Handwriting for 7th Grade

[ukfan78]

My 12 year old son needs handwriting practice!  He types very fast, but I need him to write faster now.  He knows how to write in cursive, but he is VERY slow and has to think about every letter he forms.  His cursive looks ok because he is going so slow.  His manuscript is just terrible, letters all different sizes and he also thinks about every letter he writes.  He prefers to write in cursive because he says printing is harder.  He really needs to practice both.  Should I work on both at the same time, or one this year and another next year?  Which one should we work on first? 

 

Melissa

[My3girls]

Printing is harder. They used to teach writing first instead of print. It was changed when mass printing came about because it makes it easier to teach kids to read so they say. We learned this when reading A Secret Garden. We couldn't figure out why Mary said she could write but not print so looked it up. Anyway, my dds have copy work everyday. We are using poetry this year, but I plan to make each year a little different. It takes about 15 min, but keeps them writing with pen and paper while allowing them to type their papers. If it were me, I would probably have him do it in cursive. Most anything he does of importance as an adult would be in cursive or typed. Just my two cents. :-)

[Miss Mousie]

My DS12 sounds a lot like yours.  He hasn't had a lot of practice with cursive (public school) and I have had higher priorities with afterschooling subjects, so I haven't focused on it.

 

But you reminded me of an exchange a few days ago:

 

Me:  Remember to write neatly.

 

[DS writes for a few minutes.]

 

DS:  Ha!  I wrote "feet" in cursive.

Me:  Wow!  Voluntary cursive?!  That's my greatest success all day!

 

[DS shows me what he wrote]

 

Me:  Um ... that's not cursive.  That's just printing with connected letters.

DS:  Well ... how do you make a cursive "f" again?

Me:  Maybe I need to buy a cursive workbook.

DS:  NOOOOOOO!

 

Sorry I have no useful advice for you, but I thought you might appreciate a chuckle.  :)