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Writing Ideas for Developing Handwriting
© Beverley Paine, 2004
There are hundreds of different ideas you can use to help your children develop their handwriting abilities. The following extensive list has been compiled from many
sources, and is by no means exhaustive!
Many home schooling parents feel the need to schedule separate writing lessons for handwriting practice, although this is not really necessary. Remember, your children are
practicing their handwriting whenever they write anything in the other subjects they are
studying: writing up an experiment, drawing a hydrological cycle poster, researching a
project, and so on.
Activities drawn from ‘real’ life, especially those initiated by your children, although seemingly rare, are perfect
ways to practice handwriting skills. Think about when your children write cards to family and friends, invitations to parties, letters to friends,
props for various dramatic play games, making board games, letters to the editor of the
local newspaper... I'm sure you can think of many more instances. Here is an example from our homeschooling records:
"The boys have been working on a map of an imaginary country. This map is twelve A4 pages joined together, and they have half each. They are putting the final touches on the map, which has taken about twenty hours to draw over nearly a week. The map includes a neatly written, detailed legend on one side which describes the various features. Roger climbs up on a chair to blue tack it to the living room wall. The map is complex, with medieval villages, swamps, mountains, forests, islands, reefs, roads, quarries. Their mum remarks that it looks a lot like the map in Alan Garner's Weirdstone of Brisingingham series. They agree, and some discussion about books that have maps ensues, including Tolkien's books and his decorative labelling style."
List of writing activities useful for practicing and developing handwriting style:
advertisements
advice columns
allegories
anecdotes
announcements
anthems
apologies
articles
application forms
autobiographies
awards
ballads
bedtime stories
billboards
biographies
blurbs
books
book jackets
book reviews
brochures
bulletins
bumper stickers
campaign speech
cartoons
captions
odes
opinions
palindromes
pamphlets
parodies
persuasive letters
plans
plays
poems
post cards
posters
prayers
problems/ solutions
proformas
prologues
proposals
propaganda
protest letters
placards
proverbs
puns
puzzles
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certificates
character sketches
couplets
comparisons
complaints
constitutions
contracts
critiques
cumulative stories
data sheets
definitions
descriptions
diaries
dictionaries
diets
directions
dramas
editorials
epilogues
epitaphs
encyclopedia entries
essays
evaluations
explanations
fables
quizzes
questionnaires
quotations
ransom notes
rebuttals
recipes
remedies
reports
requests
requiems
reviews
riddles
rosters
rhymes
sales pitch
saying
signs
satires
schedules
secrets
self description
sequels
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fairy stories
fantasies
folk lore
forms
fortune cookies
game & game rules
graffiti
graph
good/bad news
greeting cards
grocery lists
gossip
headlines
horoscopes
inscriptions
insults
instructions
interviews
invitations, replies
job applications
jokes
jottings, notes
journals
labels
legends
serials
sermons
slogans
soap operas
songs
speeches
scripts
spoonerisms
sports accounts
sports analyses
superstitions
surveys
TV commercials
TV guides
TV programs
tall tales
telegrams/faxes
telephone directories
textbooks
tickets
time lines
thank you notes
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letters
lists
lies
love notes
lyrics
magazine
menu
message
memories
metaphors
monologues
movie reviews
minutes of meetings
mysteries
myths
musical score
newspaper
news analyses
newscasts
nonsense
note taking
notices
nursery rhymes
obituaries
observations
theatre programs
titles
tongue twisters
transcripts
travel brochures
travel posters
travel itineraries
tributes
trivia / quizzes
vitae - resumes
wanted ads
wanted posters
warnings
wills
wishes
weather reports
weather forecasts
words
word processing
yarns
yellow pages
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See the following articles from my book 'Learning in the Absence of Education' for more information about how handwriting style and writing can develop naturally with little fuss in the home school:
Click here for a full list of articles and pages on this website.
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Since 1989 Beverley Paine has
steadfastly promoted and supported
home education as an educational
choice for Australia families.
Her books and websites aim to
demystify education, gently deschooling families so that they may meet their children's individual and unique
educational and developmental needs.
Her honesty, insights and wealth of experience continues to bring hope, reassurance and confidence to families. Beverley publishes her recent articles,
tips and links to resources in
her quarterly magazine, Homeschool~Unschool~Australia!
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