Aibu does anyone else have a five year old who writes like this?

[ConkerBonkers]

I am blown away by Charlotte's handwriting, she is only five. Surely this is preternaturally advanced? Link below.

My own DC who is also five cannot write like this, and I thought his writing was great...feeling bad about my homeschool skills!

Please put my mind at rest!

news.sky.com/story/george-charlotte-and-louis-make-cards-for-granny-diana-on-mothers-day-12245781

My dds born in 2004 and 2007 learned cursive from the beginning of Reception aged 4. I thought that was standard for an English state school. I remember going to a talk at the school about language and they showed handwriting samples and the teacher said she had 1 or 2 who wrote like that in Reception. (Not mine) Probably ones who did a lot of practice at home. My friend's daughter in a private prep learned print initially and then moved to cursive around aged 7. I remember us talking about it

Ha! All these people saying their child can write like this at the same age, come on show the evidence!
My dd is a year younger than Charlotte, and over lockdown was in school. She came on leaps and bounds with the smaller class sizes, that is what I imagine makes a huge difference.

It is very good for year one. What have a few children who can write this well in my class so it’s not unheard of. Having near handwriting has absolutely nothing to do with intelligence though-my brightest child has appalling handwriting.

Here's a sample of what my 5 year old produced for mothers day. It's not bad. She had been out of school and refusing to engage in home learning since November. I wonder what she'd have achieved if she'd actually been educated over the last 4 months by someone who didn't keep bursting into tears (ie me) every time they attempted it...

One of my kids wrote like this in reception

@GNCQ

It's cursive writing.

They don't normally even start teaching that until a child is 8 years old.

It's no way Charlotte's writing.

No, it’s precursive which is taught from reception in plenty of schools.

The apostrophe is in the wrong place, if that makes anyone bagging out the 5 year old feel better 🙄

@GNCQ

It's cursive writing.

They don't normally even start teaching that until a child is 8 years old.

It's no way Charlotte's writing.

Our school teach it from nursery. It makes the average 5 year old's handwriting look like they've had a few too many.

It well could be Charlotte's with the amount of teaching she's had access to, although I'll admit I'm sceptical.

I believe Charlotte will be 6 next month .

My eldest DD had beautiful handwriting since reception , her teachers were very impressed, she certainly would write like this at almost 6.
My eldest Ds, almost 15 has horrible handwriting , was always like that never bothered

Have William and Kate shared Mother’s Day cards with the public before?

@Gremlinsateit

The apostrophe is in the wrong place, if that makes anyone bagging out the 5 year old feel better 🙄

No, it's not.

Actually it is because the Day does not belong to one mother it belongs to mothers plural so it should be after the ‘s’ not before

Have William and Kate shared Mother’s Day cards with the public before

they did last year, they didn’t before as it was one page for both Cambridge’s and Sussex's.

@MrsTabithaTwitchit

Actually it is because the Day does not belong to one mother it belongs to mothers plural so it should be after the ‘s’ not before

Although I agree that this would make sense grammatically, it is always written Mother's Day on cards etc and if you Google it.

Yes, my DD's writing was like this at this point in Year 1, but she was already 6 and had been writing from 3. There's a huge range in Year 1 and it starts to even out more by the end of Year 3.

My own children did not write like this but I know lots of children I have taught who have. Entry strokes are taught since nursery, handwriting is really valued and focused on and children with really good fine motor skills definitely do write like this! Lots of others don’t of course but plenty do.

DS 6 has reasonable handwriting and just been told that next year they’ll learn joined up writing. So normal schooling they learn it at 7. Clearly private schools are ahead. But then who knows what ‘home schooling’ looked like for them.

They are not ‘ahead’ just different .

Remember children at independents will at some point have to sit entrance exams to their next school. Having legible neat handwriting gives them an advantage.

The focus is on handwriting as a means of communication not just expression. You can have amazing ideas but if they can’t be read by someone else then there’s a problem.

Our school is state and our children have better formation than local privates (have seen examples during collaborative book scrutinies). I think it’s more the expectations of the school than what you pay!

@OnlyToWin

Our school is state and our children have better formation than local privates (have seen examples during collaborative book scrutinies). I think it’s more the expectations of the school than what you pay!

Yes, I agree - ours is state too. Most expected to join up their writing in Year 2 but those who are ready earlier are encouraged to.

Private school, cursive. Schools like that have the resources for workbooks, so no craning to see the board, and lots of practice.
As an aside my otherwise lovely primary school seemed to have a very weird attitude to stationery bordering on aversion. We wrote in pencil (shared from a pot) on sugar paper workbooks with wallpaper sample covers.

For all those saying it couldn’t possibly be Charlottes own handwriting because they don’t teach curvasive until age 8 - surely going to an exclusive private school and having a nanny on hand and being the princess of the UK (so higher expectations on her and she may be pushed more) could mean that she may have been taught this handwriting earlier than other children? It’s not unbelievable at all that it’s Charlottes writing.

It is however very unusual for a “typical” 5 and a half year old to write like that.

Lol. I thought the same thing. I guess it's either fake or they focused a lot on that kind of structured "core skill" from the age of 2/3. I personally don't think it's a beneficial use of time to focus so much on writing or other formal skills at ages 3-5 when their brain is a sponge for more creative pursuits (art, music, invention, experimentation, second language absorbtion etc) but to each their own.

My daughter has just turned 6, and this is her handwriting. She couldn't write at all 18 months ago when she started school, but some children just get it I guess? She isn't quite as good as Charlotte, but I absolutely think that the writing in the link belongs to her.

No one has mentioned George's writing, which looks quite typical for his age group, I think Charlotte was keen for hers to look neat and a great deal of concentration has gone into it, maybe she wanted it to look neater than her big brothers.