Ren Allen

"this child is seven! Backwards letters and poor spelling are very
common in young children. "

I agree wholeheartedly!!
Looking for a label and "disablity" in a 7y.o. child is NOT going to
help unschooling blossom. It's VERY normal for young children to
reverse letters. All of mine have done that so far, and not one of
them has had any problem at 13years of age. 13 seems to be the magic
age for my boys.....Sierra is catching on a little bit earlier.

Letter reversal and poor handwriting is so normal and common. Heck, I
have terrible handwriting (I should have been a doctor I guess;) but I
can formulate an article and communicate ideas just fine (on a good
day anyway).

Children need TIME. Time and development and help feeling comfortable
with exactly where they are at this very moment, with no comparisons
to other children. THAT is the most helpful remedy for writing problems.
Not all of us are meant to be writers anyway. I think I'm going to
start labeling people with hang-ups about drawing and painting. I'll
call it dysartsia. I'll formulate a curriculum and therapy to help
people that are stuck creatively. I bet I can make millions teaching
people how to label their children "dysartsic" and convince them that
it's a horrible disability. What a shame.


(And I'll call it IMAGINATION TRIBE!! Tadah.:))

Ren
learninginfreedom.com

Angela S.

<I agree wholeheartedly!!
Looking for a label and "disablity" in a 7y.o. child is NOT going to
help unschooling blossom.>



It's so cool when you wait and let writing unfold naturally and you get to
be witness to it. Just this summer my almost ten year old found a reason to
write neatly (pen pals and pony club) and it's amazing how far she has come.
She stopped writing in all capital letters, began punctuating more, and made
great strides in neatness. I never made an issue out of her writing even
though when she was seven she wrote in all capitals and it was messy and it
wasn't punctuated correctly. Her spelling has also come naturally and I'm
still amazed at how well both my girls spell without ever having a spelling
list or test.



Some of the fun things she has done in the last few years include getting
her own email account, dictating and writing a TON of stories, getting
penpals (of which she has six now), spent a lot of time using Microsoft word
and making forms and letters, writing in notebooks (I buy tons at the school
sales for cheap and let them have at them).



Up until recently she always typed letters to pen pals. Her penpals kept
writing back in long hand and it was much neater than her writing and it
gave her the incentive to try to write more neatly. The last couple letters
to pen pals were written in long hand and I didn't even recognize the
writing, it was so neat. :-)



Angela

game-enthusiast@...



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