Saturday, August 20, 2005

Hand Strength and Handwriting

Yesterday Brighteyes finished her first grade handwriting book. Her handwriting isn't bad for a 6 1/12thyo, but she lacks the fine motor control for cursive. I've got a supplement, but it's repetitive and I worry she'll find it boring. It's scanable, and she found working from a printout novel.

We wrote up the bean sprouts today. Between the old seeds and my rusty technique the germination rate was abysmal, but the girls didn't notice. They wanted to know why the water stunk each time we changed it, and were fascinated to learn that plants put out waste material too.

Lessons were over by 11:30, after a puppy play-break. The girls got into their swimsuits and I turned on Granny's sprinkler toy, which completely disintegrated in under two minutes. Then I got out the garden sprinkler and they played until exhaustion and ant bites drove them in.

The mail brought the Draw Write Now book I found cheap on ebay. Rainbow Resource had an interesting writeup but I wasn't really sure what it was until I saw it. It combines a simple drawing lesson with a handwriting practice session. This might be just what I need.

Brighteyes also gets her first penpal letter. She's very excited about it.

The girls are much calmer after lunch than they were yesterday. Sunshine makes a sticker picture and some drawings. Brighteyes writes secret messages in Egyptian hieroglyphs (I promise not to peak at the key) and asks why dinosaurs and humans didn't coexist. I show her Draw Write Now, and shows me the plans for a hanging loom she wants me to make her. That ought to do something for her hand strength.

The girls have been gorilla-walking all week after we went over the skelatal differences between humans and gorillas, so I pull out a gorilla documentary after supper. It's been a good day for the hottest and most confined-to-the-house month of the year. Looks like the lawn's going to be getting a lot more water soon.

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