Handwriting is something that we often take for granted, even (especially?) as homeschoolers. We’ve used copywork off and on throughout our homeschool journey for various purposes. But one thing I never gave much attention to was my children’s grip on their pen or pencil. I paid *some* attention, correcting an obvious closed-fist grip or the like, but not much more if their handwriting looked nice and or was improving with practice. That is, until learner #6 came along. It seems as though he is single-handedly making up for how easy his siblings have been in these skill areas. I was very grateful to receive {affiliate links} The 3 Step Pencil Grip Training Kit and The Ultra Safe Safety Scissors from The Pencil Grip, Inc.
Our youngest son is our first lefty but has spent a lot of time utilizing both hands for things. This year he has really settled into being left-handed. Whether due to his switching back and forth or laziness on our both of our parts, his grip has not been consistent or correct. He started with the Crossover Grip (red in our set, green in the other images). This was the grip he most wanted to use anyway because it is red (his favorite color). It has been going well for him. I can tell an improvement in his handwriting and he has been complaining less when required to write. The grip is easy to switch to different writing utensils. We have only been using this on average sized pens, pencils, markers, etc. I don’t think it would stretch to fit tools with a larger barrel.
The other two grips in the training kit are the pinch grip and the pencil grip. Our 9-year-old daughter has been using the pinch grip. Her grip looked pretty good (you know, because this kit arrived and I realized that maybe the youngest wasn’t the only one with poor grip – guilty mom moment). Though she did not need to adjust her grip, she found this very comfortable (dark blue in our set, red in other images). This is a transitional grip with less of a “cape” covering the tips of the thumb/finger. She became a pro at switching the grip to her desired utensil. Our other son has been using the Pencil Grip (light blue in our set and the provided image). This grip is not corrective per se, but does help to keep the grip consistent and eases any strain.
The Pencil Grip, Inc. also makes other school tools. We received this pair of Ultra Safe Safety Scissors. My children have always loved cutting paper and thin cardboard to create art and assorted toys or doll furniture, etc. My youngest daughter wanted to be the first to try these scissors out. She was not pleased with how these scissors handled cutting curves. Her younger brother was not near as bothered by them. They thought the novelty was neat. We used them with and without the lever being engaged. There is much less strain when used for longer periods of time when this lever is engaged. It helps to “spring” the scissors open after each cut.
