There’s so much fun you can have, just with a pen. Honestly. There are adorable printed cards and invitations out there, and goodness knows I LOVE THEM!  I was just perusing a website that I have now linked on the sidebar of this blog, of a stationery business that has BOOMED!  Whitney English Kolb was a girl I once worked with at a stationery store in Oklahoma City, and back then I knew she was going to go somewhere big with her ideas.  Man, I’m blown away by how successful her business is right now, and so inspired by her entrepreneurial abilities…makes me want to work hard on my own business. And, I will admit, I’ve been sitting on my heels a couple months now, trying to find balance between my new business, my other job, and my homelife. But I need to kick it into gear…because I want you to know that I CARE, about you, your child, and about the basic, beautiful skill of handwriting.

Anyway…back to my original point. Even just simple, classic handwriting can have a striking effect, by itself.  I just made these simple little invitations to a cheese party, with a little calligraphy pen–not official calligraphy, though I WANT to learn it.

Don’t be afraid of what you can do, with your own hands. You can have fun, for less money…take the time to doodle today. You may find inspiration at the tip of your pen!

Well…more like tip of the month

Looking for a way to make handwriting practice at home fun?  Give your child the opportunity to help make the grocery list this week!  Make sure to watch closely and offer gentle reminders to hold their pencil the right way, and keep their letters on the line. (Try to offer lined paper for this.)  Keep it fun, so don’t make it feel like homework…but if you catch something really wrong, help them make the correction.   You can even have them go shopping with you and read the list they wrote as they find things, and check them off.  If they can’t read what they wrote, that will be more incentive for them to work on making their handwriting look neater.  In the end they’ll feel proud that they were able to help, and they may not even realize you gave them a homework assignment!

Hi, friends! Sorry for the long absence!

I was having a conversation this morning with my husband, as we were discussing where in our home I can effectively do handwriting evaluations with children who visit The Handwriting Room for the first time.  They can’t do their evaluation in the actual Handwriting Room classroom because there are letters all around, and it would be impossible to cover them EVERY time I have a new student.  So, for the time being, I pull a kid-sized desk into the bedroom next to the classroom, which is simply decorated, brightly lit, and a pleasant environment. So far I have avoided the dining room or living room because it’s easier to be sure there are fewer distractions, especially if siblings come along, and the size of the furniture isn’t complicating the ergonomics of their position.

So my husband inquires, if a child coud identify a letter by looking at it, shouldn’t they be able to copy it down from memory? (Meaning does it matter if they actually see the letter or not, if they could have identified it accurately).  The learning process is a fascinating thing.  First off, I do need to test their memory, and sometimes they might not remember the letter without a visual cue, and I need to know if they have their letters memorized. If a child is not able to produce more than a few letters, I do give them visuals and ask if they can identify them.

But even if a child knows what the letter looks like, they may have forgotten a few of the parts, or where they start to make it look right, or if they are really new at it or have learning delays, they may not have developed the visual-motor coordination to put that letter from their mind, to a paper, using the muscles in their hands holding a pencil or crayon.  It’s kind of like receptive and expressive language. Once they’ve identified the object, they have to learn to plan where in space their hand moves, with what position, coordinating MANY tiny little muscles and big muscles using their visual skills as well as proprioception: the sense of where your body is in space, fed back to your brain by receptors in the muscles & joints, and their tactile sense.

Typically a child learns to trace first, then copy, and eventually to create the design themselves.  This involves mental memory and motor memory, which take time and rehearsal to develop.  Typically the pattern moves from top to bottom lines, then horizontal, intersecting lines, circles and diagonals, and squares, rectangles and triangles come in near the end of the line.  This sequence is why it is helpful when handwriting curriculums take into account that letters have varying levels of difficulty, and start with the developmentally appropriate letters and move on to the more difficult.

So if you have a toddler or preschooler at home, test this sequence using your magnadoodle or small crayons (with supervision of course!): draw a vertical line from top to bottom, and have your child trace, or copy.  Then try the horizontal line, then a cross, then diagonal, an ‘x’, circle, square and triangle, and see what they know how to do.  Practice with them often, and help them develop those visual-motor planning skills, and you’ll be preparing them for writing in school!

Sorry, I think I’m a little late. Here’s a tip for teaching children who do not put enough pressure on their pencil: Give them a pen to draw with that lights up when enough pressure is added. Now, this isn’t exactly ideal to do with kids that push TOO hard. For those kiddos, try letting them practice with a mechanical pencil with light lead, so that they learn not to break it. For efficient writing that can pick up speed, have improved control for smooth lines and curves, and endure for long paragraphs without muscle cramps, learning the right amount of pressure is important!

So, I’m not really anti-technology, even though sometimes I’m a little scared of its advancement. The more crazy things an iPhone becomes capable of (bumping two phones together to transfer picture files), or insane abilities become possible of simple video game systems (blowing on a Nintendo DS screen to light a fire for Indiana Jones), the more I wonder how advanced technology is becoming in things that AREN’T available to the mass public.  Not a conspiracy theorist, so wouldn’t venture to delve into the thought of technology attempting the overtaking of mankind, as in 2001 Space Odyssey, or even go into the potential (or actual) intention of mankind to use technology against their fellow kind.   Much too heavy a topic for a business promoting the education of handwriting skills to children.

That said, the more I get into this niche of education, I’m certainly facing, and have to combat the undercurrent of thought that handwriting may not be as important of a skill as it once was, if I’m going to convince anyone of the need for my services.  “I hardly ever write anymore. I do everything on my computer (or phone, or palm pilot, or mp3 player, or…).”  Comments I see on Twitter center on how poor people’s handwriting has become since they hardly use it anymore.  Mostly these comments are stated with a whiney, boo-hoo-what-have-we-become tone.  Even when there is also a slight resignation to the fact that they don’t really need good handwriting anymore, I notice that people are kind of disappointed that their handwriting has headed that direction, and there is a wistfulness of longing for a simpler time in the back of their voice (or between the lines of their Twitter).

But is handwriting simply a symbol of a simpler time, either in our individual lives due to it being something we did as schoolchildren, or more generationally/culturally a simpler time in decades past? Is there danger in not knowing how to fashion letters with a writing utensil and the muscles of our own hands?  I certainly think so, but I wonder how big of a danger.  One pastor friend of mine relayed stories of nations being overtaken by other nations because of education: by allowing the slaves/servants teach the children of the oppressors, the children become trained in the beliefs of that other culture, and in time, together overule the original culture of the oppressing nation.  HEAVY thinking.  I ponder the state of people who did not know how to read in the time of Martin Luther, how they were taught by priests and kings who were able to manipulate what the Bible said in order to have control, and they were unable to know for themselves, for lack of knowledge and printed materials.

Could the same effects happen in some capacity if our children stop learning how to write? Are we “dumbing down” our future generations if we let them stop using the physical skills to create letters (artistically or functionally)?  Is a certain intimacy with the written word lost, if they purely learn to create words with buttons on a keyboard…or even more simply by speaking into a microphone, as technology makes it possible?  I believe yes.  I’m not a neuroscientist. I’m not a politian. I’m not even a phD in what I do.  But I’d certainly like to ponder what some of the ramifications may be. Are they poorer reading skills and increasing illiteracy? Are there potentially portions of the brain being underdeveloped as fine motor skills are not emphasized? (Understanding, of course, that certainly fine motor skills are needed to type…but eventually that may not even be necessary).  What if a child (or an adult for that matter) is in a position where they need to write to save their own life, and no technology is available to them.  That may be reaching, but what if?  Surely everyone knows ENOUGH to at least do that…but what if someday we come to a point in our education where we really DON’T?

I’m not a prolific blogger.  Funny, I used to be a prolific journal writer, and letter writer. I used to spend hours writing letters to friends, and I have boxes of journals filled with thoughts.  With the advent of blogging, it has become simpler to not write on paper, because I can get thoughts out faster by typing (certainly a pro for the advancement of technology).  However, also with the advent of online journals and other computer availability, my propensity to write at all, letters OR journals, has decreased.  Maybe it’s coincidental that my life has gotten significantly busier, and more complicated.  The myriad of thoughts become too much to actually try to put out there, so I don’t try. Nonetheless, suffice it to say that I’ve not been good at being a regular blogger.

But I do want to try to generate conversation here. I want to blab about what I’m learning about handwriting, children, and culture…three foundational elements to my purpose for starting a business focused on keeping a skill alive.  I do not want to be in business simply to make money. I have a vision to keep our children alert and alive to creation, to not be ruled by it, or by men who do not care for it.  I am not a humanist. I believe in God, and I believe He created us with incredible abilities. And it is my hope to teach children to have success with a very fundamental ability that we have been given to explore and know, and use for awesome things.

Grandiose ideas. All for handwriting. It’s not the solve-everything issue. But it IS a skill that should not be forgotten. I hope to talk more about why that is, here on this blog. Your thoughts, suggestions, and questions are welcome. I’d love to hear from you!

Send a handwritten note to a friend to simply say hello, or invite them over for coffee. Seeing your personal scrawl will warm their heart more than a text or an email. (And it will do the US Postal Service some good to see some love!)

P.S. This is also a fun way to lead your child to practice their handwriting without it feeling like homework! Have them write a letter to a friend of family member out of town, rather than sending an email.

I plan to write more in the days and weeks to come, but I just wanted to start by saying welcome to the Handwriting Room!  I’m excited to tell you more about the importance of handwriting as a skill that should not be untrained, an art that should not be lost, and an important part in education as a whole. You might not have thought before that there was much to be said about handwriting, but I’m here to tell you now that in a world culture that is quickly becoming automated in nearly every area, over dependence on technology will leave drastic deficits in our personal skills and well-being. And as far as I have experienced as a therapist working with children, I’ve not come across too many parents who don’t care if their child knows how to write, if it is at all within their capabilities.

So please come back, and come back often, and we’ll talk about what we can do to keep the art alive!  And come here to find quick tips to help your child succeed at handwriting, or to improve your own (I can’t tell you how many of you adults I’ve heard out there that have told me your own handwriting needs help!).  I also hope to add some fun links for you web-savvy kids out there.