The Homeschool Minute – April 21, 2021

Mercy Every Minute  

Deborah Wuehler, TOS Senior Editor

Progress, not Perfection!

Your children will write differently because they were created differently. There is no silver bullet for perfection, only the silver lining of legibility. You may cringe today when you see your children’s penmanship, but if you were to look back a few years or even months, you will see progress. That is what we are looking for: progress, not perfection. They are getting it and getting better each year. 

If you really think their penmanship needs help, take a couple weeks off from the other subjects while you step back and concentrate on penmanship. Copywork and cursive also offer all of these benefits. . .

• Increases attention to detail.
• Improves penmanship.
• Provides ideas and thoughts and styles for their own writing.
• Improves spelling, grammar, and vocabulary.
• Benefits children with dysgraphia, especially cursive.

• Encourages preschool writing and excellent handwriting (with 10 tips for success).

Remember, handwriting can be a challenge and a joy! But it’s worth it. Check out these 15 Ways to Motivate Your Child to Do Copywork.

Looking back over the years, I believe that having my children copy Scripture was very important. The more they wrote it, the deeper it went into their hearts and minds. It’s the perfect combination of good literature for good writing that brings about good in their lives. 

You can do this with your kids: write a verse from the Bible every day until you can write it without having to look at it. Keep going until it is memorized by heart and by hand. You won’t have to look back on your homeschooling and have any regrets.

For manual dexterity issues, encourage a looser grip so hands are not strained. For sweaty hands and better form, add a rubber grip. For special needs writers, left-handers, or children who apply too much pressure and strain their hands, try something like the Yoropen. Additionally, Andrew Pudewa’s IEW podcast talks about handwriting and suggests pens over pencils.

Remember, you are free to teach penmanship your way to your children. There is no pressure here. Your children have no fears or anxieties to worry about in their warm, safe home. They are free to learn and you are free to teach in whatever manner is best for your family as they are Home Where They Belong. 

~Deborah

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Getty-Dubay® Italic handwriting — join letters as you choose! Now with an app and downloadable fonts. 15% off books with GDTOS15 through 9/1/21. https://handwritingsuccess.com/

The Familyman 

Todd Wilson, Familyman Ministries

Printsive

Once upon a time, schoolchildren all over America sat at little wooden desks with pencils in hand and practiced cursive. They practiced by making continuous circles and up and down straight lines. We copied pre-printed example letters and finally mastered the capital letter Q.

With pride, we would write our names and write reports. We boys were sloppy, and you could hardly read our writing, but girls . . . girls would stylize their writing, adding embellishments and smiley faces to dot an “I.”

Over time, my cursive turned to “printsive” since I couldn’t remember how to make a capital Q anymore . . . or a Z and some of the other letters. I’m sure my mother is still disappointed that I don’t write F’s correctly (she was a school teacher after all).

In fact, the world we live in today hardly needs us to write cursive at all. Much of our communication is done with keyboards and touch-pads, and the writing I do now is mostly done on post-it notes and the occasional fill-in-the-blank order form or application.

Is cursive dead? No, but it is not something to stress out over. If you want to teach your children to write in cursive, knock yourself out, and have fun teaching your children that quaint art form.

BUT if you think it’s a waste of time and don’t have the time or energy to teach it, then DON’T, and don’t let anyone make you feel guilty for choosing that route. Truth is, your children will be just fine printing or writing in “printsive.” I am. This is of course assuming they at least know how to write their signature.

A little side note: if you’re experiencing some gorgeous spring weather like I am right now, forget about cursive, printing, or typing, and get outside and enjoy spring WITH your children.

Be real,

Todd

Unlocking Your Child’s Writing Gifts: Pillar of Hope

Why do we write? And why is it important that children learn to write well? Writing is communication, and the better we do it, the more clearly we are understood. When we give children the keys to good communication, we are giving them something valuable and precious—the ability to express themselves and be understood. 

Learning to write isn’t easy. Many budding skills—mental and physical—must come together in order for a student to put words on paper. Happily, teaching writing doesn’t have to be hard. It can begin with the simple, natural act of copying. 

As students copy well-formed words in well-crafted sentences, they are not only learning to form letters but are also absorbing spacing, spelling, and punctuation. Beyond that, they can be learning from whatever they are copying—a verse of Scripture, a poem, the Gettysburg address, a fable—any good resource worth spending time on.

Learning to write doesn’t end with simply forming basic print letters. Learning to write in cursive can help students advance to more beautiful, rapid communication. It may seem hard, but it’s worth it. Neuroscientists have determined that writing in cursive activates the brain in ways that boost learning. Copywork and cursive aren’t just busywork—they are keys that help students unlock the gift of communication. 

Janice Campbell, a lifelong reader and writer, loves to introduce students to great books and beautiful writing. She holds an English degree from Mary Baldwin College and is the graduated homeschool mom of four sons. Janice is the author of the Excellence in Literature curriculum for grades 8-12, Transcripts Made Easy, the Peaceful Planning booklets, and other resources. She speaks at homeschool conferences, co-hosts the Homeschool Solutions podcast at Homeschooling.mom, and writes for various homeschooling magazines, as well as online at EverydayEducation.com, Excellence-in-Literature.com, and DoingWhatMatters.com.