My son does his letters "wrong" should I try to fix it?

[chaoticzenmom]

My son writes his letters from the bottom up. It drives me crazy. He has pretty handwriting, but it takes him forever to write anything. It seems like I should help him get into the habit of writing them from the top to the bottom like all of the books say to do. Is this a big deal? He's 7 and a half. He started writing these letters in preschool, then, he continued in kindergarden. He went to a french private school for first grade and the teacher tried to correct it but he didn't change. He's been homeschooled since last January and hasn't really written much since then, but when he does, it's from the bottom up. I'm tempted to just leave it be, but I worry that I'll be hurting him in the long-run if I don't try to get him used to writing from the top down. Such a silly thing, but it's got me worried.

Would you try to change it? Would you leave it alone?
Thanks in advance.
Lisa

[UUMom]

My youngest has very , uh, shall we say 'inefficient' handwriting. I've asked her if she wants some suggestions, and I've even shown her what I call 'my shortcuts', but she says "Nope Nope Nope" So I leave it. It's painful to watch. She writes plenty, and it works for her, so what do I know? I further console myself knowing that at some point she will type everything and not write much at all.

[Kindermama]

Yes, I would. Try Alphabet 8s

here's a link
http://www.braingym.com/html/aids___stuff.html

basically the child continually draws a figure 8 on its side and you teach letter formation in that way. Enki Education also recommends this

[tallanvor]

Personally, I would. If he has been doing it the same way for several years and it hasn't corrected itself, I would attempt to correct it. I say that simply because there is a reason we write the way we do. It is great that he is neat, but if it takes him a long time to write, that could be a problem and there's not guarantee he will get much faster and that could hold him back, unfortunately, once he gets to the work force. This is something we're going to be dealing with my son, though we are catching it at the beginning now, so hopefully we can fix it. Hope you can fix it, too, if that is what you decide to do.

Crystal

[incorrigible]

If it's legible, I don't see the problem. Everyone doesn't have to do everything exactly alike. For what it's worth, I'm dysgraphic and do write very slowly still but very legibly at least. lol It hasn't held me back at all. Penmanship style or speed just aren't that big of a deal once you're not being graded on them. One thing that has helped was an interest in calligraphy and alternative writing styles as a teen. Once I picked up a few different ways to write letters, both in style and application, writing became much easier. The "standard" methods are not taught because they're the easiest to read or even easiest to learn. Someone with good penmanship just taught others how to imitate their handwriting. Once we are using letters instead of learning them, we all adopt our own methods anyway. If he's worked something out that works for him, he's a step ahead, not behind. If it meets his needs, making him do something that meets someone else's needs will be counter productive.

[glorified_rice]

I voted no, because I personally don't think it is *wrong* to write from the bottom up. Sure, it might take more time, but I'm sure he'll eventually figure out in in time that there is a more efficient way to write. Just my two cents

[KaraBoo]

I didn't think there *was* a wrong direction when writing the letters you see here.

My dd and I have learned that when writing kana, you must write them correctly, using a certain direction and order...but I didn't think that was so with the alphabet we are all using here.

[meowmix]

I voted yes. We do a version of Handwriting Without Tears and all the letters start at the top. He was never shown correct technique at school when he was in K, so I reinforced the "start at the top" when doing letters. I figure he should learn is correctly now and then, when he knows how, he can make his shortcuts. FWIW, I write most of my letters starting at the bottom and do a mix of print and cursive when I write. But I also know how to print neatly and correctly and use cursive correctly if I need to.

[elizawill]

at your son's age, i would try to help him.

[Ravin]

Teach him cursive. All the letters have to be written a certain way to connect them properly, and it's more efficient/faster than printing. Let him keep printing however he wants. When he's a little older, you can teach him calligraphy, where the letters also have to be written a certain way.

[Ruthla]

There's no guarantee he'd write any faster doing it "correctly". It might even take him longer since he's more used to doing it this way.

[lilyka]

I vote yes. I never corrected my aughtr and now at 11 it is very hard for her to write.

[lucky_mia]

I vote yes. I work at a school for dyslexic children and we work on correcting it as well as teaching cursive. When students write incorrectly, it can really slow down their output and it becomes very frustrating to write. My brother writes from the bottom up. It was never corrected and now he avoids writing at all costs. Since he is still young, I would try to correct . Introducing the cursive is a good suggestion.

[chaoticzenmom]

Thanks for all the advice. He does write in cursive because that's what they teach first in France. I am going to have him practice printing from the top down and see if that helps and introduce him to the american cursive style. I give him dolche list words and tell him to write from the top down, but he doesn't. I might just start back with practicing the letters on a wipe off sheet. If if it doesn't work, or if he gets upset, I'll reconsider just letting his handwriting take its course. I'll look at my nearby homeschool store for that 8 practice book and see if it might work for him.

Part of the reason we haven't really been writing is because I didn't want to enforce his habit without knowing more about if it would be harmful to continue.

Thanks again.
Lisa

[sha_lyn]

Someone with good penmanship just taught others how to imitate their handwriting. Once we are using letters instead of learning them, we all adopt our own methods anyway. If he's worked something out that works for him, he's a step ahead, not behind. If it meets his needs, making him do something that meets someone else's needs will be counter productive.

:

If there was a "right" way, why are there so many different ways out there?


You (the OP) says his heandwriting is pretty so why change it?
Hs's only 7, and hasn't been writing a lot according to the OP, so of course it takes him awhile. With practice his speed will increase.

[rsps]

with cursive (at least the way I write it) you do start at the bottom of the letters (most of the time) So it makes sense that he prints bottom up also if he learned cursive first.

I wouldn't force him to change -- if he is open to trying new ways that's different. But if you force him you will probably end up with an unhappy child and messy (though "correct") writing.

And if he already writes in cursive at age 7 I'd say he's advanced not behind!!

[tallanvor]

Knowing he learned cursive first makes a difference. Since cursive does generally go from bottom-up it does make sense he would print that way. In that case, I would gently encourage him to print from top to bottom but not make a big issue out of it.

Crystal

[chaoticzenmom]

Thanks...I guess the cursive does make a difference since I just got a ton of "no's" after my reply that he writes in cursive!LOL

Thanks again. You guys help me so much!
Lisa

[2 in August]

First off, if it's working for him, why make him change? 2nd, if he learned cursive 1st it makes sense that he starts at the bottom. 3rd, if he doesn't want to change, all you'll do is make both of you miserable by trying to force him to do it differently.

[emmsmama]

My husband writes letters the same way as does my daughter. I agree that it looks so tedious and in dh's case his writing is quite sloppy. Dd's writing at age 8 is as neat as dh's. I am going to be getting ds and dd the HWT books and I'm thinking of maybe getting dd the printing one before the cursive to try to reinforce starting at the top. However, I'm not going to force the issue if it doesn't work out.