In March, many education consultants gathered in person at the MK Education Summit near Atlanta…
The Importance of Handwriting
[author][author_info]Flossie Epley has been with TEAM since 1981. She is founder and director of School Support Services (SSS) at Christian Academy in Japan (CAJ). For thirty years SSS has been offering consultancy, resources, and programs to home schoolers and schools affiliated with CAJ in Japan. Flossie and her husband Russ have two adult children and one grandchild.[/author_info] [/author]
Years ago as a new worker in Japan Marie wrote a postcard to her mom. Using every possible inch of space on the card she added a tiny note asking her mom to send her some chapstick because it wasn’t readily available where she lived. Her mom was confused. Why would her daughter want her to send chopsticks to Japan? Fortunately her mom asked before fulfilling the request. The difference between an “a” and an “o” can be significant!
Is it really necessary to teach handwriting today? Isn’t it more important to teach computer keyboarding skills? Aren’t we more apt to write an email or send a message over Facebook than write a postcard these days?
Of course teaching computer keyboarding is important, but learning handwriting first is best. While handwriting is not as important as it used to be, I think there’s still a strong case for developing the skill. Before you launch into your handwriting lessons or when you just need to renew enthusiasm for its study, talk to your kids about why they think handwriting might be important. Here are some ideas to get you started:
• Poor handwriting can cause misunderstandings such as in the chapstick request. Learning to write letters and numbers correctly is especially important when writing down email addresses, website URLs and phone numbers. One wrong letter or number can prevent communication.
• Handwriting leaves an impression on people. Neatness in a presentation greatly affects the person receiving it. It is hard to think a person has something valuable to say when he/she gives you something sloppy. However, when it’s neat, it becomes attractive.
• Your kids won’t come up with this one, but practicing handwriting actually enhances brain development in a way that typing does not.
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• Writing something down helps imprint it in the mind. This is why I almost always take notes when I listen to sermons. I get more out of it and remember it longer when I’m taking notes.
• Learning proper handwriting helps develop eye-hand coordination that will actually enhance many things including computer keyboarding.
Because I like handwriting, I’ve been paying attention to my handwriting and have noticed several things.
• My handwriting gets messier if I write a lot because my hand gets tired from gripping the pencil. (I know I do not hold a pen optimally, but I can’t seem to change now as an adult.)
• My handwriting is less legible if there is unusual stress in my life.
• My handwriting is better when I’ve eaten well and not as good when I’ve had sugar or other processed food.
• My handwriting varies depending on the writing utensil I use. I am exceptionally fond of my fine point .4 black gel pen and have better writing when I use it than when using other pens. My brother, on the other hand, is totally sold on his 1.0 pen. To each his own! For writing Japanese I have the best writing when I use a soft lead pencil.
Though I loved penmanship when I was a child, my son (wonderful man though he be) has terrible writing and none of the things I tried in his childhood netted any improvement. He played with legos all the time which should have developed his fine motor skills and he used sign language all the time with my daughter which should have helped too….but it didn’t.
My daughter had lovely handwriting in first grade, but it declined after that. I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s important to be able to know when good handwriting is essential and when it’s not. Rather than requiring that everything be written well, choose the things that you believe need to be written well (such as a handwriting assignment or a thank you note) and don’t worry about the other things.
When a child is doing creative writing is not the time to demand good handwriting. To think about handwriting, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, AND come up with good sentences is too much. The neat writing can be emphasized in the final draft, but not before.
Most any skill improves with practicing it correctly. If your kids are digressing, check to see if they value neat writing, have eaten less than healthy food (especially if they have allergies), are stressed, are tired, or if you’re requiring more in an assignment than neat penmanship (proper mechanics and actually forming sentences.)
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