Writing

Snowflake #1 is finally starting to be able to write legibly. (This is, of course, an exciting development, because now he will be able to learn how to fill in forms!) He is totally uninterested in learning cursive at this stage, but that's not something that we feel is necessary to push him into, since typing will probably turn out to be more useful for the purpose of fast communication in any case. (By the way, the sample I scanned is not a glaring non sequiteur; it is part of his list of proverbs.)

I was wondering whether he would ever get anywhere, because he doesn't write stories or penfriend letters (I practised beginning handwriting by penning undoubtedly tedious chapter books). Writing is, for him, a purely practical skill, used for things like adding his preferred items to the shopping list, or labelling diagrams. I tried getting him into creative writing; that was a complete failure. I tried asking him to copy out passages of writing; he did it, but didn't like it. We tried just practicing forming letters, but he found that boring. I wondered whether I was facing a choice between requiring him to do some kind of handwriting drill that he hated, or him never writing anything legible (in which case we would have to pressure him into becoming a doctor). Although we're quite heavily unschooling influenced, we don't consider ourselves unschoolers, and I'm not above telling him that he must do something, however that isn't my preferred strategy; I would much rather let him be as self directed as possible, unless it's truly a hill to die on.

So, finally, he and I have agreed on a plan: he will do a short passage each day (unless, of course, we're too busy doing other things!) in his best writing, and I will refrain from nagging him to do any more writing unless he feels like it. (After all, if I feel that beautiful writing is so crucial to life, I can always write something out myself in my best calligraphy.) We decided to work mainly on proverbs and sayings because his literal mode of thinking means that he finds it difficult to figure out anything metaphorical, so he is interested in learning what they are about. It's been going so well that he has been asking me to give him more proverbs to write out, and enjoying telling his sisters what they mean.

To be honest, I would still feel happier if he'd spend lots of time writing stories or producing reports about things he's learnt. I would love to collect a fat pile of folders or exercise books full of writing, so that there would be more obvious output from the education process. However, I also know that the idea that we haven't learnt something unless we've written it down is nothing more than an assumption that I have picked up through my many years of schooling. Reading, observing, contemplating, discussing, working and playing are all perfectly valid ways to learn, no less worthwhile than writing.

Anyway, I'm declaring it a win-win!