I know I've mentioned the importance of teaching children to write their signatures before, but once they reach the teen years it's time to really polish those signatures off and prepare them for use. High school and life beyond is filled with forms - forms that need to be filled out, and signed.
Teens are self-conscience enough, and homeschool teens can be even more so. There's no need to set them up for embarrassment when a little bit of prep and practice will have them ready to go.
While you're at it too, you might consider going over basic form facts in the privacy of your own home (rather than in front of the bank teller, or college admissions clerk).
- Forms are filled out in black or blue ink (usually in black, but never in pencil)
- There are various date formats mm/dd/yyyy (for instance)
- Neatness counts
- How to use "N/A" or "same as above"
- Read the questions carefully, and pay attention to where you are supposed to fill in the answers.
- Small mistakes can be crossed out (with a single line) and re-written.
- Know your basic facts (address - including zip code, phone number - with area code (but not the preceding "1", social security number, etc.)
Most of it's self explanatory, and all of us have learned by practice - assure your teens of that. We all start out (and ultimately end up) slow at filling out forms, but get better with practice - and there will be plenty of practice ahead.
It's great to be a homeschooler.
1 comment:
Good point. I was thinking recently because my kids just got cell phones how helpful it will be to have them work on writing out phone numbers on a regular basis.
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