Do any of your kids have dysgraphia? I struggle with this all of the time. The physical act of writing is very hard for my DS8 right now, and he dislikes it because it actually hurts - I am never quite sure of how much to push vs. how much to just let him get something on paper because he tries to avoid it so much. But what is typically bad becomes much worse when he rushes.
I seem to recall some research that suggests that up until 9 or 10 the fine motor skills may just not be developed, and to just go with it. Not sure when that stops or at what point you just say "get it right." I do agree with Bostonian that any grammer errors, etc. should be fixed. And my son is not a great speller - I am trying to teach him to grab a dictionary, which is a hard sell (he is an excellent reader so can see when a word is mispelled, but has a v. hard time figuring out the correct spelling. I had the same problem., and learned about 4th grade to keep a dictionary close at all times - but this doesn't help on timed spelling tests).
Cat
