1My son, forget not my law; But let thine heart keep my commandments: 2For length of days, and long life, And peace, shall they add to thee. 3Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: Bind them about thy neck; Write them upon the table of thine heart: (Proverbs 3:1–3, KJV)
How we use Handwriting and Copywork at our home
Table of Contents
Handwriting and Copywork according to Charlotte Mason’s method
At our homeschool, we use handwriting and copywork according to Charlotte’s Mason’s method. In Charlotte’s Mason’s method, a child will practice handwriting and copywork using high quality literature. We start first with the Bible, and follow with good Christian literature. Using high quality literature for handwriting and copywork provides many benefits such as:
- improving fine motor skills
- developing a desirable handwriting style
- promoting confidence in writing through exposure to examples of good writing
- learning spelling, grammar, and vocabulary
- enhancing skills in concentration and focus by paying attention to details
- nurturing their imagination and curiosity through exposure to good literature
- laying a foundation for creative writing
- making the task of copying more interesting
Young ages (3-5 years old)
Our children start using handwriting tracing alphabets and numbers worksheets from ages 3 to 5, depending upon their ability and interest. One child requested to commence handwriting tracing worksheets at age 3 when she observed her siblings doing handwriting tracing and copywork worksheets. These worksheets can be downloaded from our website for free.
Kindergarten-Year 1
When they master the letters and numbers formation, my kids will practice a page of handwriting tracing worksheets based on Mark’s gospel which I developed. I try to encourage them to do one page a day (with a small reward of sultanas or fruits for their effort). You can start by encouraging your kids to do one line or a few words a day, then increase the writing as their hand gets stronger.
At first, in Kindergarten and Year 1 level, my kids use ball and stick dotted font size 72 but you can use other fonts too, which are available on our websites depending on your preference, but we find that bigger font sizes are better for our children during Kindergarten and Year 1.
In year 1, when they are confident with their writing, I also check if my kids want to try copywork worksheets by copying sentences from Mark’s gospel into empty lines or attempting a smaller font size. See Handwriting Tracing Font Size Samples and Copywork Font Size Samples .
After writing, they would practice reading the page they write.
Year 2 onwards
When my kids get into Year 2, when their handwriting is stronger, I encourage them to either move on to copywork worksheets (if they haven’t in year 1).
My older kids told me that they wanted to learn cursive writing when they were 7 years old. I only allowed them to move to cursive when I knew that their non-cursive writing was very good. And they did move to cursive handwriting tracing when they were about 7 years old. But different kids develop differently. Just observe your kids and see what they can cope with.
When my kids started cursive writing, I used cursive handwriting tracing worksheets with the biggest font size first to form cursive writing properly (cursive dotted font or cursive non-dotted font). I only move them to copywork cursive worksheets by copying down the sentences without tracing, when I am satisfied they are confident that they can do cursive writing without tracing (cursive dotted font or cursive non-dotted font).
And as they get bigger, I will ask them to try smaller font sizes for cursive copywork.
And at some point, they can do the copywork in a notebook. Before they use a notebook, their writing and attention to details must be very good, so good in fact that they don’t need the worksheets anymore.
When the children are young, they are unable to copy directly from a book. Young children do not have attention to details. And so, young children need guidance to copy texts. Young children cannot work independently and quickly lose interest. So using developed worksheets, such as Table of Heart writing worksheets are very helpful when young children are first learning to write.
How often do my kids do handwriting tracing or copywork worksheets?
Beside doing LEM Phonics program everyday, I encourage my kids to do copywork everyday, or at very least, every two days.
Samples of handwriting worksheets
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Samples of handwriting worksheets of my 3 year old
Samples of handwriting worksheets of my 5 year old
Samples of handwriting tracing/copywork worksheets of my 7 year old
Samples of copywork worksheets of my 9 year old
