Penmanship remediation

[Matryoshka]

So, my 6th-grader has horrific handwriting. If she slows down, she can make it legible, but she rarely cares to, and almost delights in her illegible scrawl. :glare:

 

My other two have quite nice handwriting, and I did the exact same thing with all three. I blame dh's genes, as he still often can't read his own writing.

 

But, I'd rather she not have to have her go through life wondering what that scribble she wrote was (not to mention me and her other teachers.)

 

I have a plan (or a start of one), but would love feedback...

 

- Have her go through the Getty Dubay G book (last one) one more time

- Do dictation from Spelling Wisdom ('cause I own it so it's handy) and have it be neat and legible.

- Have her pick one poem a week from any poetry book I have and copy it with neat, legible handwriting.

 

For the last two, I don't even really care that it's perfect cursive or Italic style, just that it's neat and legible. How does that sound? Any better or additional ideas?

 

And... anyone know if there's such a thing as penmanship paper with a midline for older kids - you know, like the stuff they have for the younger grades when they're just learning to write, but narrower lines? The last page of the Getty Dubay book has one to copy, but I'd rather not be copying and copying that page...

[Paula in MS]

We are working hard on penmanship this year as well (5th grade). I really hate that because we need time for other things. I am using our classical conversations history sentences for Copywork. They are nice because of all the proper names, so she gets plenty of practice with those.

 

At the beginning of the year, I typed them out on the computer, one per page and added lines underneath. By doing this, you can space the lines however you need. I also added clip art. I make copies at the beginning of the week for practice. She writes the same thing every day. I also hand copy one to use as a model so she can make sure her letters are correct. At the end of the week, she can write it in the "real" book and color the clip art.

 

I really need to make her go ahead and transition to cursive in everything because she writes more slowly which really helps with spelling problems.

 

I think your plan is good, but I think adding in the dictation is really working on something else entirely. I would have her only work on copying something correctly with good formation for penmanship.

[Matryoshka]

We are working hard on penmanship this year as well (5th grade). I really hate that because we need time for other things. I am using our classical conversations history sentences for Copywork. They are nice because of all the proper names, so she gets plenty of practice with those.

 

At the beginning of the year, I typed them out on the computer, one per page and added lines underneath. By doing this, you can space the lines however you need. I also added clip art. I make copies at the beginning of the week for practice. She writes the same thing every day. I also hand copy one to use as a model so she can make sure her letters are correct. At the end of the week, she can write it in the "real" book and color the clip art.

 

I really need to make her go ahead and transition to cursive in everything because she writes more slowly which really helps with spelling problems.

 

I think your plan is good, but I think adding in the dictation is really working on something else entirely. I would have her only work on copying something correctly with good formation for penmanship.

 

Thanks! I'm not sure I have your energy to make all those pretty papers to with special lines and coloring. :svengo:(<- that's me swooning at the mere thought... ;))

 

I agree the dictation is probably not quite the same, but she says she likes dictation (go figure), and it can double as spelling practice (if I use Spelling Wisdom as intended and give her a day to study the passage before dictating). Just figured it would be another place I could require legibility, as it's short and focused... Maybe I could use it as copywork one day, then dictation the next?

[Matryoshka]

Hey, FYI to anyone else who cares - found handwriting paper! Donna Young has it in free printable handwriting paper in many sizes, styles, orientations! One problem solved, and no money spent!! :hurray:

[BibleBeltCatholicMom]

:glare: yeah, my 8/9th grader has terrible handwriting. So do I, though, so it seemed so unfair to get very upset about it.

 

And then we started Greek. You should just see the beautifully formed letters! She has to stop and think about forming the letters for the first time in her memory and she makes them so nicely. Well, she doesn't make her alpha rightly for some reason but she does make it neatly.

 

Previously I thought that, like me, her handwriting was just going to be sub par and sometimes considered remediation. Then, after seeing that she is capable I thought that remediation was probably not in order.

 

It is true that she does not write neatly but, sad but true, I'm almost the only one she ever writes for. I noticed a while back that when she hand writes a letter or note to someone, it is so much nicer than her daily work hand.

 

So, I think in my daughter's case, remediation isn't exactly it. She needs a broader audience. We've started exchanging letters by mail (which is somehow not the same as handing in her work) and i've enlisted Grandmother, too. I'm thinking about seeing if she wants a penpal.

[thebacabunch]

I am a mean mom. I don't accept sloppy work. I don't expect my kids to do more than they are able, but after a few times of having to re-do assignments my kids handwriting "improved" tremendously. :D I do have them write out a nice grade-level poem about once a week for handwriting practice.

[fluffybunny]

We've had major problems with our son's handwriting, and now we've just let it go in the hope that it might improve by itself. He saw an OT for a year, but still not much improvement. If it weren't for typing he would be years behind. I taught him to touch type at the age of 8 and now he can type about 30wpm without even looking (whereas his handwriting is about the level of a 6yr old). Some things we also do orally.

 

I've heard that writing Greek and Arabic also help, but as others have said, it's time consuming, and maths and paragraph construction are our main focus right now, and this takes up all of his mental energy at the moment.

 

I'd say that if nothing works, just give up for a year and teach typing. Touch typing is a fabulous tool; it makes writing essays so easy.

[Matryoshka]

Fortunately, she can already touch type, so things like writing essays aren't such an issue. It's more when she has to write short things, worksheets, or actually math - she makes careless mistakes because she can't read which number she wrote - is it an 8, a 0, or a 6??

 

She can write at least legibly when she slows down (although it's still up and down and all over the place - baseline, what's that?), but the muscle strength/memory or whatever it is doesn't seem to be there to keep control when she speeds up. :glare:

 

She's actually attending school for the first time this fall (although she's already starting to talk about coming home again), and at the beginning she wrote more neatly there, but I think that's starting to go down the tubes. Her German Sat. School teacher (different place than ps) already commented on her horrible handwriting there. Sigh.

[Kareni]

When my daughter was in seventh and eighth grades, I had her do copy work in Spanish. I found it was a good way of combining cursive practice while getting some more familiarity with Spanish. I found a copy of Harry Potter (a favorite book of hers) in Spanish and used passages from there.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[lewelma]

She has to *want* to improve.

 

I got my ds on board by having him create his *own* style. The following approach took a few days and a couple of passes to get right:

 

I got out all the old letter that I have and we compared all the different styles. What did he like? What made the different styles look so very different. Why does my dad's hand look masculine, and his grandmother's look feminine? What was easy to read? What was ugly? Was anyone inconsistent? etc.

 

Then, I had him start with the basics, and write words in a few different styles: (pg 56 to 60 in the instructor' manual of getty dubai)

 

Print vs cursive (even all caps are possible)

Shape: standard, expanded, compressed

size: try different notebook papers sizes

slope: 0 to 15 degree slope

spacing: standeard, expanded, compressed

 

After choosing the basics. We then discussed the fun stuff: flourishes. I suggested a few: Fancy capitals, long ascenders and descenders, swirls, swishes, etc. We looked again at the different handwriting styles in getty dubai and in my old letters. He tried a bunch of things.

 

Finally, after a few days we revisited it. Anything that was too difficult to do? And additional flourishes to add? Perhaps too much of something.. etc

 

Once he had a style that he liked, he wanted to implement it. It took more than a year, but slowly he did. And it is his own. Tidy but distinctive.

 

Ruth in NZ

[Matryoshka]

She has to *want* to improve.

 

I got my ds on board by having him create his *own* style. The following approach took a few days and a couple of passes to get right:

 

 

Oooo. That just might be brilliant!!! :thumbup:

[Matryoshka]

When my daughter was in seventh and eighth grades, I had her do copy work in Spanish. I found it was a good way of combining cursive practice while getting some more familiarity with Spanish. I found a copy of Harry Potter (a favorite book of hers) in Spanish and used passages from there.

 

This is another great idea. Sadly for me, we're taking a Spanish break, but maybe I could make one day a week Latin copywork...