Three areas I want to talk about: handwriting, grammar, and spelling.

Over the next three posts, I want to delve into our journey, process, and current plan for these three topics.  My experience as a public educator was in middle-level mathematics, yet I have always loved words.

I am a writer by nature and my kids have inherited the love of story.  For my son, the creative part of storytelling is a blast for him.  The physical handwriting part, not so much.  We have always had to push a little to work on that aspect.

I recognized this in him pretty early and so he started learning keyboarding skills as soon as possible.  However, I believe he also needs the skill of writing on paper as well.  This began our contemplation of how to approach these subjects.  We went through a process of trying this and that to see what works best specifically for Builder.

Handwriting

Past:

Builder started his handwriting journey with fun activities such as making letters in salt, sand, paint, etc.  He then transitioned to forming letters on the whiteboard since it was an easier surface than paper.  Once I started noticing he wanted to write a few more things, I began printing some worksheets for him.  I gathered resources here and there from Pinterest and other Google found sources.

One thing that is in my favor is that both of my children love workbooks.  They don’t want to sit and do them all day, every day, but they love to work toward completion.  Therefore, one of the programs I began to look into is Handwriting Without Tears.  I had seen many good reviews about this program via homeschooling blogs and facebook groups.

When I looked over the program, it seemed to be what we needed.  Since it was reasonably priced we decided to give it a go.  Both Builder and Princess enjoy the layout of the workbooks, and can easily do two pages a day to complete the book in ample time.

The workbooks come with fun brightly colored covers and the pages are easy to follow.  We just buy the student handbook and skip the very few pages that need the teacher-led directions.  I don’t feel this has hurt their progress in any way.

Liking the handwriting books so well, I decided to try the Keyboarding Without Tears portion for Builder.  I wanted a good program that would provide the basic skills in keyboarding that would help Builder get his beautifully worded thoughts to paper.  It was a hit.  Again, the price is very reasonable for the program you receive.  They also have a Free Demo you can try.

Present:

As far as the actual handwriting aspect, Builder is halfway through the Handwriting Without Tears second grade book.  He is progressing faster this year and I foresee he will be caught up to “grade level” (whatever that is!) within the next year to year-and-a-half.  We will continue with this handwriting program as it is a great fit for both of my kiddos.  Builder is looking forward to the third grade book, which is cursive.

In relation to keyboarding, Builder is now in his third year of the program and beginning to become more and more proficient.  The one downside I find to this program is that it is a yearly license.  This means if you don’t complete the course in one year from when you purchase, you lose access to it.  This happened the past two years for us.  However, it has not been a problem to simply purchase the next level since it starts with review.  Even with this slight inconvenience, we will be sticking with this program since the kids enjoy it and learn from it so well.

A side note regarding handwriting in general:  Last year the kids started using ArtforKidsHub.com as their art program (you can read about it, here).  It did not take long to see how Builder’s handwriting greatly improved once he started drawing daily.  His curves and lines and the overall look of his handwriting changed rapidly for the better.  I truly think doing art everyday has improved his handwriting more than anything else we have done so far.

The newest thing that has been implemented this year is copywork.  I was honestly never a big fan of copywork, especially with the lack of love that Builder had for handwriting.  However, this year, his fourth grade year, one of my goals for him is to be able to write in a spiral notebook without it being an issue.

If he is asked to write a couple of sentences or copy some notes, I want him to have the skill to do that.  In my mind, copywork is a great way to accomplish this.  With copywork, he doesn’t have to think up his own sentences.  He doesn’t have to know how to spell the words.  Yet, it will get his physical body trained to have the stamina and ability to do so when the time comes.

To accomplish this, he is working his way through the Easy Peasy Language Arts-3 curriculum.  This is found at allinonehomeschool.com.  It is a free resource that offers a Language Arts program that incorporates copywork.  I wasn’t sure about it at first, but Builder has responded to it well.  He is still not thrilled about doing the work, but he hasn’t bucked it or been frustrated with it yet.  It pushes him, but he is able to do the work.  Win-win.

Also during this period of copywork, Builder is experimenting with what writing utensils he likes best.  One day he will use a regular pencil, the next a mechanical pencil.  We will also provide him with different types of pens to see if he prefers one of those better.  We are conducting it as an experiment and he is digging that part of it!

Future:

As far as the future, I see us continuing both the Handwriting Without Tears and the Keyboarding Without Tears programs.  The Handwriting program has four or five more books that can be completed, while the Keyboarding program has three more levels to complete.  I also foresee that Builder will continue using the Easy Peasy Language Arts curriculum.

My goals for Builder are for him to be able to write when he wants to write without the physical part of things stopping him.  If he wants to sit down and make a list, I want that to be able to happen.

Also, within the next year or two, I would like him to be able to create and write his own paragraph(s) both with paper-and-pencil as well as keyboard.  This is where grammar and spelling also come into play, which is what the next two blog posts will cover.

And You? ~ What difficulties and successes have you been through with handwriting/keyboarding?