Is handwriting important? In this age of computers, keyboards, and touch screens, should our children still be spending time learning how to write?
I think so! Hand writing a story encourages the writer to slow down, reflect, and focus on details. Typing is efficient; writing is mindful.
Did you know that drawing helps to develop the fine motor skills that children use to write? It also helps children focus on storytelling and details.
The photo above is of a notebook full of songs and poems that I copied down as part of my fifth grade curriculum when I was a ten-year-old student in France. This particular poem is Jacques Prevert’s To Make A Portrait of a Bird. This notebook is the only school item I saved from the years I went to French schools. The songs and poems in this book could easily be collected into a file for me to remember, but the handwriting creates a memory that tells my children so much – about the school I went to, as well as my personality at that age.
Sometimes my kids write me little notes. Loops and scribbles from three-year-old Anna, a few backwards letters thrown in with six-year-old Lily, flawless printing from seven-year-old Johnny, and careful script from nine-year-old Emma. The handwriting in these notes captures where they are in that moment in time. Sad notes include hints of sorrow; the writing in happy notes shows evidence of excitement and joy.
Yesterday I sent my kids off for their first day of a new school year. I packed their lunches and added a handwritten note – simple notes, written in handwriting that they would immediately know was my own. Handwriting matters.
BIC is on a mission to save handwriting, and as part of that mission they have sponsored this post! BIC wants everyone to know that writing helps foster creativity, writing can help improve critical thinking skills, writing boosts self-confidence, and better writers make better readers! Are you ready to fight for your write? Visit BICFightForYourWrite.com and sign the pledge, and you can win a $1,200 BIC Prize Pack to help you write more at home (no purchase necessary, U.S. only, must be 18 or older to enter).
Is handwriting important to you?
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Bic. The opinions and text are all mine.
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Bic. The opinions and text are all mine.
MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.