Intro - new here

[Balletbaker]

Hi there,

I am homeschooling my asynchronous six year old. He is so hungry to learn about all the things. . He taught himself to read at three, but is still learning to write. He is about a year ahead in math, though I write for him in his math curriculum about half or the time. 
 

We whizzed along through Logic of English foundations A and B, very breezy, last year as a systematic way to start learning to write and to start some spelling. We loved using the magnet letters for spelling since his handwriting was significantly behind his encoding skills. He’s started to have resistance to LOE in C as it becomes more focused on the readers. I picked up HWT and we’ve had good luck moving through that, using the chalk board for letter practice,

I’m looking for your best ideas for next year for how to support him as the gap between his thinking and writing abilities seems to widen. He’s halfway through RS math B, sometimes doing multiple lessons a day, but he can’t write the full worksheets because it’s too much writing. He is making significant progress in his handwriting, it’s just much slower going than every other subject. I’ve found a pace that isn’t too taxing or frustrating for handwriting practice, so we will keep at it. But looking ahead to next year, the amount of writing in different subjects is increasing significantly.
 

I don’t want every area to turn into a handwriting exercise only, especially when he is so fired up about the subjects. He loves reading about science and history and all sorts of books. 

Is there a downside to continue scribing for him? Should we take a couple of weeks or months off of everything to unschool and just practice writing? What are the positive and negative parts of teaching him to type? Should I expect that I’ll just be modifying all of the curriculum for the next few years to reduce the writing load?

When I’ve asked this question on other forums, I’m told he shouldn’t be doing anything so formal. But it’s not my choice! He wants to do all of it, it’s just that the curriculum is expecting the hand strength of a seven or eight year old.

Thanks for any suggestions!
 

ballerbaker 

 

 

 

[desertflower]

Hi there!  My son was reading when he was 4 and ahead in math.  I scribed for him for most of his subjects.  I would continue five days a week doing handwriting practice.  At this age, just 3 - 5 mins of handwriting.  Then scribing for him for his other subjects or just doing it orally.

I scribed for my son until he was about 10.  Although, he did work through Writing with Ease on his own and copied the book of John his fourth grade year.  That was plenty of handwriting practice for me.  🙂 

He started typing his speeches. 

Now, he still doesn't like to write.  Prefers typing.  But he can and knows how is enough for me. 

At a certain age, I would also look into why he's not writing.  I don't know what that age is.  Others will chime in for that.  I'd be on the lookout for dysgraphia (I think that is what it is called.) 

Hope this helps!

[lewelma]

Welcome! Yes by all means scribe for him. Asynchronous development is a very real thing and you cannot and should not hold back his best things until his worst thing catches up. That is a recipe for frustration. 

 

[Rosie_0801]

My daughter was *quite* asynchronous too. She could write a lot more on a magnetic erase board than on paper. Not sure why, but it worked so we did it. We also did a lot of work orally, and I taught her to fingerspell (sign language alphabet) so we could do most of our spelling lessons that way.

It's entirely normal for a 6yo's thinking skills to outstrip their writing skills. Imagine if it didn't. *shudder*

[chocolate-chip chooky]

Agreeing that asynchrony is real.

I'd suggest that you support his handwriting development gently, but don't hold back on his thirst for other learning.

 

Some suggestions for gently supporting handwriting:

- whiteboards - several in different sizes and in different rooms

- whiteboard sheets - the ones that cling to a wall or window

- include writing that isn't 'school' eg write notes to him on a little whiteboard that include questions

- writing on mirrors with whiteboard pens

Good luck 🌻

[lewelma]

17 minutes ago, chocolate-chip chooky said:

Some suggestions for gently supporting handwriting:

- whiteboards - several in different sizes and in different rooms

- whiteboard sheets - the ones that cling to a wall or window

- include writing that isn't 'school' eg write notes to him on a little whiteboard that include questions

- writing on mirrors with whiteboard pens

Good luck 🌻

Adding to this, we did a lot of advanced dot-to-dots and complex mazes to build up dexterity. There are some amazing books out there with beautiful imagery.

[KSera]

Does he do much play that strengthens his hands and builds dexterity? Playing with different types of dough, scissor practice (kumon makes some nice books for this, if the kid likes them), things with small parts, etc. I agree with everyone else to just keep practicing with short practice on the hand writing part and otherwise scribe. No need to hold him back due to the hand writing portion.

[chocolate-chip chooky]

1 hour ago, lewelma said:

Adding to this, we did a lot of advanced dot-to-dots and complex mazes to build up dexterity. There are some amazing books out there with beautiful imagery.

And zentangling!

[Clarita]

With math worksheets I've skipped problems if I see that my son has already mastered the concept. I made him number cards so he has used that to complete the worksheet work and the worksheet left blank. I don't know if your math has some coloring stuff/crossing  out pictures involved and for that I got some dot markers and stamps. I leave it up to him how he wants to complete the days work (written, or otherwise).

For writing practice we do HWOT, but there are a few other activities that has made his finger muscles stronger too (that don't seem handwriting related). I got him a little plastic screw and screw driver set - you can use the real thing too. I let him thread things, think making neclaces with beads), because he wouldn't do beads I let him tie knots on things (anything that require putting a string/ribbon through a small opening). I also got some stencils and sometimes he just practices with tracing a stencil and coloring it in. Some of the non-handwriting work is nice because he can focus on building up the muscle without having to do other thinking. 

[Balletbaker]

20 hours ago, desertflower said:

Hi there!  My son was reading when he was 4 and ahead in math.  I scribed for him for most of his subjects.  I would continue five days a week doing handwriting practice.  At this age, just 3 - 5 mins of handwriting.  Then scribing for him for his other subjects or just doing it orally.

I scribed for my son until he was about 10.  Although, he did work through Writing with Ease on his own and copied the book of John his fourth grade year.  That was plenty of handwriting practice for me.  🙂 

He started typing his speeches. 

Now, he still doesn't like to write.  Prefers typing.  But he can and knows how is enough for me. 

At a certain age, I would also look into why he's not writing.  I don't know what that age is.  Others will chime in for that.  I'd be on the lookout for dysgraphia (I think that is what it is called.) 

Hope this helps!

This is super helpful, thanks! It sounds like your approach really worked for your son. Your 3-5 min per day suggestion confirms my hunch that pushing it too hard won’t be helpful either. I ‘m figuring that continued progress is more important than rate of progress right now.

 

I have heard of dysgraphia. I wonder when to think about that? My son is kindergarten age because of when his birthday is, so I figure I should at least see how far he progresses through this spring and then reassess. What’s a more urgen question to me is how to thoughtfully use curriculum in a way that the handwriting pace doesn’t hold him back.

 

 

[Balletbaker]

17 hours ago, lewelma said:

Welcome! Yes by all means scribe for him. Asynchronous development is a very real thing and you cannot and should not hold back his best things until his worst thing catches up. That is a recipe for frustration. 

 

Thank you! You’re confirming what my instinct was telling me, but it sure helps to hear someone with more homeschooling experience say it.

[Balletbaker]

17 hours ago, Rosie_0801 said:

My daughter was *quite* asynchronous too. She could write a lot more on a magnetic erase board than on paper. Not sure why, but it worked so we did it. We also did a lot of work orally, and I taught her to fingerspell (sign language alphabet) so we could do most of our spelling lessons that way.

It's entirely normal for a 6yo's thinking skills to outstrip their writing skills. Imagine if it didn't. *shudder*

Haha about hat if thinking skills didn’t outstrip writing skills. We would have tomes full of writing over here.

 

Usinf a dry erase board is a good idea. That’s such a slick writing surface, and you don’t have to press into it at all. Finger spelling is a great idea too! Thanks.

[Balletbaker]

17 hours ago, chocolate-chip chooky said:

Agreeing that asynchrony is real.

I'd suggest that you support his handwriting development gently, but don't hold back on his thirst for other learning.

 

Some suggestions for gently supporting handwriting:

- whiteboards - several in different sizes and in different rooms

- whiteboard sheets - the ones that cling to a wall or window

- include writing that isn't 'school' eg write notes to him on a little whiteboard that include questions

- writing on mirrors with whiteboard pens

Good luck 🌻

Thank you, thank you! Lots of good ideas here. 

[Balletbaker]

16 hours ago, lewelma said:

Adding to this, we did a lot of advanced dot-to-dots and complex mazes to build up dexterity. There are some amazing books out there with beautiful imagery.

Good idea - we did a lot of dot to dots last year and I hadn’t thought of them lately. And mazes! Yes. Thanks!

[Balletbaker]

16 hours ago, KSera said:

Does he do much play that strengthens his hands and builds dexterity? Playing with different types of dough, scissor practice (kumon makes some nice books for this, if the kid likes them), things with small parts, etc. I agree with everyone else to just keep practicing with short practice on the hand writing part and otherwise scribe. No need to hold him back due to the hand writing portion.

Yes. I’m sure other kids do these kinds of things more than he does, as he spends a lot of his free time reading, but he is also a major LEGO kid. We’re also using clay a lot this year for art time, and he really likes that so I’ve been leaning into it. We started piano lessons together a couple of months ago and his dexterity has been growing by leaps and bounds as he practices.

Thanks for the scissor book ideas, I’ll look at those. He will use scissors but isn’t very proficient at cutting anything other than a straight line yet.

[Balletbaker]

15 hours ago, chocolate-chip chooky said:

And zentangling!

Zentagawhatnow?
 

*running off to google to look this up*

[Balletbaker]

12 hours ago, Clarita said:

With math worksheets I've skipped problems if I see that my son has already mastered the concept. I made him number cards so he has used that to complete the worksheet work and the worksheet left blank. I don't know if your math has some coloring stuff/crossing  out pictures involved and for that I got some dot markers and stamps. I leave it up to him how he wants to complete the days work (written, or otherwise).

For writing practice we do HWOT, but there are a few other activities that has made his finger muscles stronger too (that don't seem handwriting related). I got him a little plastic screw and screw driver set - you can use the real thing too. I let him thread things, think making neclaces with beads), because he wouldn't do beads I let him tie knots on things (anything that require putting a string/ribbon through a small opening). I also got some stencils and sometimes he just practices with tracing a stencil and coloring it in. Some of the non-handwriting work is nice because he can focus on building up the muscle without having to do other thinking. 

Wow, lots of great ideas here that I haven’t tried yet, thanks! He would love using a screwdriver I think. Rightstart comes with number cards. I hadn’t thought of having him do the worksheets that way. What a good idea!

[Clemsondana]

One of my kids was academically advanced but had apraxia of speech and some accompanying motor quirks.  We did HWOT but other than math did very little written output before 3-4th grades.  In K and 1st sometimes I would sometimes scribe if writing fatigue was slowing math progress.  I also made grid paper with big boxes to help keep messy writing in lines once the problems got bigger.  We used Singapore, and kid didn't seem daunted by the workbook style.  For things like spelling, we often did it orally but if we didn't I'd sometimes give kiddo magnetic letters to spell words or we'd use a dry erase marker on the sliding glass door - big writing seemed easier.  Kid also worked at a kitchen cart, which I brought into the school room and used as a stand-up desk - that seemed to help, too.  

It took a while for me to figure out, but eventually I realized that I needed to figure out what the point of a given assignment was.  The point may be learning to write, but if the point was learning history then I wouldn't let writing slow us down.  Somewhere around 5th-6th grade, we focused on writing - paragraphs, then essays - and the lack of earlier work didn't seem to have been a problem.  

[Not_a_Number]

I think it's totally fine to do mostly input and not output with gifted, asynchronous kids 🙂 . I really only do any kind of output in the core subjects, and frankly, I'm pretty lazy about the non-core subjects, anyway -- I think that reading together and discussing is plenty until you're ready to get actually serious about things. 

And my kids don't have trouble with handwriting -- it's just that a LOT of output in the elementary grades seems like pointless busywork without a purpose. Like @Clemsondanasays -- you should always ask WHY you're doing something. 

Edited December 15, 2021 by Not_a_Number

[Black-eyed Suzan]

As others have said, scribe as long as necessary!

One easily overlooked way to help writing is by building hand strength. Besides fine motor skills like scissors, monkey bars, carrying heavy objects, and using tools help support handwriting. Google “build hand strength occupational therapy kids” or similar for more ideas.

[jboo]

On 12/17/2021 at 2:55 PM, Black-eyed Suzan said:

As others have said, scribe as long as necessary!

One easily overlooked way to help writing is by building hand strength. Besides fine motor skills like scissors, monkey bars, carrying heavy objects, and using tools help support handwriting. Google “build hand strength occupational therapy kids” or similar for more ideas.

I just want to second this -- the OT we saw pointed out that one of the reasons my second grader was writing at a pre-school level was because he was very weak and easily tired. Exercise -- with the OT, and at home -- moved him from diagnosable as dysgraphic to bad, but normal levels of bad. (And a lot of his remaining trouble was letter formation, which was fixed when we started homeschooling, taught him cursive, and mandated a lot of copywork.)

One other thing you might want to look at is fountain pens, which are easier than ballpoint to write with and help encourage good habits -- not pressing too hard on the paper, for example.

[Balletbaker]

I just wanted to follow up to this thread to say thank you again to everyone for the support and wonderful suggestions. We're upping our hand strengthening work through various activities but I'm not upping the amount I expect for handwriting - and in fact I'm backing off a little. So we're doing more clay, building, piano, rock carrying, grocery carrying, LEGO, etc, but keeping at a slow and steady tortoise pace for handwriting. Instead of asking him to write in other subjects, I'm scribing for any subjects that he wants a scribe besides daily handwriting and one label that he writes per day for his history or science notebook. Meanwhile we're plowing ahead in his subjects in terms of content and skills. So, for math today, he answered his math problems while leaping onto a pile of cushions and I wrote what he said. He seems a lot happier and his handwriting is improving much faster with this approach than when I was asking him to write more.