Handwriting Improvement

Lots of parents want handwriting improvement for their children. A lot of them are concerned with bad handwriting. I was one of them with the writing of my kids that looked like chicken scratch, so I understand the struggle. I also had terrible handwriting when I was a child. However, when I was 16, I went to university and studied engineering. One of the subjects that we had was Drafting, and it was there that I experienced a lot of practice in handwriting. We practiced writing letters and numbers in the first few weeks of that class. Later on, we had to draw lines, shapes, and other figures to make working drawing plans for building structures. It was a really wonderful experience. After a year of Drafting, I had it for 2 semesters, and my handwriting has improved dramatically.

I had a penfriend who thought my handwriting looked like it was machine printed. Then, I had a lot of family and friends asking me to do some writing for them in their presentations, so I knew that my handwriting had really improved. Now, if my chicken scratch handwriting as a child has improved since I was a teenager, I know that other kids can do the same with practice and lots of it.

I also had a problem with my son's handwriting a few years ago. One of the things we did for handwriting improvement was writing journals daily. After a few years, his handwriting has improved a lot. It didn't come overnight, but a consistent habit of a few minutes each day has dramatically helped him and developed his self-confidence.

Handwriting Improvement for Academic Performance

If you feel that your child's poor handwriting is affecting their academics, half an hour of practice writing each day can help a child improve their handwriting. You can start with five minutes and gradually increase the time since handwriting is like physical exercise. It would be best to have them begin slowly and gradually increase the time each day. We spent an hour writing in my Drafting class, so a 5-minute to half-hour practice is okay.

Handwriting Improvement with Fine Motor Skills Strength

The fine motor skills of a child need to be strengthened, and increasing hand strength and finger dexterity can help your child have more control over the pen, which will gradually improve handwriting. When fine motor skills are strengthened, it would also improve the endurance in writing.

One of the things you can do as a parent is to encourage your child to get involved with some general household chores that use hand and finger muscles. It can help strengthen the hands - tasks like cutting with scissors, washing the dishes, cleaning, sewing, crocheting, knitting, and trying to also consider your child's interests.

For older kids, it is also essential to encourage them to build upper body strength. This can be done through sports like swimming, lifting weights, climbing, and other upper-body exercises. These upper body exercises can help strengthen shoulder muscles, freeing up the hand muscles for handwriting.

Handwriting Improvement Exercises also needs a break

If a child tires quickly with handwriting exercises or becomes distracted by some other things, then by all means, let them have a quick break when this happens. They might go and have a snack or have a drink of water. This is a good and beneficial use of break time since it will free up the hand muscles used in handwriting and get them ready to start over again.

You should check this page for some  Free Homeschool Worksheets that you can use for your kids for their handwriting improvement and journaling.

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