How to teach your child to write

With the pencil going the way of the dinosaur you still need to know how to teach your child to write

Nowadays most schools let children print in block letters like the keys on a keyboard, instead of teaching writing as in continuous cursive. Probably a lot of parents cannot see any benefit in teaching writing as their children spend more time on a keyboard than with a pen and notepad. 

With the influx of modern technology in the classroom and university it would seem that writing is going extinct. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Your children still need to be able to write so you, the parent, need to know how to teach your children to write. Teaching writing is not too difficult and once your children know how to write they can write on cards and write shopping lists. 

I prefer the Montessori way of teaching writing and reading as it uses a hands on approach and can be used with a school textbook. 

The basics behind the Montessori approach is sandpaper letters. You make up the words your child is learning at school or kindergarten. And your child traces the sandpaper letter, feeling the texture of the sandpaper under her fingertips. This feeling the letters, helps to implant the letters and words and how to write them in your child’s mind. 

When tracing the words your child is actually going through the motions of writing without a pencil. This gets the hand and arm muscles read to start writing when your child picks up a pen. Writing like most learning takes time, and I think the Montessori approach with sandpaper letters actually shortens the time it takes for you to teach your child to write.

For more information about a Montessori Course that teaches writing using sandpaper letters see here.