For some children, mine included copywork is 100 percent eye roll inducing. They hate it, with a passion. I on the other hand think that it is quite important. So we needed to come to some sort of compromise or at least make it bearable for them.
There are a few ways that I have found that make copywork a lot more enjoyable for children. But first let’s discuss why it is actually important.
Copywork primarily helps with handwriting. I find this so incredibly important in today’s day and age because children are using technology more and more. The increased use of technology had brought with it the demise of handwriting. Children still need to learn how to write well. Writing extends to all areas of life and education. It also has benefits beyond the actual writing.
Writing and using a pen or pencil works areas of the brain that can not be worked by other means. It creates connections in the brain the increase the brains ability to retain information.
Copywork improves memory. There is a reason that you used to write out your spelling words over and over instead of just trying to memorise them in your head. Writing helps to cement the information in your mind and gives you both a visual and tactile way to remember.
Copywork requires a decent amount of concentration and discipline. This an important skill that is essential for children as the grow older and move into adulthood. Learning to focus on a task and take care and time to do it well, will put them in good stead for their future.
How to Make Copy Work Fun
Well, here’s the thing about life, not everything is going to be a fun field of flowers and unicorns. That is just how it is unfortunatly. There are times when we are going to have to do things that we would really rather not, just because it is good for us. That is exactly how I feel about exercise in all it’s forms haha!
However if there are things we can do to make it a bit more enjoyable then we should totally do them. Here is what I have found to make my children really enjoy copy work time.
1. Fancy Pencils
Okay, yes it seems a little silly but you have no idea how much motivation and excitement you can pull out of children if you give them a fun pencil to work with!
Here are some ideas for “fancy” pencils
- A mechanical pencil
- Pencils with cool toppers like these ones
- Friction Pens in different colours. I love these pens because they can erase just like pencils. Careful if you need to keep the work for anything though as the ink will disappear if it gets hot. (just put it in the freezer for it to magically come back)
- Favourite tv show/superhero/pop star branded pencils
- Scented Pencils. I thought you could only buy these as markers but they also do them as ordinary pencils too!
2. Funny Poems
One of the best ways to get kids excited about writing is to make it humorous. Kids have some of the best sense of humours around. My kids really enjoy copy work when they have something fun to copy.
Poems are perfect for this because they are the perfect length. If the poem happens to be too long you can just have them copy one stanza a day. This is what I tend to do with my kindergartener and first graders.
This book of funny poems here is fantastic. The poems are selected by kids themselves so you know they are going to be poems that kids actually really love. Sometimes kids humour is a lot different to what us as adults find funny.
3. Famous Quotes
Last year I purchased a book of quotes for kids for my second grader. Each day I had him copy out a quote. He would then copy it again every day for a week. At the end of the week he had the quote memorised and stuck in is brain.
This may not have been one of the most enjoyable approaches to copy work (but he didn’t complain about at all) yet it was the one that had most effect on his mindset and behaviours.
When he had these quotes and good messages put into his mind every single day for a year he couldn’t help but bring them to the forefront of his mind when presented with different tricky situations. Those quotes really made a great impact on him and I am sure many of those quotes will remain with him for the rest of his life.
The book I used was this one here.
4. Allow Creative Flair
I have a child who wants to make everything pretty and decorate her pages. I let her. Being able to express themselves creatively and artistically is important too. She will always be more enthusiastic about her copy work when she has the time at the end to embellish the page with love hearts and stickers etc.
5. Kill Two Birds with One Stone
What I mean to say here is, that use copy work to accomplish other tasks in different subjects. For example, use your copy work time to copy out science definitions or parts or history facts that you are working on.
This will not only save you and your children a lot of time it will also help get that information in an other time. The more time they hear, read, write and absorb the information the stronger the connection is made in their minds.
Another way in which we do this in our home is by having the children copy out scripture memory verses that they are working on. This is perfect for us because if I am completely honest I am super slack at encouraging scripture memory. I know it is important for them but it is usually the first thing that gets dropped from the to do list. This way they get the verse memorised and they get the copy work done. Usually if I have them write out the verse I will get them to add a little description of what it means also.
6. Make it Worthwhile
One of the reasons my children have disliked copy work is because it feels like they are just doing it for the sake of doing it. They see no real reason behind it.
One way I have thought of to counter this train of thought is to make it worthwhile. For example we have an elderly great aunt who LOVES mail. I can use the children’s copy work time to have them copy a beautiful poem for her and post it in the mail. Now this has a reason. They are serving their aunt by sending her special mail. They will put in more effort and dedication to it because they want to do their very best for her. It is no longer a piece of work that will end up in the trash at some point or stashed a way in a book. No, now it will hang proudly on her fridge and be shown to everyone who visits.
Final Thoughts…
As you can see there is more than one way to do copy work. It doesn’t have to be mind numbingly boring and it can be easy to bring a little excitement and flair to the subject.
Copy work is important in so many ways. It doesn’t need to be done every single day but it should be done a few times a week to help improve children’s handwriting, memory and focus.
