Handwriting: Home School Handwriting Hints

Teaching handwriting to home school students is not always easy. Here are some helpful hints that you can use to make the processes easier for both home school teacher and student.

1. If the child has trouble forming letters, it may be because the home schooler is gripping the writing utensil too tightly. This means that the child has difficulty with force modulation. Make sure that the child is sitting upright with good posture. Have the child play games such as “Topple” and “Jenga” in order to approve fine motor skills. The home school student needs to learn that he or she does not need to press so hard on the page.

2. Have your students focus on speed. They will need to learn how to perform quickly on essay tests in college and take notes quickly. Give your children essay topics to write about and encourage them to focus more on proper writing than on speed. Speed is a secondary concern.

3. Left-handed children are unable to look at their writing because their hand covers their work. In order to see their work, children often hold their writing utensil improperly. This should be discouraged. Rather than adjust the child’s hand, move the paper so that it is to the left of the child’s body. Then angle it at forty-five degrees.

4. Teach groups of letters instead of going from “a” to “b” to c” and so on. Focus on letters that look similar and teach them in one lesson. Start with simple round letters such as “a”, “c”, and “o”.

5. Make writing fun. Have the child write a letter to a friend or compose a wish list for Christmas. You can have your children make invitations to a co-op party or engage the child’s curiosity with a penpal from a different country.

These are just a few things that you can do to teach handwriting in a home school environment.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/homeschooling-articles/handwriting-home-school
-handwriting-hints-141210.html

Mimi Rothschild is a homeschooling parent, author, children's rights advocate, and Founder and C.E.O. of Learning by Grace, Inc. She and her husband of almost 3 decades reside with their 8 children in suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Rothschild co-founded Learning By Grace, Inc. because "our current system of education has broken its promise..." Learning By Grace, Inc. delivers Internet-based multimedia education to PreK-12 children in the United States and throughout the world.

Rothschild has authored a number of books about education published by McGraw Hill and others. Her Daily Education News Blog contains feature stories on alternatives in education.