anyone else not care about penmanship? - Page 3

[oneKnight]

My penmanship came with practice and age, not from being forced to write at a young age. I did have a "penmanship & spelling" book, but I couldn't read the cursive in it so I misspelled everything, got frustrated and quit. I learned to spell by reading books and typing online, not by some schoolbook. I learned to write sometime when I was older, I can't pin down the exact time.

[aniT]

Originally Posted by Stevie

well, I know it was much much nicer to have the support for my writing elbow while I learned; can't imagine it makes things easier to have that elbow hanging in the air. The point is that he got no support of any kind from the ps system. If I had homeschooled, my kitchen table offered the same physical support for right OR left handers

I never had problems. You just turn into the desk a bit and walla, your arm is on the desk.

[~Demeter~]

Originally Posted by mama in the forest

I was talking with a friend the other day. Her children attend public school, and while at a parent teacher conference (just the idea of having a conference where another woman tells me how my little darling is doing is outrageous) the teacher really reams her out about her child's penmanship. I guess her child is not making her letters "properly" and the teacher has been having such problems with this child!

Does anyone else think this is silly? I mean, I want all of my children to eventually be able to write, but I really care nothing about their penmanship. My daughter makes these beautiful curvy lines on some of her letters.....and no, it's not the standard way of writing, but it's darn beautiful! And I spend absoluely zero time trying to force my kids to write a certain way.

I haven't read through all the responses because I am super tired but the title of this thread really caught my eye. My oldest DS is in the 5th grade in public school and his teacher is an absolute beast about penmanship.. on SPELLING tests no less. I had a nice little rant about this in a different thread because it really irked me. I feel that if the writing is mostly legible and the child knows what letter they wrote it shouldn't be an issue. I mean realistically by the time our children are grown (and most of us) the computer will be used for anything that needs to look neat and tidy. KWIM? My son worked very hard to make his handwriting legible and for his teacher to harp on him about it hasn't really boosted his confidence much. But that's ok because her and I are going to share a few words during our parent/teacher conference.

[eilonwy]

Originally Posted by aniT

I never had problems. You just turn into the desk a bit and walla, your arm is on the desk.

That only works if you don't have those skinny, one-piece desk chair combos. With those, it's absolutely impossible to write comfortably (or at all, depending on size) left-handed unless you have a left-handed desk. If you manage to get your elbow onto it, the rest of your body is squished into the back of the chair and your notebook is hanging off of the skinny part of the desk. It just plain sucks.

[Dar]

When my dad was in school (Catholic school, if that makes a difference), the teachers would draw a line on your report card to show the level they thought you sould be performing at in each subject, if you were doing your best. My dad's line went straught across at "A+" until it got to "Penmanship", when it dipped down to a "C". He was lefty, too (and he became a doctor). My handwriting looked a lot like his for years, and then about 5 years ago I noticed that my handwriting now looked more like my mom's.

I had crappy handwriting all through school - I even got extra handwriting assignments in 6th grade, long after the other kids were done with that - but at some point it just got better. Rain's is readable but looks awkward to me... but it doesn't bother her enough that she wants to do anything to change it. And if she doesn't care, I certainly don't...

dar

[flyingspaghettimama]

Originally Posted by aniT

I never had problems. You just turn into the desk a bit and walla, your arm is on the desk.

I don't think those kinds of desks are even used anymore. I hope not...at least I haven't seen any. They don't lend themselves to the warm 'n' fuzzy group placements or seminar-style seating, for sure...

But more importantly, what is a walla?

[mommy68]

I h/s'd up until my oldest was in 4th and I never cared about penmanship. Now that he's in private school that's an area that he scores the lowest on each quarter He doesn't get a letter grade in it yet but he is trying to improve. It's just something I never really pushed when we were h/s'ing (still don't ) as long as he was writing each day.

I think his teacher is silly for giving him a low point on his penmanship when he misspells words at times and she doesn't say anything about that. I've seen his papers when they come home and that really bothers me. IMO spelling correctly is more important than how neat the writing is. My DH is 43 and can't write worth crap, hehe, he is very sloppy, but he can spell every single word correctly though.

[aniT]

Originally Posted by flyingspaghettimama

But more importantly, what is a walla?

It is supposed to be wa'la since i dont know how to spell it that is the best I can come up with. :P

[aniT]

Originally Posted by eilonwy

That only works if you don't have those skinny, one-piece desk chair combos. With those, it's absolutely impossible to write comfortably (or at all, depending on size) left-handed unless you have a left-handed desk. If you manage to get your elbow onto it, the rest of your body is squished into the back of the chair and your notebook is hanging off of the skinny part of the desk. It just plain sucks.

I never had a problem with this, I just learned to deal with it. Of course I don't write with my hand upside down like most left handed people I know either. I have had people comment that they cant tell I am left handed because my letters are straight up and down instead of slanted.

[eilonwy]

Originally Posted by aniT

I never had a problem with this, I just learned to deal with it. Of course I don't write with my hand upside down like most left handed people I know either. I have had people comment that they cant tell I am left handed because my letters are straight up and down instead of slanted.

Hm. I've always had a problem with that, and I don't write with a claw-grip either when I write with my left hand.

[chfriend]

walla = voila, n'est pas?

Sorry couldn't resist...back to your regularly scheduled thread...

[mama in the forest]

As I thought about my friend & her daughter....I just felt so sad that something that I felt was so insignificant to growing, learning, & loving life could be made out to be such a big deal, AND what a shame it was that it was affecting this young girl's self image.