Grade 2 Handwriting

Second grade is the year letters stop being drawings and start being writing. The child already knows the shapes; now she learns to make them the same size every time. Insist on only one thing at a time: this week, tall letters touch the top line; next week, every round letter sits on the baseline.

Tall letters (b, d, f, h, k, l, t and every capital) reach the top line. Short letters (a, c, e, i, m, n, o, r, s, u, v, w, x, z) fill only the space between the middle line and the baseline. Tail letters (g, j, p, q, y) drop below the baseline. If a child gets these three heights right, the page looks neat even before the letters are pretty.

Spacing is taught with a finger, not a ruler. Have the child lay one fingertip on the paper after each word, then start the next word beside it. Between letters inside a word, the gap should be about the width of the letter i. Words that run together are the most common grade-two problem, and the finger fixes it faster than any correction.

Now that whole sentences are being copied, three habits go with them: a capital letter at the start, a period at the end, and a finger space between every pair of words. Ask the child to check those three things herself before handing in the page. Self-checking is part of the lesson.

Pencil grip: thumb and pointer finger pinch, middle finger rests underneath, and the top of the pencil points back toward the shoulder. Watch for a fist grip creeping back in when the child gets tired. Short practice done well beats a long page done poorly.

Handwriting is honest work, and honest work is done unto the Lord. Praise effort and steadiness rather than speed. A page copied carefully, with a verse the child can now read for herself, is worth far more than three pages rushed.

In Scripture the word LORD is often printed in large and small capitals. Tell the child simply that it is God's own name, and let her copy it in all capital letters. She does not need the fuller explanation yet, only the reverence.