Need suggestions for 2nd grader who's challenged by handwriting

[hsing1]

My ds is 7 1/2 yo and starting 2nd grade. He has a hard time writing. He mixes upper and lower case letters and spacing is all over the place. We have been consistent in practicing handwriting regularly.

 

I'm finding that with 2nd grade the expectation is for much more writing than 2nd grade. For example we'll have a workbook with an assignment to write a sentence. They then give one line to do it. He can fit two or three words on the line but not a whole sentence. He's feeling a bit discouraged. Any suggestions?

[SnowWhite]

You could be describing my 7 yo in some ways. He also gets discouraged with small spaces to write. I gave him the option to write the sentences on notebook paper if he'd like. He mostly chooses to just write in the margin instead. I think with boys especially it is just a maturity issue. My approach is to lighten if the assignment is overload or redundant (our phonics book frequently has him writing the same word twice in different sections for no apparent reason) but to insist he does do a fair amount of the work so that his work ethic will grow. He can be fairly lazy if allowed to be.

 

He's teaching himself cursive and I think that could be a help if he will master it. We'll see. (the spacing would work itself out, IMO). His cursive is actually nicer looking than his printing.

[Margo out of lurking]

I'm finding that with 2nd grade the expectation is for much more writing than 2nd grade. For example we'll have a workbook with an assignment to write a sentence. They then give one line to do it. He can fit two or three words on the line but not a whole sentence. He's feeling a bit discouraged. Any suggestions?

 

 

If this were my child, I'd consider moving onto cursive. Since your pencil does not lift up as you move from one letter to another, letter (and case!) formation comes more naturally.

 

I'd also flat out say something like, "Isn't it silly how these workbooks just don't give you enough room for your answer," and give him writing paper. Another option might be for him to dictate his answer to you, and then directly trace/copy over your writing.

 

If he's really feeling stressed, I'd drop writing associated with work like this for now. Yet I would continue to work at practicing letter formation and the actual task of writing, if that makes sense. It may very well be developmental, and it will come with time.

 

Poor little guy!

[momtolgd]

My DS just turned 8 yesterday, and has the same issues most of the time. If he slows down and really focuses on it, he can write neatly. Most of the time though he will switch between capital and lower case letters and the spacing between his letters and words is not good.

 

We haven't started yet, but we will be learning cursive this year. I'm hoping that it will help his spacing and his issue with using too many capital letters, since cursive would seem to naturally help to fix those issues. I don't know how well it will work, but that is what my plan is to work on his writing. We will be using New American Cursive (written for as young as 1st grade, I'm also going to use it with my dd this year as well.)

 

You aren't alone! Maybe it's a common boy issue at this age! :tongue_smilie:

[hsing1]

Thank you for your replies. I'm feeling better already. I'm praying about trying cursive.

 

Today I did more orally as well as using the suggestion about saying how silly it was that they didn't leave more room to write. It really helped!

 

I appreciate each of your replies and am implementing them already!

 

Thank you!