On the homeschooling front I’ve been hitting a brick wall. Encouraging Savannah to write in lower case letters was becoming a frustration for her AND for me. She only wants to use capitals. LOVES her capitals, she will tell you.
The workbook we are using asks that the assignments be printed in lower case, unless it’s the first letter in a proper name or the beginning letter of a sentence. So, 6 weeks into it, I no longer have to remind her, but she still does not want to write that way.
This week the challenge has been getting her to write them properly. I mean, up until now, I’ve just been happy to get her to write a lower case letter. Who cares that it’s the biggest letter on the entire page. Technically, it’s still a lower case letter.
But this week I began teaching her more about what those 3 lines were for on the kindergarten ruled paper. Remember that stuff? Big blue solid line at the top and bottom, with a red dotted line in between them? It’s supposed to help kids figure out what size to make the letters. SUPPOSED TO.
My explanations have sounded something like this: “The upper case letters reach from top to bottom. The lower case letters only go from the red dotted line, down.” She didn’t seem to be getting it. I tried explaining it a different way. Many times. Still giant sized small letters. I drew them myself, over and over. She’s a smart kid and I felt that by today she should be able to write at least ONE of the 26 letters correctly.
It’s at this point that this ole homeschool mom started to wonder if she was partaking in a battle. We were studying in the letter “P”. I reminded her about the lines and she continued to draw large letters. I can’t tell you how many “P’s” I drew myself, but at one point I got out a stack of paper and threatened that we were not leaving the table until she could write a lower case “p” correctly.
I was getting mad. She wasn’t even trying. So I walked away and left her to practice her “p’s”. I was making lunch when all of a sudden she calls me, excited, from the other room:
“MOM…look at this!!! I wrote my “p’s”!!! I decided the blue line was the deep end at the pool and the red line was the rope (like at Nanny’s). The lower case letters can’t swim so they can’t cross the rope!!! Only capital letters can swim, like you and daddy!”
And they were right. And so were the vowels that she added. I can’t believe all I needed was to think of a swimming pool analogy to help her. But she figured it out on her own. Thank goodness. I don’t think I could have taken another day of lower case letter explanations!
7 Comments
What a little smartie she is! That’s a great way to remember. If only she would have thought of it a few weeks ago:)
Handwriting is a skill that comes slowly. For my younger kids we tape letters on the floor and walk on them to help them feel the motions involved in making the letters. We draw them in the air. I write the letters in puffy paint and let them trace them with their fingers. Sometimes I write letters in two different collors so they know the order to make the letter. Handwriting Without Tears is a great developmentally appropriate program for teaching handwriting. Don’t stress. This skill WILL come. Your pool analogy was right on track.
Good for her. What a great thing she came up with! Maybe DQ can come up with something creative on her own for math. Everything I’ve tried hasn’t worked!
Looks to me like you have a right-brainer on your hands! I just discovered this with my 5yo dd as we start K. She does NOT understand
much that is explained normally. EVERYTHING requires something to “velcro” it into her memory, like the ‘silly’ swimming pool analogy. To
teach her the simple rule that we start writing on the left and move right (explained it a million times), I drew a smiley on my left thumbnail
and started calling him Mr. Thumbkin. Now the reminder is “Don’t forget to start at Mr. Thumbkin because he’s so friendly. But run the other direction
because he has stinky feet!” I only said this ONCE and she has never forgotten it. Also, use as many pictures as you can – the right-brain
remembers these better and more quickly. FOr example, if she gets a u and an n confused, draw a little water in the u and make up a story to go
with it explaining why it has to be “up” – in order to hold the water.
I know this is long, but it’s works amazingly well with our dd and lowered our frustration. We figured out that she wasn’t diliberately not listenting
but just wasn’t getting it the way we laid it out for her! Check out Diane Craft at http://www.diannecraft.com for more ideas along these lines!
Blessings,
Andrea
I aggree with Kate’s comment. It will come!!!
I have to remind my 2nd grader that p, j, and g, like to let their tail hang out in the pool while P, J and G like to keep their tail nice and dry.
It was cool to see someone else use the same sort of explanation!
Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!!!
steph.
oh cool is that! I love that she came up with that all on her own! Makes perfect sense too! And I love Andrea’s input!
Wish I had thought of those things when the boys first started writing!!!
Girl, I understand. We have our own share of struggles but I am learning my children as it seems you are too! You are a good mom!
Much love,
Angela