Hi! My son is 4 yrs old & I am currently staying at home so he is not in daycare. He hasn't been in daycare for about 6 months now. I need some advice on different teaching techniques. Especially w/ writing. When he was in daycare, he would write & I believe he could even write his own name. When he would come home though, he acts like he can't do anything. And now that he has been out of daycare... we are still struggling w/ the writing. He can draw & color just fine. But when I tell him to write something, like just a letter... he says "I can't" or "I need help". I've helped, and I've also told him he doesn't need help and to just do it. And we've tried regular pen & paper, crayons, markers, dry erase boards. He just doesn't care at all... So, if anyone has any creative ways to get him interested in writing that'd be great. He will trace letters just fine too... but won't do them by himself. I am getting frustrated & I don't want to punish him for him because it's supposed to be enjoyable for him to learn. He's done great w/ letters & numbers, shapes... everything but writing. We are considering putting him back in daycare even one day/week even though I really don't want to! So, I would greatly appreciate any advice!! Thanks!
P.S. He needs to know how to do this BEFORE kindergarten!!
I really want to thank all of you for all of your advice. I am not creative at all & I couldn't believe all the suggestions I got! I went out and found ABC stencils & those seem to really help. We also tried some Play-doh and also icing for cookies. And fingerpaint. He did really well w/ the fingerpainting too. I'm not gonna push him w/ the pens/pencils for now. And, I know he seems to young to learn how to write but he has to know how to write before he can start kindergarten next fall! So, thanks again for all of your advice!
M.,
Maybe you could try getting him to write w/his fingers in shaving cream, sand or even rice. These things may make it a little more fun for him & show him that he can do it even at home.
E.
I'm not sure that him not writing at the age of 4 is that big of a deal. I homeschool my daughter and everyone was freaking out because after her 6th birthday she couldn't read but around the first of June she just started picking up books and reading them to us on her own. Believe me, I started freaking out that she couldn't read too but decided to let her go and not stress her out over it and now she reads anything she is asked to.
If he isn't ready to start writing now give him some time, I'm sure in a few months to a year he will be more willing to learn. I'm still working with my daughter on writing, she knows how to do it and form all the letters she just doesn't LIKE to. I'll try the tips to use pudding, shaving cream, or other tactile things, thank you.
Oh, I have found some SUPER websites for this! I "homeschooled" my son for about a year, now he is in a real preschool, but I plan on doing it with my daughter until I go back to work. Make it fun - make it NORMAL. He had a time every day that he went to school at the daycare - right? Do the same at home - set a time like from 10-12 or something like that. Make sure that you don't just make him sit and write or things like that. Get outside and play - take him to a park for learning - buy a lot of ink cartridges for your printer so he can have fun with coloring pages that are educational. Buy a V-Smile. It's a video game system and all of the games are educational. Find websites that promote learning like puzzles and things that your child can do online. Here's the sites that I found.
www.busyteacherscafe.com
www.everythingpreschool.com
www.enchantedlearning.com
www.preschoollearners.com
www.tlsbooks.com
www.preschoolrainbow.org
hello...
I have a preschool teaching background, but i am fortunate to be able to stay home with my kiddos too. I can give you some fun ideas to help with the writing. My kids love to write in shaving cream, sand, pudding and cool whip. Make this experience as fun as possible...your child won't even know that they are doing writing "work"! When you use a tactile product on the table, your child can use their finger to write with and encourage large letters or motions. Pens and pencils can get redundant...have a little FUN!
K.
Here is a link to a great website that has loads of worksheets for handwriting. http://www.learningpage.com/
If I remember right, all you have to do is register and you get access to all they offer. Try not to get discouraged. I have had the same problem with both of my school-aged children and I finally told myself that some people just have poor penmanship. The most eye-opening thing to me was seeing some of my school work from around their ages. If you plan on sending your child to school, you should find out if they use Zane-Blosser or D'Nealian letters. It will make things much easier on you and him.
A little background on me - I am a 33 year old SAHM of 2 girls (ages 5 1/2 and 3), previously a teacher.
While it is tough, I wouldn't worry too much about getting your son to write. He is still fairly young. Pushing him too much and punishing him will only make him resist more. At this point, letter recoginition is great. Tracing is good too. My suggestion is to relax on the writing, but see if you can get him to form letters in other ways. For example, he could form letters with playdough ropes, or even make the salt dough, sugar cookies, or bread dough. Baking what you make is always fun! You could also try putting a layer of shaving cream (the white kind) in the bath tub and letting him write letters with his fingers (sometimes much easier than doing so with the pencil). Along the same lines, you could use whipped cream on a cookie sheet/metal tray, or use finger paints. Good luck!
Lucy
:) Relaxe. Each child does well at his own thing. My 4 year old will write his name but not color anything. He draws straight lines and scribble cirles still. He refuses to trace anything. Says the lines are just not the right size for him. lol Maybe he is so worried about it being messy that he just wants help. There's a chance that he was not writing on his own, but his teachers were helping him at school and therefore has not written his name on his own without tracing or help and is very nervous to do so. I give step by step instructions sometimes when my son gets nervous. For example with the letter "a" I will say "First draw a circle and now draw a line next to the circle to that they are touching just a little bit" That seems to work very well for him. Each child is different. Your child seems to like to draw and trace, at least from what you say. So use that to your advantage. Maybe draw the letters lighter and lighter each time until you can barely see them, or change to dotted lines instead of solid lines and slowly over a few weeks lose dots so adventually there are none. Don't get frusterated and don't push him until he doesn't like it. Change things, read a book or play a card game instead of writing when he or you get annoyed. Sometimes just doing one task for too long can cause added stress. Most of all remember to just ENJOY!
I didn't even know 4 yr olds could write their own name lol. I wouldn't even bring this back up for a while. I am sure he knows you are getting frustrated, so let it go for a while and work on something else. You are right, don't let him think learning isn't fun, that will only hurt him in the long run. Just work on another skill, like building something creative, or teaching kindness/manners, something other than writing. In time, bring it back up. Also, if he says he needs, help, help him, even if you dont think he needs it. Maybe, in his own way, he is trying to engage you more in the learning process, and is feeling like you are acting more like a teacher than a mom. Just a thought.
There's a new show on PBS mornings, "Super Why", and my 4-year-old son adores it. It's all about spelling words, opposites, letters, etc. My son will occasionally write his name, but he hasn't shown much interest in trying to sound out words or write other words. But, if "Super Why" is on, he runs to get his paper and pencil so the can write the words on the screen. If your son likes the show, too, it might help him become more interested in writing letters. The Leap Frog DVDs, like "Letter Factory" and "Word Factory" are very good, too.
I homeschool my 7 year old. I also have a 4 year old and 18 month old. I think 4 is really young to be able to write letters. My 7 year old did pretty well with this, but I was told she was ahead of other kids. She is also just a very visual kid and is really good at drawing too. My 4 year old is no where near writing letters that well. I'm still struggling to get her to hold her pencil properly. I'm trying not to push her though. As a fairly new homeschooler, I did a lot of reading. I have decided to take more of an unschooling path. My kids are involved in lots of activities, but will slowly get into academic subjects as they express and interest. My 7 year old is a great reader and my 4 year old wants to learn to read, so we are working through the book "100 Easy Lessons to Teach Your Child to Read". I believe she will become more interested in writing in the next few years since she loves to make up stories and will want to write them down. I really don't see any point in making kids write perfect letters in the dotted lines. I just want it to be legible at some point. I'm actually more concerned with teaching my kids to type.
