Chess writes her name!

I have been working with Chess this school year on some writing skills.  Whenever I have helped her write her name, I have written it with a capital C and the rest lower-case letters.  I heard that if you teach children to write in all caps, they have a hard time changing it when they start school.

Well, Chess happens to have a very difficult name to write, with all curvy letters.  She has loved practicing her C's, but when it came to the other letters, she'd just get frustrated and say she couldn't do it.  She's still young, so of course I didn't push it.

Last week Chess had her first day in the Sunbeam class at church.  Now that she is three and it is a new year, she goes into the big primary room with all the older kids.  Then, she goes to her class with her teacher and the other three-year-olds.

Well, she did great in primary and had a great time.  When she came out and showed me the picture she colored, I saw her name on it.  It was in kid-handwriting and in all caps.  I asked if her teacher helped her write her name.  She said no, she did it by herself!

This child really needs time away from me to learn and grow.  I'm not saying she doesn't learn from me, she does.  But she does not really branch out and challenge herself while I am right there beside her.  She doesn't like me to watch her do something new and amazing (to me, of course).  That's hard for me, but it's fun to know that she can accomplish these things on her own and be proud of herself.

As far as writing in all caps, I guess we will continue practicing her lower-case letters, and as she masters them, she can write them in her name.  Hopefully that will work!