Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Sloppy Work

We do the same. I don't push for correct answers as much as I push for neat work and good behavior in class (another issue for us when DS6 is bored). When he takes his time, he writes better than I do! And my DS is obviously young, but he gets frustrated when I can't read something he wrote, so that helps keep him a bit neater... of course, he still tries cramming words into the margins and/or on the last (non) line of a page.

I like that BonusMom... I struggled in college with perfectionism (still do), and that is my approach with DS. Tackle it NOW before it's worse. He still gets quite upset over things he "can't" do, but he's understanding that he's not always going to make the correct choices and/or be the best at everything. And that is a-ok.

Wow, reading these comments, I am too lax with DS! If it is legible, even if barely, I let it go. I keep thinking, does it really matter? I'm assuming he will be typing everything in time. And I personally (as I have mentioned before) have horrible handwriting...I squish things onto the non-existent last line and up the side rather than grabbing another sheet. I'm a very bad role model. But I like the suggestion of having a second sheet sent home to re-do if not neat enough...better than erasing and re-doing. And of course, NOW is better than later in stopping bad habits. Argh. Nan

I think it does matter. Not just in the direct sense of whether or not I can read it, but in reminding ds that homeschooling is not a cheap lazy way to do school, where you can turn in any kind of crap because it's Mom.
If anything, my standards are higher than those in his school classes. I know what his best work looks like, and I want to see it-- and that includes handwriting (and ds is a lefty, so I really don't expect beautiful Victorian script, but still...)

I was just helping out in my child's class yesterday and this issue came up with several students. Their writing was sloppy at best and when they made a mistake they either just wrote the right answer on top of the wrong one or they barely erased the wrong answer before writing on top of it. As I told them, if the teacher can't read the answer, he/she will mark it wrong whether they actually knew the correct answer or not. It's not just good enough to know the right answer, you have to *show* that you know the right answer. Is that fair? Maybe not. But school, for right or wrong, is in part about jumping through hoops and learning to live within the rules. Of course, this only works for kids who care if their teacher thinks they know the answer . . .

I don't worry much about my children's handwriting, because when they are in college or on the job they will communicate by email or by hard copies of computer files. I am more concerned with grammar and spelling, for which computers provide no automatic fix.

I'm a guy. I think women generally have better handwriting than men and care about it more, not that this difference proves that they are right or wrong to do so.

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

My boy has the teachers exasoerated because he can do the math yet he
a. doesn't read the questions properly
b. is careless

As a result his grades are rubbish!

He is just about to start his final year in junior school and he has exams to pass to progress - and the high school is really suited to his needs. They are not going to admit him unless there is a vast improvement.

I am thinking of getting maths questions and going over, and over, and over....not to have him do them but to find out what he thinks they are asking him for.

I think I'll start another thread for suggestions/help