Illegible Handwriting - Handwriting Too Small

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can your kid and his teachers read his writing?

My 7th grader has tiny cursive. I have 51-year-old eyes and struggle with it. His teachers are fine with it though.

I’m impressed your kid can write in cursive. My kids can’t even read it!

Some teachers have had my kid rewrite his work in printing because the other kids can't read cursive when they exchange papers to correct in class. I guess most schools don't even teach it anymore! He gets frustrated because cursive is very easy for him and printing is slow/hard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can your kid and his teachers read his writing?

My 7th grader has tiny cursive. I have 51-year-old eyes and struggle with it. His teachers are fine with it though.

I’m impressed your kid can write in cursive. My kids can’t even read it!

Some teachers have had my kid rewrite his work in printing because the other kids can't read cursive when they exchange papers to correct in class. I guess most schools don't even teach it anymore! He gets frustrated because cursive is very easy for him and printing is slow/hard.

You should complain. That is an unacceptable burden on your child, and he should not have to accommodate other people's shortcomings. Middle school DD had a couple of teachers tell her they had a hard time making out some words (!), but they were apologetic about it. And no student has ever complained during peer review.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can your kid and his teachers read his writing?

My 7th grader has tiny cursive. I have 51-year-old eyes and struggle with it. His teachers are fine with it though.

I’m impressed your kid can write in cursive. My kids can’t even read it!

Some teachers have had my kid rewrite his work in printing because the other kids can't read cursive when they exchange papers to correct in class. I guess most schools don't even teach it anymore! He gets frustrated because cursive is very easy for him and printing is slow/hard.

You should complain. That is an unacceptable burden on your child, and he should not have to accommodate other people's shortcomings. Middle school DD had a couple of teachers tell her they had a hard time making out some words (!), but they were apologetic about it. And no student has ever complained during peer review.

If the schools aren’t teaching cursive (my 4 kids were not taught cursive), I don’t think you can call their inability to read it a “shortcoming.” What local school districts are still teaching and practicing cursive?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can your kid and his teachers read his writing?

My 7th grader has tiny cursive. I have 51-year-old eyes and struggle with it. His teachers are fine with it though.

I’m impressed your kid can write in cursive. My kids can’t even read it!

Some teachers have had my kid rewrite his work in printing because the other kids can't read cursive when they exchange papers to correct in class. I guess most schools don't even teach it anymore! He gets frustrated because cursive is very easy for him and printing is slow/hard.

You should complain. That is an unacceptable burden on your child, and he should not have to accommodate other people's shortcomings. Middle school DD had a couple of teachers tell her they had a hard time making out some words (!), but they were apologetic about it. And no student has ever complained during peer review.

Ah, the de facto DCUM response.

I'm a teacher & I do not have students re-write because of cursive, but I have asked them to write "in a larger font for old eyes". Know your audience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can your kid and his teachers read his writing?

My 7th grader has tiny cursive. I have 51-year-old eyes and struggle with it. His teachers are fine with it though.

I’m impressed your kid can write in cursive. My kids can’t even read it!

Some teachers have had my kid rewrite his work in printing because the other kids can't read cursive when they exchange papers to correct in class. I guess most schools don't even teach it anymore! He gets frustrated because cursive is very easy for him and printing is slow/hard.

Cursive isn’t the problem. Surely the adult teacher can read cursive. They just can’t read your son’s. If they can’t read it then he needs to chance how he writes. Whether that be printing or larger/cleaner letters

[Anonymous]

How bad are we talking about? And it is not controllable even if she is asked to slow down and write more clearly? If it is that serious, have you ever looked into getting a professional to see if she has dysgraphia? Yes, this is a real thing which is a real problem and not just "sloppy handwriting." But it's hard to tell from what you describe just how bad it is for her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can your kid and his teachers read his writing?

My 7th grader has tiny cursive. I have 51-year-old eyes and struggle with it. His teachers are fine with it though.

I’m impressed your kid can write in cursive. My kids can’t even read it!

Some teachers have had my kid rewrite his work in printing because the other kids can't read cursive when they exchange papers to correct in class. I guess most schools don't even teach it anymore! He gets frustrated because cursive is very easy for him and printing is slow/hard.

You should complain. That is an unacceptable burden on your child, and he should not have to accommodate other people's shortcomings. Middle school DD had a couple of teachers tell her they had a hard time making out some words (!), but they were apologetic about it. And no student has ever complained during peer review.

Ah, the de facto DCUM response.

I'm a teacher & I do not have students re-write because of cursive, but I have asked them to write "in a larger font for old eyes". Know your audience.

No, I wrote that because most teachers, including yourself, would never ask a student to rewrite an essay. That's just not something you ask of a high schooler who has hours of homework and other things besides. Writing larger is perfectly acceptable, but surely you recognize that it's an entirely different, and much more reasonable request.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can your kid and his teachers read his writing?

My 7th grader has tiny cursive. I have 51-year-old eyes and struggle with it. His teachers are fine with it though.

I’m impressed your kid can write in cursive. My kids can’t even read it!

Some teachers have had my kid rewrite his work in printing because the other kids can't read cursive when they exchange papers to correct in class. I guess most schools don't even teach it anymore! He gets frustrated because cursive is very easy for him and printing is slow/hard.

Cursive isn’t the problem. Surely the adult teacher can read cursive. They just can’t read your son’s. If they can’t read it then he needs to chance how he writes. Whether that be printing or larger/cleaner letters

You'd be surprised! Especially the younger teachers...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can your kid and his teachers read his writing?

My 7th grader has tiny cursive. I have 51-year-old eyes and struggle with it. His teachers are fine with it though.

I’m impressed your kid can write in cursive. My kids can’t even read it!

Some teachers have had my kid rewrite his work in printing because the other kids can't read cursive when they exchange papers to correct in class. I guess most schools don't even teach it anymore! He gets frustrated because cursive is very easy for him and printing is slow/hard.

Cursive isn’t the problem. Surely the adult teacher can read cursive. They just can’t read your son’s. If they can’t read it then he needs to chance how he writes. Whether that be printing or larger/cleaner letters

It says: the other kids can't read cursive

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can your kid and his teachers read his writing?

My 7th grader has tiny cursive. I have 51-year-old eyes and struggle with it. His teachers are fine with it though.

I’m impressed your kid can write in cursive. My kids can’t even read it!

Some teachers have had my kid rewrite his work in printing because the other kids can't read cursive when they exchange papers to correct in class. I guess most schools don't even teach it anymore! He gets frustrated because cursive is very easy for him and printing is slow/hard.

Cursive isn’t the problem. Surely the adult teacher can read cursive. They just can’t read your son’s. If they can’t read it then he needs to chance how he writes. Whether that be printing or larger/cleaner letters

You'd be surprised! Especially the younger teachers...

This has been so surprising to me that cursive isn't taught anymore. So kids won't be able to read the Declaration of Independence or other historical documents. And when these kids are adults and they're the teachers, will it just die out? Anyone know why cursive fell out of favor? I taught my kid at home and it quickly improved his ability to spell and write coherent sentences.

[Anonymous]

Could be dysgraphia

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can your kid and his teachers read his writing?

My 7th grader has tiny cursive. I have 51-year-old eyes and struggle with it. His teachers are fine with it though.

I’m impressed your kid can write in cursive. My kids can’t even read it!

Some teachers have had my kid rewrite his work in printing because the other kids can't read cursive when they exchange papers to correct in class. I guess most schools don't even teach it anymore! He gets frustrated because cursive is very easy for him and printing is slow/hard.

You should complain. That is an unacceptable burden on your child, and he should not have to accommodate other people's shortcomings. Middle school DD had a couple of teachers tell her they had a hard time making out some words (!), but they were apologetic about it. And no student has ever complained during peer review.

+100

[Anonymous]

Use a fatter pen or pencil. I had a professor who let me write using a fat marker because it was the only way she could read my exams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m wondering about sex of your DC. In my experience with female adolescents with anorexia, there were an unusual amount of them with deliberately tiny handwriting.

There are a few studies about this in medical literature but nothing definitive and they’re 40+ years old. I’m not suggesting your child has an eating disorder, but an eating disorder is the the only thing that the tiny hand writers I’ve met had in common.

Very interesting! My daughter (NP) had an eating disorder, still has anxiety (improving significantly with therapy) and has tiny handwriting.

X3
Interesting!