Writing and Handwriting
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These are interesting areas to me because my almost twelve year old son is
NOT a passionate writer and has awful handwriting. He attended school through
the third grade. HATED writing because it all consisted of writing stupid
sentences for vocabulary words. He also had a lot of trouble with
cursive...just didn't connect for him. (By the way...WHY do they do that in
second grade???? Why don't they wait a few years when the hand-eye
development is better????)
Anyway...the way we got around the writing was this: One day I casually
invited him to go to a local cafe for lunch and to write poetry. He was so
startled he said yes! I taught him to write haiku (it's short, has a
structure, and doesn't force stupid rhymes.). He wrote about animals, which
is a passion for him.
The next thing he wrote aside from poetry was an impassioned article for the
church newsletter. The church had serious problems with mice, and an
exterminator had to be called. He heard about it and was horrified at the
slaughter of literally hundreds of mice, and wrote a wonderful article for
the newsletter asking that people be careful about leaving food around to
avoid a similar fate.
The next thing he wrote was an incredible essay (that he turned into a sermon
for our church's Children's Sunday) about Vegetarianism as a spiritual
practice. (If anyone wants to read it, I am sure I could get permission to
share it. It's really impressive!)
What we've discovered is that while it's certainly not a passion, Julian
likes to write things WHEN IT MATTERS TO HIM. He doesn't like to write for
the sake of writing.
On the handwriting front: he still hates cursive. I figure it's important
that he be able to read it, so when I write him a note, I usually do it in
cursive. I don't make a big deal about it, and he hasn't complained. In
addition, I'd like him to be able to sign his name legibly. I KNOW this is MY
stuff, but he has two other parents who do not have legible signatures, and
having spent time with bank tellers checking sig cards, I REALLY want him to
be able to do this. He finds it amusing, and says he has no objection, but
neither of us has done anything about it either.
Kathryn
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
NOT a passionate writer and has awful handwriting. He attended school through
the third grade. HATED writing because it all consisted of writing stupid
sentences for vocabulary words. He also had a lot of trouble with
cursive...just didn't connect for him. (By the way...WHY do they do that in
second grade???? Why don't they wait a few years when the hand-eye
development is better????)
Anyway...the way we got around the writing was this: One day I casually
invited him to go to a local cafe for lunch and to write poetry. He was so
startled he said yes! I taught him to write haiku (it's short, has a
structure, and doesn't force stupid rhymes.). He wrote about animals, which
is a passion for him.
The next thing he wrote aside from poetry was an impassioned article for the
church newsletter. The church had serious problems with mice, and an
exterminator had to be called. He heard about it and was horrified at the
slaughter of literally hundreds of mice, and wrote a wonderful article for
the newsletter asking that people be careful about leaving food around to
avoid a similar fate.
The next thing he wrote was an incredible essay (that he turned into a sermon
for our church's Children's Sunday) about Vegetarianism as a spiritual
practice. (If anyone wants to read it, I am sure I could get permission to
share it. It's really impressive!)
What we've discovered is that while it's certainly not a passion, Julian
likes to write things WHEN IT MATTERS TO HIM. He doesn't like to write for
the sake of writing.
On the handwriting front: he still hates cursive. I figure it's important
that he be able to read it, so when I write him a note, I usually do it in
cursive. I don't make a big deal about it, and he hasn't complained. In
addition, I'd like him to be able to sign his name legibly. I KNOW this is MY
stuff, but he has two other parents who do not have legible signatures, and
having spent time with bank tellers checking sig cards, I REALLY want him to
be able to do this. He finds it amusing, and says he has no objection, but
neither of us has done anything about it either.
Kathryn
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[email protected]
In a message dated 08/24/2001 6:56:02 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
KathrynJB@... writes:
<< I taught him to write haiku (it's short, has a
structure, and doesn't force stupid rhymes.). H >>
what is the structure of a haiku anyway.... I can't remember:)
Teri
Co-author of Christian Unschooling;Raising Your Child in the Freedom of
Christ. Now available at Amazon.com! <A
HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1891400223/o/qid=993307267/sr=2-1
/ref=aps_sr_b_1_1/002-0292323-9457613">Amazon.com: buying info: Christian
Unschooling : Growing Your Children in the F</A>
Check out our website at <A HREF="http://www.inspirit.com.au/unschooling/">
Homeschooling - Christian Unschooling - Natural Learning</A>
KathrynJB@... writes:
<< I taught him to write haiku (it's short, has a
structure, and doesn't force stupid rhymes.). H >>
what is the structure of a haiku anyway.... I can't remember:)
Teri
Co-author of Christian Unschooling;Raising Your Child in the Freedom of
Christ. Now available at Amazon.com! <A
HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1891400223/o/qid=993307267/sr=2-1
/ref=aps_sr_b_1_1/002-0292323-9457613">Amazon.com: buying info: Christian
Unschooling : Growing Your Children in the F</A>
Check out our website at <A HREF="http://www.inspirit.com.au/unschooling/">
Homeschooling - Christian Unschooling - Natural Learning</A>
[email protected]
In a message dated 8/24/01 7:56:14 PM, KathrynJB@... writes:
<< On the handwriting front: he still hates cursive. I figure it's important
that he be able to read it, so when I write him a note, I usually do it in
cursive. I don't make a big deal about it, and he hasn't complained. >>
Marty and Kirby used to bring cursive for me to read when they could already
read things like Usborne mystery books and such, and occasionally one of the
visual clues was a note in cursive.
Lately I apologized for having written something in cursive and Marty said,
"That's okay, I can read it."
No fanfare, no test, no announcement. Just lived for two or three years.
Sandra
"Everything counts."
http://expage.com/SandraDoddArticles
http://expage.com/SandraDodd
<< On the handwriting front: he still hates cursive. I figure it's important
that he be able to read it, so when I write him a note, I usually do it in
cursive. I don't make a big deal about it, and he hasn't complained. >>
Marty and Kirby used to bring cursive for me to read when they could already
read things like Usborne mystery books and such, and occasionally one of the
visual clues was a note in cursive.
Lately I apologized for having written something in cursive and Marty said,
"That's okay, I can read it."
No fanfare, no test, no announcement. Just lived for two or three years.
Sandra
"Everything counts."
http://expage.com/SandraDoddArticles
http://expage.com/SandraDodd
M and L Hand
You really have a point about being able to sign his name. We are a military family, and at age 10, children receive their first ID card. It didn't occur to us that my son would need to sign his name for this, until the night before! OH, NO! And it has to fit in a little box, too!
We had covered forming the cursive letters earlier in the year, but I don't make them do much writing, and to top it all off, my son goes by a nickname and hardly knows how to spell his given name! What is a parent to do?
panic.
We practiced and practiced and practiced. The poor boy's hand was getting cramps!
Dad had to go with him, being the active duty member, and we were greatly relieved to find out that Dad was too busy with work matters on the appointed day to be able to take dear son to get this ID card. That gave us 24 more hours! Yippee!
It all worked out. He will likely never sign his name like that again, so it won't be much good for proving his identity, but it is done and reasonably legible. By the time he needs to renew it at age 14, I'm sure he will know how to spell his given name and be able to sign it appropriately.
Laurie
Mom to Kelly-17, Kerry-15, Katie-12, Korey-10, and Kacie-8
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
We had covered forming the cursive letters earlier in the year, but I don't make them do much writing, and to top it all off, my son goes by a nickname and hardly knows how to spell his given name! What is a parent to do?
panic.
We practiced and practiced and practiced. The poor boy's hand was getting cramps!
Dad had to go with him, being the active duty member, and we were greatly relieved to find out that Dad was too busy with work matters on the appointed day to be able to take dear son to get this ID card. That gave us 24 more hours! Yippee!
It all worked out. He will likely never sign his name like that again, so it won't be much good for proving his identity, but it is done and reasonably legible. By the time he needs to renew it at age 14, I'm sure he will know how to spell his given name and be able to sign it appropriately.
Laurie
Mom to Kelly-17, Kerry-15, Katie-12, Korey-10, and Kacie-8
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Sharon Rudd
Dear Kathryn.....please do let us (me) read his
artricles. They sound really worth while. What a
wonderful son.
Thanks, Sharon
--- KathrynJB@... wrote:
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artricles. They sound really worth while. What a
wonderful son.
Thanks, Sharon
--- KathrynJB@... wrote:
> The next thing he wrote aside from poetry was an__________________________________________________
> impassioned article for the
> church newsletter. The church had serious problems
> with mice, and an
> exterminator had to be called. He heard about it and
> was horrified at the
> slaughter of literally hundreds of mice, and wrote a
> wonderful article for
> the newsletter asking that people be careful about
> leaving food around to
> avoid a similar fate.
>
> The next thing he wrote was an incredible essay
> (that he turned into a sermon
> for our church's Children's Sunday) about
> Vegetarianism as a spiritual
> practice. (If anyone wants to read it, I am sure I
> could get permission to
> share it. It's really impressive!)
> Kathryn
Do You Yahoo!?
Make international calls for as low as $.04/minute with Yahoo! Messenger
http://phonecard.yahoo.com/
Sharon Rudd
oops.....I wrote artricles instead of articles. Sorry
Sharon
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Make international calls for as low as $.04/minute with Yahoo! Messenger
http://phonecard.yahoo.com/
Sharon
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Make international calls for as low as $.04/minute with Yahoo! Messenger
http://phonecard.yahoo.com/