I don't know about your children but getting my almost five year old son to write anything is like pulling teeth. It takes him forever to finish one sentence and then if it looks scribbled to him, he will have a fit and start over. Yet when he wants to write something on his own, no problem.
After days of nagging him to finish one page of copy work, I essentially gave up. The next morning (just to show me he could do it), he got a pencil a paper and wrote me this note. I almost fell over!
I know he can write if he wants too, so I'm going to try some sneaky ways to encourage him.
- Have him help make the shopping list.
- Write notes to Grandma, Santa, etc.
- Make an ingredient list before cooking.
- Make a list of clues to investigate.
- Write measurements before starting a project.
- Filling out checks in an old checkbook.
- Write down speaking lines to learn for a play.
- Help me label anything (files, drawers, storage boxes)
- Make an address list of who to send Christmas cards to.
- Fill out a blank calendar with important family dates.
- Write a song.
This way it won't feel like handwriting practice and he will learn about planning for things as well. If you can think of any more creative ways to inspire the pencil muse, please share!
5 comments:
My son was the same way and it just gets down to poor fine motor skills. Too much effort to write when your brain is moving faster than your hands. Try fine motor skill training--use modeling clay or playdoh to increase muscle tone in his hands or use tongs to pick up cotton balls or tiny objects. There are other ways too, but I don't remember as it was 12 years ago! Try asking the teacher for ideas, but it doesn't all have to be writing tasks--he may just end up hating those. My son liked graph paper--he would write in the tiny squares. Good luck--I'm not sure my son ever "out grew" the hatred of writing, but you can help by making his hands stronger.
@Lin: I think my son would love the graph paper idea! He likes anything with patterns. Thanks.
Those are some brilliant ideas. Ladybug wrote me a letter last night. Well it was more of a drawing. But it had to have an envelope. And it had to be the licking kind.
this is really great :-) I run a site about teaching and I'd love to feature some of your suggestions there if you're up to it! Check it out at www.theaccidentalteacher.com
@Vixen: yes all letters MUST go in an envelope always! lol
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