I have had friends ask about how to handle reluctant writers, not kids who don't have creative writing abilities, but kids who struggle with the fine motor skills and mechanics of handwriting. I have three such children. With all the technology today and computer correspondence, how important is it to actaully learn handwriting? Typing is an essential skill for our children to learn, and I believe that creative writing assignments can be very effectively done on the computer. However, there is still a lot of value in learning handwriting skills. Think of all the things we do that require handwriting, including filling out forms, writing thank you notes, writing out scriptures for memorization, taking sermon notes, keeping a journal, completing college/job applications, etc.
My advice on how to handle reluctant writers comes from my experience with the Charlotte Mason techniques of copywork and dictation. We devote about 5-10 minutes per school day to copywork. I prepare a sheet in advance using http://www.worksheetworks.com/english/writing/handwriting.html. With this tool, I can choose print or cursive, font size, page orientation, and whether the passage will be copied (above, left) or traced (above, center). I find a Bible verse, a quotation, or a passage from a book using online resources, copy and paste it right onto the worksheet, print it and have the girls spend 5 minutes tracing or copying it to the best of their ability. I use a smaller font size for my older girls who have more experience with cursive writing. The goal is perfect execution, although "perfect" takes on different meanings for each child, according to his or her ability. For my son Will with his extreme motor delays (above, right), perfect is tracing each letter without too much scatter. Because this is a timed lesson, the kids know they only have to spend a very few minutes on it, and they are willing to give their best effort. They usually do not finish an entire passage the first or second day, but they pick up where they left off with the next lesson.
At the end of the week, I dictate the passage and the kids write it, to the best of their ability. Again, perfect execution is the goal, not only for handwriting, but also for spelling and punctuation. Before I dictate, we look at the passage and determine which words might be difficult to spell. I have the girls look these over until they have the correct spelling. Then they look over the punctuation. As I dictate, I say a short phrase only once, and I wait for them to finish writing before introducing hte next phrase. By not repeating phrases, I am cultivating the habit of attention. If a word is misspelled, I erase it and have them try again. Dictation takes only 10-15 minutes from start to finish.
So in just 30 minutes per week, you can improve handwriting and familiarize your kids with scriptures and great quotations and passages from literature. The key is to have short lessons and to strive for perfect execution. It's amazing how this short lesson spills over into other writing. Erin, my oldest reluctant writer, tries very hard to write well when she is copying scripture for memorization, especially because the card goes into a box used by the whole family. She takes her time and tries to form the letters perfectly. But again, the chunks are small enough that she is able to devote the attention and effort necessary to have a good product.
The bottom line is that you can have reluctant writers do as much of their writing assignments as possible on the computer but still improve their handwriting skills with a few short lessons during the week.
