Help! Copywork not dd's favorite in Beyond

[Gigi]

Hello there!

My dd who is 8 and doing Beyond has really enjoyed the reading, spelling, science activities, but copywork she is not liking. We started doing just fine (this is our first yr of HOD), then she started getting really lazy and would take forever. So I timed here and that worked fine for a little bit but now she is terrified of the timer and makes her really nervous. So no more timer! It seems I have to sit right next to her to get her to copywork...she is a very lazy writer. I make her write something when she is sending someone a card in the mail, rather than just drawing something and writing her name.
She also positions her arm and hand in a very weird way that I think makes it more diffult to write...at least it does for me. She has the paper/notebook right in front of her and she curves her wrist and hand to write, instead of having a straight hand out with a slightly turned paper/notebook...does that make sense?

Any moms here have any ideas about how to work through this phase?? Any posts you can refer me to? Am I expecting too much from her??

Any moms do a writing workbook rather than copywork?? Like Handwriting without Tears or a Reason for Handwriting??

I know there is more writing coming up on the next guide....not like we are getting there anytime soon...we are soooo behind!! That's another post!! LOL

Thanks for your feedback!

Gigi

[Gwenny]

It is not unusual at all! It's great that she is liking and doing well with the other activities. Don't worry!

Is she left-handed?

Has she done other handwriting books? Does she still struggle with how to form the letters? If so, have her do a handwriting book if you'd like and then get back to copy work. Or, if you don't want to completely give it up while doing the book, have her do one line, or even just a couple of words. It is best to sit with them so that you can make sure the paper is properly positioned as well as her hand. Only let her write in proper position, that's why you might only get a couple of words, it will tire her.

My son is 8, we are in unit 4 of Beyond and he doesn't do the copy work yet. He is still working on his handwriting book. Holding a pencil correctly and writing letters has been difficult for him so we have been moving slowly. He is really improving finally. I only have him do 1 page and sometimes less, but lately he has gone on to another page. I only wanted him to do enough that he could stay focused and not tire or it would be sloppy anyway. Sometimes I would even write his answers in math if he was already tired. Soon I will have him start doing a little of the copy work. It is a fantastic skill.

I wrote his thank you letters for Christmas again this year, only having him sign his name. I'm sure that by next year he will be doing his own.

She is still young. Some of mine are beautiful writers early and some take a little longer. It's okay.

[LynnH]

The way you are describing the positioning of her arm is how my ds used to hold his arm to write. He was receiving OT due to fine motor issues and the OT was adamant that he not hold his arm this way. She said it could cause pain and issues down the road and also doesn't allow him to use his wrist properly and therefore his hand would fatigue quickly. As a pediatric physical therapist myself I could see that what she said made sense. What may seem like laziness to you is probably true fatigue due to improper technique. I would probably go back to a handwriting book and really work on her arm and wrist positioning. How is her pencil grip? Is she holding it correctly? You could try different slide on style pencil grips also and see if this would help her to feel more stable in how she holds the pencil so that she doesn't have to compensate by positioning her arm incorrectly. She is probably doing that to stabilize her hand. Do you see any other fine motor issues such as difficulty cutting with scissors? If not it is most likely just a bad habit she has gotten in to and she just needs some practice writing the correct way.

[glperky]

I don't know if this has anything to do with anything but, I have been reading a lot lately about how writing with a pen instead of a pencil really helps a lot of children out. The friction on the paper that a pencil causes makes the hand tired much quicker it can also it to be harder for some children to write. They say, that it also helps children write neater the first time because they know they can't erase.

[arstephia]

For Beyond I altered things a bit and got a hard covered journal/blank book and photo copied the poems (reduced size as needed) and then had her draw a picture about the poem on the facing page. That way we could fully appreciate the poetry section. Then for copy work, I would just take a line from the poem for her to copy. That limited amount of copy work was enough and now in Bigger she has no problem copying the entire poem. She just wasn't ready and her hand grew tired last year. I think a lot of it is developmental, and the way she is holding her paper doesn't help. I would work to fix that with her only writing 2-3 words a day so technique can improve. Quality over quantity. I wouldn't scrap the copy work, nor would I stray away from the HOD program by adding new elements. My little tweak of using the poem in the way I did ended up with lasting benefits. She still pulls those books down (the 34 weeks filled 3 small journal books) and rereads them and shows them to friends. She is proud of them. So maybe that would work for you as well.

[raindrops]

I don't know if this has anything to do with anything but, I have been reading a lot lately about how writing with a pen instead of a pencil really helps a lot of children out. The friction on the paper that a pencil causes makes the hand tired much quicker it can also it to be harder for some children to write. They say, that it also helps children write neater the first time because they know they can't erase.

And maybe letting her pick out some pretty gel pens and special paper would be incentive as well? Only using the special pens during copywork and handwriting practice?

What about putting her in your lap and modeling how you angle your paper when writing and how you hold your arm?

I think I would try those things. Maybe some very special stickers to decorate her finest work and hang it on the fridge? My children LOVE to hang their schoolwork up. And I remember being extremely fond of pretty stickers and stamps and pens when I was little. Just made stuff more fun.

How does she do while drawing? Is she holding her arm funny then? Or does she just get nervous around handwriting practice time?

[glperky]

Is she right or left handed?

[daybreaking]

My dd was doing fine, but recently developed the habit of holding her wrist as you described. It didn't seem to help for me to just tell her not to hold her wrist that way, but it did help a lot when I pulled her elbow back and also when I pushed her paper farther up on the table. Both of those changes automatically helped correct her wrist. If your dd is dreading copywork, you might try shortening the passages she is copying. It'd be better to do a little copywork well, than a larger passage sloppily or begrudgingly. If you feel handwriting practice would be beneficial, you could add in a handwriting book, but since copywork is very valuable, for many more reasons than just handwriting practice, I wouldn't recommend dropping it in place of handwriting practice. Also, with what you described, my recommendation would be for you to sit right with her while she does her copywork, correcting her wrist as she works. To be honest, I still sit with my 4th grader when he does his cursive handbook, as I've always wanted to correct bad habits before they become engrained.

[Gigi]

Thank you ladies!!

She is right handed and has no other fine motor skills. And does not have a letter formation issue either. I feel so relieved to know I can step back and let her copy less while I sit with her and correct her hand/paper position.

She erases a lot, so I'm no sure about a pen right now?? We also have the issue of putting letters too close to each other or even two words that look like one giant word...so I make her correct those things. Maybe I have expected too much of her...thanks for the advice.

I'll let you know how things improve!

Gigi

[deut6family]

For Beyond I altered things a bit and got a hard covered journal/blank book and photo copied the poems (reduced size as needed) and then had her draw a picture about the poem on the facing page. That way we could fully appreciate the poetry section. Then for copy work, I would just take a line from the poem for her to copy. That limited amount of copy work was enough and now in Bigger she has no problem copying the entire poem. She just wasn't ready and her hand grew tired last year. I think a lot of it is developmental, and the way she is holding her paper doesn't help. I would work to fix that with her only writing 2-3 words a day so technique can improve. Quality over quantity. I wouldn't scrap the copy work, nor would I stray away from the HOD program by adding new elements. My little tweak of using the poem in the way I did ended up with lasting benefits. She still pulls those books down (the 34 weeks filled 3 small journal books) and rereads them and shows them to friends. She is proud of them. So maybe that would work for you as well.

I LOVE THIS IDEA! I have been having a hard time with my daughter and her copywork also. She takes forever to complete it! I have not been doing it at all b/c of this. But I like the idea of putting the poetry in a special journal that she can share with others. Thanks for this advice!!! I plan to start it tomorrow!

[blessedmomof4]

Gigi, may I suggest letting your daughter copy one line or so without interruption, then if there are errors, point them out and just have her copy the same line the next day? Copywork at that age should not be more than 5 minutes a day. Sometimes frequent correction and rewriting at the same sitting can make the task more burdensome, at least it was for my kiddos. And from what you shared about her hand position, it is likely her hand is getting tired. Work on the hand position issue and have her copy less until that gets fixed

[my3sons]

These ladies are awesome, aren't they?!? I agree - copywork is important to stick with, and you have already received some good advice about how to go about doing that. Quality over quantity is important when it comes to copywork. So, I'd start with one line a day of a poem. Switching paper and pencils and grippers are all things you can try, but usually slow and steady consistent copywork will do the trick given ample time. One easy thing I did that helped my ds with spacing was this...

Pics of hi-lighting Riley’s lines for HW:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4618&p=34014

This past post may be helpful too...
Handwriting grip wrong / hand hurts help from Carrie:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=7480

Maybe this will help as well...
Pics of progression of writing:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5605&p=41147#p41147

Just stick with it! Encourage dd as much as possible! It will get easier!
In Christ,
Julie

[Gigi]

Thank you all for your suggestions!! Thanks Julie for the links to other posts, that was helpful. I have to tell you I started copying the poems and having her glue it to her poetry notebook, then we read it every day and I highlight 2 lines and that is all she is copying. She is enjoying that much better. BTW she does not mind spelling. Also, she is sitting up higher on our dining room chair and I'm making sure she is pulling her elbow back to have a straighter arm/wrist when writing. I like the idea of highlighting for spacing between words. Overall, I have noticed that sitting by her and helping her along has helped her. She tells me it does not bother her to curve her wrist a bit, but I believe it was tiring her and we weren't going anywhere. Thanks again for all the help!!