Do you ever eat spaghetti and meatballs? Growing up, it was one of my favorite meals.

If you've ever eaten this delicious pasta dish with your children, you can use the image of it to teach your child a simple guideline to help them get the spacing right when they are writing sentences.

Within a word - Think of putting a piece of spaghetti between each letter when writing a word. If you have some uncooked spaghetti, get it out and use it to see the correct amount of space that should be between letters.

Between words - Think of putting a meatball between the words. NOT a GIANT meatball! Just a small meatball. (DO NOT get out a meatball and place it on the paper... It will be wayyyy too messy, especially if there's some tomato sauce on it!). Just imagine the size of a small meatball.

This spacing strategy using these mental images helps make handwriting more legible for younger students or anyone who has trouble getting the spacing right.

Give it a try, then go have Italian for dinner tonight! Here’s a simple recipe you can try as a family from Ina Garten’s kitchen. Bon Appetit!

Need more support for your young learner? Curious if the Learning Academy is a good fit for your child? Find out today!