How much writing for a 1st grader?

[Tabrett]

I have a 1st grade son. I'm changing up what I am doing with him. I think we are going to do reading eggs, but there is no writing (unless I want to buy their expensive stuff). I was thinking about using GD Ilatic B. It only has 59 pages of writing practice. I was thinking of doing half a page 4x's a week. But I am not sure this is enough.

 

How much writing should a 1st grader do a day?

[lorisuewho]

My first grader does either 1 page of handwriting practice in Pentime OR copywork in WWE each day.

He also writes for spelling each day (one dictation sentence and one copywork sentence). The sentences are very short at this point.

 

I don't know if what is typical, though. That is just how much writing we have here.

[blondeviolin]

My son is an older Ker. He does handwriting, 5-10 words and a short sentence for spelling, and any copy work or words from science/history (minimal). If he was first grade, I'd also have him doing copy work from WWE 1 as well.

[ByGrace3]

My first grade ds does 1 page of handwriting without tears (which is not much at all) per day and copy work via WWE 2-3 Xs a week. He doesn't write much at this point and I am ok with that. He still has to be reminded about letter formation at times so we are right where he needs to be.

 

When my daughter was in first she wrote the longer sentence of WWE, wrote words and phrases for spelling, ETC, and a phonics workbook page. A lot more writing than my son but she was fine with it.

 

First grade writing skills have a wide scope. :)

[longnightmoon]

I think it really varies depending on your child's fine motor strength and how well they are forming their letters. I'm planning on doing a page in HWOT 2x per week and a short sentence of copywork 2x per week with my first grader daily in the fall. She still struggles with some letter formation so we're going to work on getting that down before trying to do more. I always try and stop before she gets tired and/or bored. For me, I would rather err on doing too little than too much where handwriting is concerned in the early years.

 

HTH!

[chelsmm]

We will do HWOT every day, but only because my ds has fine motor issues and needs the work. We will do max one page a day. If he's resisting, we will do less. Otherwise I will likely do most of his writing for him ( math and all). My dd for first did much more writing, but really no more than a few sentances a day. That was a private school. Oh and then she had spelling and math homework each night, one page a night. She hated but did it. I won't make ds do that much. He's a young first grader with poor hand strength. So we will do lots of theraputty, play dough, fun hand strength stuff and a little writing.

[SilverMoon]

Daily copywork. Mine started with short and very simple sentences, pulled mostly from their literature. The difficulty and length slowly increased as their ability and endurance grew. By the end of the year they were doing more complex sentences from literature, science, and history.

[MotherOfBoys]

Grammar page front and back (one side in morning and the other in the evening), Spelling Workout one full lesson, MM one full lesson (2-4 pages broken up throughout the day), History one sentence copywork and a coloring page, Science one sentence copywork and coloring page

[mommyto4]

My six year old does a couple pages in ETC, a few words in AAS, very simple copywork about 2 times a week, and his own note writing.  I will add WWE in a few months, but I don't want to frustrate him.  He enjoys writing the little he does!

 

[Arboreal TJ]

We do 1/2 page of Pentime cursive, the short sentence in WWE for copy work and 2 pages of Miquon. Writing in our house involves much wailing and gnashing of teeth :-/

[bumblesmama]

I have the same question.

 

My 6 yr old has no desire to actually write, unless prompted to. She will "write" all the time in notebooks and making signs etc as part of pretend play. This consists of random squiggly lines, but within margins and on lines, with sentence breaks; not REAL words other than her name.

 

She knows how to spell and is doing well in her phonics; reading is progressing at a comfortable pace. She will do copywork in the "Draw, Write, Now"-fashion (I will make my own topics). I am a writer and she sees me doing this daily. I don't want her to hate writing like so many people these days do. My friends' kids that are in public school are writing a page for homework, (they were doing this 2nd half of K).

I don't want to mimic public school by any means but what should my expectations be for a nearly 6 yr old?

[Guest superrosesmom]

We write postcards once a week. and I only require 1 sentence per card or letter for my early learners. But my 2nd Grader does write a bit more in spelling and an Evan moore trait writing workbook. 

[pollo_la]

When my older dd was in first she would do a sentence or two of copywork 3-4 days a week. That was it. My current first grader only copies a few letters and words in Apples and Pears at this point... same as her sister who is a year younger. My first grader really did no writing at all last year. She wasn't ready yet. I am much more in favor of a little bit done extremely well, then a bunch done that leaves the child feeling slightly overwhelmed. Follow your child's ques. Does it seem like just the right amount, or would adding or taking some away perhaps be more beneficial?

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

I think this will be really variable.  My son is starting 1st, but it is only recently that his handwriting ability really took off.  Prior, he was doing a copywork sentence of 10-15 words per day, plus maybe a hanful more words in grammar or spelling.  Now, suddenly his capacity to write is growing, and he can do about 30 words in a copywork selection, plus incidental writing in other subjects.

[bumblesmama]

Ok, sounds like what we are doing is fine. I just wasn't sure if I should be pushing for more, which I didn't feel comfortable with and sure that she wouldn't be either. I love the postcard idea. One of our good homeschool friends just moved out of state. The girls are the same age and both doing OM, we could do the postcard thing between them.