Dear Carrie
Should my son do copywork or handwriting?
I’m using Heart of Dakota’s Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory with my 7 year-old this year. His fine motor skills are slow-coming. His hand tires easily when cutting, writing, and coloring. At the end of Little Hearts for His Glory, his writing had improved a lot. However, he still struggled with the correct formation of some of his letters. He wasn’t forming all his letter correctly. I was reading a different Heart of Dakota message board thread about handwriting in kindergarten. Julie had written, “…having the strokes progressively taught goes a long way for teaching children proper manuscript. Since writing progressively moves front and center for the subsequent years of learning, one year at least of formal manuscript instruction makes more of an easy go of it for years to come.”
I’m wondering if I should just go with the copywork in Beyond Little Hearts? Or, should I use another handwriting book (like A Reason For Handwriting A) to review how to form letters and slowly ease into copywork? One of my biggest fears in homeschooling is that I will miss something, or not realize something to be important/need corrected or focused on…especially in these early years. Any thoughts? Thanks!
Sincerely,
“Ms. Please Help My Son Improve His Handwriting”
Dear “Ms. Please Help My Son Improve His Handwriting,”
From what you’ve shared about your little honey, I would lean toward doing A Reason for Handwriting A with Beyond. Simply skip the reviews (the first 30 lessons) of all of the letters given in the beginning of the book and jump right in with the daily lessons on copying words instead. Do it daily 4-5 days a week, and you will finish about 9-12 weeks earlier than you finish Beyond. For at least the last 12-15 weeks be sure to do the poetry copywork as well in preparation for Bigger Hearts. Your sweetie will also be doing copywork of sentences in spelling in Beyond each week, along with writing spelling words daily. There is some copywork in the grammar lessons once weekly as well.
We did this handwriting path with my 3rd son back in Beyond, and he really made great gains. We finished Beyond the beginning of the next school year and then moved into Bigger Hearts. By then, he was ready to ease into more writing. Some little guys just need more time to grow in their motor skills.
Blessings,
Carrie
