Christopher’s diagramming more complex sentences now (adverbs & adjectives) and it’s taking longer for him to write out. His handwriting is fine, I think (we’ll start cursive probably this fall when he turns eight) but I do still like him to practice. He sometimes gets frustrated with writing out longer exercises, though. He much more prefers to write letters to friends or family or journal or do something fun for his handwriting practice – not just do grammar lessons. I agree that when it’s practical and fun, they’re more inspired to do a lot of handwriting (and I know it’s counting for handwriting practice, too.)

We found a good solution – when he’s diagramming his sentences I let him draw it out in the air. He shows me and says the sentence then tells me where each word goes – right top, left top, right diagonal, left diagonal. It lets him move, it practices the left/right concept, it verifies he’s learning his language lesson, and it spares us some frustration. I like that I can work with his strengths and still accomplish the same goal. Plus some bonus goals. 🙂