How much handwriting for 4-7 yo's?

[Syllieann]

I realize it varies greatly by child but I'd like to get an idea of what is typical at different ages in that range so I know when I need to start thinking about pushing it. We're just doing pre writing now but there is NO interest in writing. Words or sentences per day kind of thing if you can remember. If they're writing a lot in other workbooks I would count that too.

[SorrelZG]

5-10 minutes here (and a common recommended time range I've read in several resources). That has changed drastically over the years from tracing letters at 4 to DS6 spending the time copying a few lines of poetry neatly in cursive from the printed page of a book. Quality over quantity.

[Tawlas]

My son had zero interest in any kind of mark making as a preschooler, except perhaps painting. Even then he preferred to paint with a matchbox car lol.

 

Then , all of a sudden, around 4.5, all my printer paper was disappearing and there was a paper stack a foot high on the end of the table of monsters, dragons, fish, trucks and dinosaurs. We had been doing ETC 1 orally VERY slowly, but he began to ask to do the writing, then he wanted to do all the printing parts, which we skipped before. That's when we started doing HWOT preK.

 

Now he enjoys "spelling" CVC words on the white board, loves his HWOT K book, and he generally writes everything in the ETC 2 book. A total of . . . maybe 20 minutes? Because he's still so young, I let him set the standard.

[boscopup]

Age 4: zero writing, but pre-writing activities are good (salt box, etc.)

Age 5: Learn letters and some words... goal of copying a very short sentence by the end of the year.

Age 6: Work up to about 3 sentences per day (spread out) by the end of the year.

Age 7: Work up to 4-6 sentences per day (spread out if necessary) by the end of the year.

 

All of the above is copywork or dictation, not original writing. I don't expect or force original writing at those ages.

 

DS1 is writing phobic, and he followed the above path. I think DS2 will probably write more than the above, but that will be because he wants to. Not sure about DS3 yet, but he has wicked fine motor skills for his age - better than either of his big brothers... and he's a leftie to boot! :D

[longnightmoon]

We are just starting with my 5.5 yo. We use the HWOT kindergarten book and work on one letter per day. It takes about 10-15 minutes. She writes the letter in rice, then on a slate, followed by a page in her workbook. She has weak fine motor so our biggest focus is on her pencil grip and letter formation. We just started this week and she's really enjoying it, which has been a pleasant surprise. We had the HWOT pre-k book and she was never interested so I never pushed it. HWOT's pre-k book is great, though, and my dd would use it occasionally in her OT sessions.

[Mommie_Jen]

Age 4: zero writing, but pre-writing activities are good (salt box, etc.)

Age 5: Learn letters and some words... goal of copying a very short sentence by the end of the year.

Age 6: Work up to about 3 sentences per day (spread out) by the end of the year.

Age 7: Work up to 4-6 sentences per day (spread out if necessary) by the end of the year.

 

All of the above is copywork or dictation, not original writing. I don't expect or force original writing at those ages.

 

This is very helpful to me, thanks! I have a K'er who is doing very well learning to write letters and can copy short words. It gives me someplace to go!

[Syllieann]

Thanks for the replies. They are extremely helpful. The k curric I have seen seems to have somewhat inflated expectations I think.