Handwriting

[Scamp48]

Anyone have any advice on how I can help two of my children with cursive handwriting at home? They are 10 and 8. The 10 year old won’t even try it! And the 8 year olds is just messy! Our school doesn’t seem to prioritise handwriting and I would like to give them a little bit of help at home. Any suggestions gratefully received - thank you!

I'm a primary school teacher and my advise would be: first, research improving fine motor skills through physical activities; and secondly, ask the teacher to explain to you the school's handwriting policy so you're not teaching something different and can find appropriate resources on-line.

Thank you so much!

I have very mixed feelings re Cursive and feel for my son it has been an utter disaster. As a late summer lefty he learnt well with non cursive, until the school changed all classes overnight to cursive...he has detested and done the minimum of writing ever since. When he did write it was very difficult to read, the extra swirls of cursive and the pressure of getting them correct made it an all over the place mess. He also had a weird pen grip. School kept saying keep practicing at home but no advice except to keep copying given - but everytime we tried he would have a melt down: it had become a massive mental block for him.
In desperation, half way through year 6, I drove him miles and miles through the snow this Jan to see a handwriting specialist. He had 3 hours with her (small group tutition) and amazingly it has made a huge difference. I was completely sceptical it would help but at that stage was willing to try anything!
His writing is now legible (if a bit slow and deliberate since) and he now has a normal pen grip - she noticed his original one and changed it within 30 secs of seeing him write - (school had said grip was wrong but that it was fixed and could not be changed due to his older age). He writes with pens she recommended. She runs the magic link system - which you can buy on line. I did wonder if we could do it solely at home as it was such a distance to go to hers but at that stage one of the problems doing anything writing at home had become too stressful. He needed a little push and confidence building of having someone, not Mum, show him how to do it.
Maybe google handwriting tutors near you, to see if you can do something similar. Also have a look at the magic link - my son will never be an elegant writer but now it’s legible at least.
Sorry for such a long post - frankly still regretting leaving handwriting to the school tbh...