Handwriting, just like all skills, is not something you can just jump in and start doing. You have to lay a foundation of skills, practice those skills, then try the big work (letter writing), and then practice that work. There’s a developmental sequence to the way we learn to write letters, and there are correct pathways for each letter, uppercase and lowercase, as well as the digits 0-9. Oftentimes these writing workbooks we find at the store or online are great practice. But they aren’t what we want to use to introduce and teach the skill. So, if you have those workbooks, tuck them away for a bit. Don’t toss them, they will have their time to shine, but not just yet. Instead we are going to print out the Handwriting Pathways resource and walk through each letter, step-by-step. We are going to learn the correct pathway, we are going to do ample scaffolded practice, and then, when we are feeling confident, we will practice our skills in those workbooks to build our fluency!

Oftentimes when we think of handwriting instruction we think of grabbing a workbook and starting on page one. Page one usually is Aa. But that is actually not where to start when teaching kids to write their letters and numbers. In fact, you don’t even need those workbooks for quite a while, you aren’t even going to start with letters or numbers. So then, where do we start? Let me tell you.