to be annoyed my 6yr old is having to do 'joined-up' writing?

[scampadoodle]

Before I get stuck into my rant I just want to make it clear that I am not against formal education for children under 7 or whatever; I'm generally very happy with my DCs progress at school

BUT

my 6yo DS, in Year 1, is expected to do joined-up writing in preference to printing & it seems ridiculously laborious to me. He doesn't complain, but whilst his printing can be very neat & legible, his JUW is like a spider in its death-throes. Surely children of that age should be concentrating more on spelling & meaning of words rather than handwriting? Is it a National Curriculum thing? And why? And am I the only one frustrated by this?

It annoys me too, and DS won't be persuaded - "but Mummy we have to" - and DS's (private) school only follow the National Curriculum when it suits them, so I don't think it's that.

I work in a school and I think its a waste of time. We don't spend that long on it each week, or insist they do it...but I agree get the spellings approximate before worrying about joining them up.

SS, yes, DS says that to me too! & we're State. Interesting that they do it in private schools too.

Maidamess I don't think DS's teacher insists, but they certainly get praise/credit for doing it, which is sufficient to motivate DS.

No you aren't the only one to be fed up with this. The trouble is that the schools get brownie points in SATs if children are joining up so teachers are under pressure to make them join up probably before they are ready. Joining up is supposed to make writing easier when children are older but for many children (mine included) joining up is backwards step to begin with.

i think it's dreadful especially as tehy are liekly to be doing everything on aPC (or eevn swisher) when they are older. waste of time they should be taught to type so they dont get RSI!

Hi. i'm a teacher and although no school I have taught in does this, there is some evidence that learning to join up early on can actually aid spelling and writing generally. (its common practice in countries such as France to learn joined up straight away). Apparently it can be particularly helpful to children with dyslexic tendencies, as the physical act of the "flow" of the writing helps with the learning of the spelling. (This is called kinesthetic learning I think).

I do understand your frustration if your child is finding this difficult, but it might help him in the long term.

They teach JUW at DD's (state) school from reception.

I was a bit bemused by this, but was informed that they teach it from the start as it is easier for the children to do this that have to re-learn when older

DD is in Y1 now and over the Christmas holidays it all seemed to click and she has lovely JUW (before it was more like a magic eye picture - you knew it said something, but wasn't sure what )

My DD (independent school) has been taught fully cursive since picking up a pencil at school.

She is left handed and dyspraxic and I actually think it has helped, when she prints her letter shapes are odd/backwards, but due to starting on the line and always moving the pencil in the same direction it helps.

ooh ds was started early with this (year 1) as he had messy writing and got into the habit of reversing certain letters. The teacher seemed to think it would really help him.
It did

i think joined-up writing is a good idea - as it 'grounds' the words to the line and helps with having proper counters (spaces inbetween letterforms).

My children are in reception and they have been taught cursive (joined up) writing from day 1. My daughter has really got the hang of it but son's writing is a bit spidery!!

They are expected to always do cursive letters which is a bit confusing because the words and books that they bring home to learn are normal print lettering.

DD2 refused to do any writing for at least a year after she came out of school in Year 3 becasue she wasn't able to do joined-up writing - she'd been struggling since reception, adn I was getting nowhere "discussing" it with her teachers. It seems really silly to me that it's print they see when they are learning to read, but can't use print when learning to write. FWIW I learned print in P1, and only in P2 did we start adding tails, and joining the tails onto the start of the next letter. And I can do lovely italic calligrpahy now
All of the children in DD2s class really struggled because it wasn't just the tails they had to do, it was "lead-ins" as well, os you had the ridiculous situation that "c..a..t" had extra squiggles in it, because the c finishes up from the line, but the a has to start from on the line.
(pet peeve of mine).

marmaduke - slight hijack - did they also teach your DD how to write so that it doesn't smudge - DS is left handed and seems to write straight across, IYSWIM - fine with a pencil but a complete disaster with ink!

Here in France children never learn to print in lower case - they go straight to very elaborate cursive with loops galore

It looks seriously messy (not to mention illegible) to start with, so I agree with you - it seemed ridiculously laborious at the time. Fine for the naturally neat, but a nightmare for the rest

DS2 (yr3)- a comment from the teacher in his planner said xx joined up writing please!

The page she was actually referring to imo was very neat, tidy and lovely writing considering he is left handed.

I would have thought that a comment along the lines of super work xxx, but try and remember to do juw.

why do you all type so much quicker than me? [plaintive moan]

Both my ds when in reception, and dd currently in reception started with JUW straight away. Well, they would write individual letters but with the 'flicks' on them where they would join the next letter.

My ds is lefthanded and really struggled with the whole 'flick' business initially, but by Y2 he had one of the neatest handwriting styles amongst the boys in his class.

It is a pain in the beginning, but once they have learnt it they can write more and faster, which helps when they come to write stories and other lenghty pieces of work such as they do in Y2.

Castille I remember being very amused/bemused when I went on French exchanges to find that all the children seemed to have identical writing. With hindsight, this may have been in direct contrast to my haphazardly Montessori education, where writing was an expression of personality and we had italic writing lessons just before we were due to sit entrance exams for senior schools

That said, it worked - my writing can be really nice (when I try).

stealth no they have not, tearing my hair out as she has to write with a fountain pen from Summer half term! Onle exception fro lefties is thaey give you a left handed nib.

At home I encourage her to angle her page, but at school she has it straight in front of her.

my JUW has turned into a right mess!!hahaha
lol S.V, I reckon evryone on here is doin JU typing!!

same for DS - WHY?!!- surely they could have the foresight to plan for them using ink pens at some point?!

Any teachers with wise words on left-handed children, or shall I get myself organised and talk to DS's teacher about it?

Stealth - my DDs are at a Montessori school! But handwriting is taught strictly according to French standards...

And yes they do all have identical writing.

French control freakery

My dd's handwriting and spelling at primary was dreadful. She was always being told that she hadn't written enough and that she should concentrate more on her spelling and puncution, but also to remember to do joined up writing. The 3 never, ever went together for her and frankly it was soul destroying for her and her teachers couldn't understand why she had so many wonerful idea in her head and when talking, but she couldn't get it on paper.

She is now about to finish only her 2nd term in secondary school and because the emphasis is off the joined up writing, she writes much more, her spelling has improved and her writing itself is so much more neat.

Sooo, No, YANBU!

I don't know what to think now!

I appreciate there is evidence that it helps in the long run so I won't berate the teacher (who I like, btw) but it does make homework even more of a trial. And all those extra up & down strokes really offend my design sensibilities