Writing the First Real Letter

A few weeks ago when I realized that we needed to focus more on the basics, writing was one of those things I wanted to focus on. CC had complained that her hand hurt when she was trying to write a recipe, and I decided that it was past time that we started a handwriting program.

I chose the Evan-Moore Daily Handwriting practice for us. It had short lessons and a nice script. I thought that the nature of the program would lend itself to what I wanted - short, focused consistent practice. It was all that and more. CC is now telling me that I need to do handwriting practice too.

Last week, before the outbreak of the pox, I had CC write a letter to a friend that recently moved. We started out with an outline (thanks to watching IEW with BB). We talked about what makes a nice letter then wrote down key words for each of the topics she wanted to talk about. Then she wrote the letter. She even drew a picture of herself and her friend on the back.

This is her first writing project. We are both pretty proud of it.

After we wrote the letter, she decided that she wanted to learn cursive so that she can write faster. We reviewed various sample programs, and she decided to try Handwriting Without Tears - which we happened to have on the shelf. She tried a couple of pages and really liked it.

Results:
Now we are going to do cursive. I think we will continue to do writing projects once a week and daily handwriting practice. The IEW pre-writing steps that we learned from the SWI-C that we watch with BB are very helpful. The program is aimed way above her, but the explanations and examples are simple and effective. A little work done well over time seems to be working for us.