Homeschool World Forum

[janineb781]

Any tips for this. He seems to struggle holding his pencil correctly. When I put his fingers in the correct position he rights terrible. He can right well holding it in his fist. I did not teach him this nor do I promote it. He is five years old almost six. He will be starting kindergarten this year.

[Theodore]

Do you mean hold it sideways in the fist? I know the proper position is supposedly to hold it in the fingertips of the first three fingers, but I always bent my second finger and let it rest across that for better stability. Downside is you tend to chafe on your finger if you do a lot of fast writing, but the pencil is easier to handle that way, and almost all of your writing will be typed in actual practice.

EDIT: Incidently, this is only a problem if he's going to public school. Lots of kids start out a bit slow with writing and even reading, then suddenly spead ahead and pass everyone else.
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[macro_grp02]

I think the best way a child can learn holding a pencil is to let him or her draw using big crayons first. Let them do this as long as they want. And then gradually move on to smaller and thinner crayons. And then move on to bigger pencils. I think that there's really not a fixed way to hold a pencil so let them explore.

[Theodore]

I never learned the "proper" way to type either, but I can easily go 50+ wpm with decent accuracy, so it hasn't hurt me much. Writing will probably be the same way
_________________
The Farming Game - Software Edition for Mac and PC
The board game has sold over 350,000 copies worldwide, garnered many awards, is used by over 2,000 schools, and is used extensively by homeschoolers.