fancy writing

with all the craziness of moving, one thing i've had to keep in the back of my mind is that we are not only moving houses, the boys are moving into a completely different school district. that, of course, is fun and exciting and terrifying for all involved.

my dear lumpy has the kind of personality that i know he'll do well in any new environment. he makes friends easily, but even when he doesn't, he's happy to do his own thing by himself. poor bumble is the exact opposite. he struggles sometimes to make friends, and if people don't instantly like him, then he thinks they must absolutely hate him and gets so upset. we are working with his "talking doctor" to help him understand what are realistic goals and positive things he can do. one bright note is that we've worked it out that they are staying with the same great group of kids in cub scouts, so i know both of them will at least have some friends.

one thing that makes the transition extra tough on bumble is that he, and his peers, are beginning to realize that he has some difficulties in school, which set him apart and make him "different." and sometimes kids can be mean, and they use other's differences to poke fun at them. so over the summer we are going to work very hard as a family to keep up his reading level. we're going to drill him on all the spelling words he's learned. his lovely speech therapist is sending home materials we can use to help him practice all those pesky letter combinations that give him so much trouble.

because both the boys are going to be working so hard over the summer (lumpy will be reading too), i asked if there was anything special they wanted to learn, something extra that relates to school. making and exploding volcanoes was top of the list, so i might break out the paper mache. we then started brain storming more reasonable ideas, and bumble settled on learning "fancy writing," which will not only be fun to learn, it'll help him with his fine motor skills.

by fancy writing i of course mean cursive. which i know is a dying skill. i remember being forced to learn it when i was in school and about my boys' age, but i'm not sure if they teach it anymore. i know both my boys have access to computers and are learn those basic skills, but cursive writing seems to fall under the art category, and it's a useless one.

i still writing in cursive all the time. in fact, if i'm not typing, i'm writing in cursive. bumble used to say we had the fanciest grocery lists ever, and i helped him to read the curly letters so he could help get things into the cart. it might seem strange, but even a simple note to my hubby i write in cursive, somehow it seems faster for me to write like that. if i feel the need to print, like when i send notes in to school, i slow down and take my time and do my best to make it readable.

bumble was so interested in cursive, he taught himself to write his own name from a chart at the back of his planner. he has a little trouble getting the "s" quite right, but then, he has the same trouble when printing.

so this summer, i plan on trying to teach him to write cursive. it'll be fun and good practice. i know it's not exactly a practical skill, but it's something he's interested in learning, and if he masters it this summer i'm hoping it will give him confidence in his regular writing.