G1 loathes practicing writing. It is no surprise that he has one of the worst handwriting in his class. Encouraging him to write by hand has been a real bane and I have employed all manner of sneaky tricks to get him to practice his writing skills. This is one of my latest attempts…
There was a book sale at school recently that G1 had been dying to go to so I went to check it out with him one morning before school. While browsing through the stacks of books, I spied a copy of The Wizardology Code Writing Kit. Recalling all the fun I had in my childhood days of writing code letters to friends, I figured it was worth a shot. I also remembered how much fun he had trying to figure out the secrets in the Eleventh Hour and at RM14, I really had nothing to lose…
Has it worked? Well, he’s written one letter to his friend at school. Now let’s hope his friend writes back so he has reason to write again…
Writing Codes
You don’t really need to get the Wizardology Code Writing Kit to do this – I just thought the kit made it all more “official” and secretive. The code I used to use was the Runic Alphabet from the Ultima roll playing adventure game that was popular back in the 80’s and 90’s.
More Codes:
If you prefer that your children learn something practical, there is also:
If you really want it to be secret, you can encourage your child to make up his own code.
Admittedly, this isn’t exactly practicing the writing of actual letters but it does help with fine motor coordination and penmanship.
Nurture for the Future 