My Poor Little Lefty

My son turned 4 last week.  That means next summer he will turn 5...just 6 weeks before starting Kindergarten.  I know firsthand how big the age spectrum can be in K since the trend is to "hold back" the kids with the summer birthdays.  This means he'll be in class with children who are an entire year older than he is.  The age span typically balances out by 3rd, but it can make for a rough start for the little ones.  He's fortunate in that he seems to be pretty bright.  He loves to learn and retains things. He's also had the benefit of an amazing preK experience and will have one more year at his preschool.  I'm doing what I can at home to help prepare him for school.

He loves to write letters and does a decent job. However, I've notice he will often start them at the bottom or else make the lines out of order.  In an attempt to prevent bad habits from forming I decided to do some "formal" handwriting lessons with him and even bought this neat dry erase board book from Lakeshore.

I was excited to use it.

He was excited to use it.

We started using it.  

He worked hard.  He was focused.  He was attentive.  He was determined.

He carefully made a letter...and then the next...and then the next.  He stood back to admire his work and it was gone.  All he had to show for it was a purple hand.  You see my poor little guy is left handed and as he wrote from left to right with his left hand it erased his hard work.  I'm right handed and when I try to do hand-over-hand activities it is a challenge.  

Luckily it's summer and my purple-handed lefty will come clean in the pool