That Doesn’t Even LOOK Like Writing, Part I

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I have said it before and I will say it again…

One of the most awesome, most beautiful things about homeschooling is the gift of time. You are out of the rat race. If you have anything to say about it–and of course, you do– your children WON’T be left behind. They don’t need the village unless they choose to go there later on. They don’t need cookie cutter curricula forcing them into subjects before they are ready. They need to be kids.

Oh yeah, I said it. Let those babies play. Little Bobby at church may be reading and writing straight from the womb and here your Little Johnny is 6 and only wants to play with Legos and watch Star Wars. I know because I have been there.

Right now I have two children struggling to keep up and learn their basic skills. (Except math, for some reason–that is working for us right now!) I have agonized over the lack of reading and writing from the two of them. I have banged my head on the wall trying to figure out where we went wrong as parents. Xander is 7 and a half and Milan will be 6 in a few weeks. Now, in all fairness, Xander has Autism and Milan is the baby.

The things they have in common:

• They love to play outside and would not miss the television if it suddenly disappeared tomorrow.
• They love being messy, but not too messy.
• They both have pretty serious fine motor difficulties.
• Xander is dyslexic and we are seriously starting to think Milan is as well.
• They follow two very gifted overachievers in the academic department–their big brothers–and couldn’t care less.

First things first. We’ve identified their strengths and their weaknesses in just those few sentences above.  One of the things I love about homeschooling is the individual attention we can pay to specific special needs. My son recognizes his letters, but still does not recognize words (with the exception of “Star Wars”). On the other hand, it’s like Groundhog Day with my daughter–every day we must start fresh on the lesson we beat to death the day before. She goes to sleep at night and wakes up every morning alphabet-free. I look at the pair of them and realize I was probably that annoying mother of ‘Little Bobby’ with my older two. I will not be that mother to all of you. I am going to share a few great ways to strengthen those hands and how to gradually bring those babies to writing.

Fabulous Fine Motor Activities:

• Stringing beads.
• Shaping letters from play-dough, a primitive sort of copy work.
• Lacing cards.
• Painting with thread spools (the small ones) You dip the end in the paint and make circles to your heart’s content!
• Using an eye dropper.
• Using a pair of tweezers.
• Serving food with tongs.
• Legos.
• Cutting with scissors.
• Tearing paper.
• Cutting play-dough.
• Using cookie cutters for tracing or in the play-dough.
• Print out a coloring page and let your child make a macaroni collage out of it. Or paper. Or string.
• Let them button.
• Opening and closing containers.
• Mosaics–let them glue those little wooden squares to a small piece of cardstock to create their own masterpiece.
• Jingle bells, buttons, beads—let them put them on a pipe cleaner.

And then there are the fun things:

Such as Battleship, Zingo, Hi Ho Cherry Oh!, Shoots and Ladders, Bingo, Memory.

You know, all those great classic board games that are probably collecting dust in your closet? Bring them out!

Especially Bingo. It is letter recognition at its finest.

Remember that lacing card I made a few weeks ago? You can trace absolutely anything and make lacing cards for each and every lesson that you present if you wish.

Imagine a Darth Vader helmet lacing card… Do you have leftover party invitations? Perhaps a Strawberry Shortcake one? A zillion holiday cards with Santa, his elves, a manger scene? Oh yes, they can all be recycled!

Playdough with beads, sequins, glitter, jewels, dry beans, macaroni, scissors, cookie cutters…anything that is in your utensil drawer. Straws, pieces of pipe cleaner (they make good antennas), and don’t forget the googlie eyes.

Also, this little heart guy to the left was scented with peppermint extract. Did you know that they have maple, banana, anise, cinnamon, orange, almond, etc…? The kids love it. They will even ‘write’ their name in beads for me. (Sneaky, huh?)

One more thing–after they mix all those goodies up in the dough, don’t miss the great lesson of having them find all of the missing pieces before putting it away. This is awesome fine motor practice. And for some reason they don’t mind doing it!

I cringe every time I see it–the snow. Use it while you have it, though. If your kids want to play in it, their fine motor practice will be self-directed through making snowballs, building snowmen, making tunnels, drawing in it with sticks, etc.

Angela DeRossett is military wife, homeschooling mother, and an advocate for autism research. Angela can be found blogging at Homeschooling the Chaotic Family and Memoirs of a Chaotic Mommy.