindergarten. I had to hold him back or he would have flown through the book in just a couple of weeks. Anyway, when he finished that I switched to straight copywork. I made up my own blank paper and I write out a sentence for him to copy each day. He copies Bible verses that we're memorizing, poems, songs, general info (i.e., his full name--so he can learn to spell middle and last names--, months, days, etc.), sentences related to something else we're learning (i.e., "Plants have roots, stems and leaves. Many plants have flowers.), and sentences from books that he's reading or that I'm reading aloud. He's reading at about a mid-second grade level. And his handwriting is better than his brother's because I wasn't so diligent about getting copywork done with his brother! ETA: For the longer things (verses, songs, poems) I just give him part each day until he's copied the whole thing. All the sheets go into his notebook. Eventually. :D Edited September 3, 2011 by Kirch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LisaKinVA Posted September 3, 2011 Share Posted September 3, 2011 I made the big mistake of refusing to teach my young 4 year old handwriting. I thought she was too young, and it wouldn't hurt to let her just "play". Now, she has figured out her own approximations of every letter. Her capital R is a circle with legs, and so on and so on. And since she already knows how to do it her way, she isn't interested in learning my way. It has become a huge nightmare. I SOOO wish I had bought the Handwriting Without Tears preschool program and implemented it with her from the start when I knew that she was going to write one way or the other. As an FYI, she may be more willing to learn cursive... My oldest "knew" how to write his letters too, refused manuscript, but willingly learned cursive. Just a suggestion! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momma aimee Posted September 3, 2011 Share Posted September 3, 2011 DD4 refuses to play when her older sister is doing writing / grammar / spelling. She wants (demands!) to have her own pages to write. If she doesn't have her own worksheet, she sits at the table with us anyway and distracts big sister or me. (Either will do.) I have tried maze books, dot-to-dots, and colouring books to no avail: only something that looks like writing will do. (I am trying to give her a JK experience with lots of play! Honest!) I'm ready to give in and am toying with the idea of making up some copywork pages for her. What do you think? Good idea? Bad idea? And anyone been there already and have some really good ideas of things to copy for this age? Thanks ... (PS Since I know that there are different opinions out there on the usefulness of copywork for non-readers ... She is reading at around a Grade 1 or 2 level.) hov about just pages of letters? my DS1 is almost 6 and in kindy and that is his penmenship -- a page of 2 lines of T's .. etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy Jo Posted September 3, 2011 Share Posted September 3, 2011 (I'm assuming she can hold the pencil properly and form the letters correctly - I really had to re-train my 7 yo on this last year.) Check out Copycat books - they have fun, printable sheets for different subjects in many styles. I have Proverbs, because it's reusable, but I loved her Greek and Roman sets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Five More Minutes Posted September 4, 2011 Author Share Posted September 4, 2011 Thank you all so much - you've been so helpful! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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