I love to write, and I love handwriting.  So, you can imagine what a shock it was to me when handwriting was our biggest school subject of struggle last year.  My daughter, who loves to draw and paint, hated handwriting. 

My solution, after the famed Handwriting Without Tears even produced That-Which-It-Was-Supposed-To-Be-Without, was to drop it.

But I am back on the warpath again, so to speak.  I feel strongly that it is time to focus on handwriting.  I was already thinking that, but it has been confirmed this week in that I have had the opportunity to view the handwriting of several children Violet's age or younger, and they are all writing decently.  Violet does very beautiful drawings and loves art, and I know she can do it. 

I read through the Handwriting Without Tears Teacher's Manual and found lots of helpful hints.  Most of all, I can see that I will be best off limiting the time we learn and practice to 15 minutes or less and then laying off any criticism the rest of the day.  I have not criticized her at all, I don't want to convey the wrong idea... but it is just that I think I will have a tendency to think that I need to demand perfection all the time on the letters that we have covered.

Can I ask those of you who have been through this process a few questions?  1. Should I start with the first book again since we have not been through it and then move to the second, or just start with the second since the only difference is narrower lines?  2. Her pencil grip has been a problem... should I be correcting that at times other than specifically designated for handwriting or not?  I am worried that it will not change if I don't help her with that all day long.  3. Has anyone else struggle with this like I have?  It seems like such a "small" subject to make into a priority; however, I feel that if she does not learn good penmanship, she will struggle to write as she grows up and will hate it.  Also, having taught scrapbooking classes for nearly a century now (LOL), I know that 98.5% of people hate their handwriting.  I don't really want her to be one of them.

Please let me know that this will get better!

Thanks!