Pens or Pencils?

I talked about this a few weeks ago on my Facebook page and kept meaning to post something about it here for those who are not on Facebook, and this is the first chance I have had.  What do your children write with, pens or pencils?  Up until recently, mine all wrote with pencils.  This is something I had never really given a lot of thought to before.  When I went to school, you wrote in pencil, until you were in the upper middle or high school.  I just thought that was what children were supposed to write with.  I thought pencils were easier and of course they have to be able to erase their mistakes, right?

When I was getting everything ready to start PAL from IEW (review coming next week!) one of the suggestions was to let your children write with pens.  I was very surprised because why should a 5 year old write in pen?  But, after listening to why they suggest this I decided to go ahead and give it a try.  Then I went back and read the article by Andrew Pudewa talking about why we should let our children write in pen.  I was amazed by what he had to say!  In his article he talks about how much time is wasted by erasing when with ink all you have to do is cross your mistake out and move on.  He also talks about  the inconsistencies of pencil  and children constantly sharpening to get the perfect point and gripping the pencil too hard and making their hand hurt.  Writing  is one of the biggest struggles I have had with my oldest son.  It takes him forever to write because he is constantly sharpening and taking a long time to write and erase.  He also complains all the time about writing hurting his hand and making it tired. 

I am absolutely convinced now that it is much better to let children write in pen and get rid of the pencils.  I have been teaching Christian to write using pens and it is going great.  My next two older children do not do a whole lot of writing right now, but when they do I am letting them use pen.  My oldest son does not adapt to change well and even though I know it will be much better for him, I haven't been able to convince him to give up the pencils.  Baby steps.  A little at a time.

To read the article, Convert to Pens, click here.