At what age/grade did your ds start

[Jayne J]

cursive? Ds is heading into 2nd next year and I am trying to decide when to start him on cursive. His handwriting is good when he really pays attention, although usually sloppy. He can write nicely, but doesn't, unless it is copywork and "counts." :glare:

 

Any advice?

[Halcyon]

my ds started at 7. he now does most of his narrations in script, although it's still slow going. He actually prefers it.

[galtgrl]

Mine all started mid-2nd grade or beginning of 3rd. -Jen

[Mom0012]

My son started it halfway through 3rd grade. He is so much more fluent in cursive than he ever was in print. I require him to use cursive for his grammar and spelling lessons and soon, I will have him use it for everything.

 

Lisa

[texasmama]

Oldest ds started at the beginning of third grade - he was almost 9. It went quickly and easily for him. Ds 2 will probably start next year, in second grade, at not quite 8...if he wants. I don't know - I can't decide. :lol

[robsiew]

My ds started cursive at 8 (almost 9). He had no interest in 2nd grade so I didn't push it. This year he's doing really well and was ready. I was glad I waited with him.

[MeanestMomInMidwest]

I thought cursive was going the way of learning to use a manual typewriter or rotary phone.

[mcconnellboys]

I believe I started working on it in second with both of mine. I did not require it until about fifth for my older son and still haven't for my sixth grade younger son (who is not so good a writer).

[Diana B]

I have a good friend who is a pediatric occupational therapist. She works with kids who need help in handwriting (among other things). I was just speaking with her this last weekend about when to start my ds. He is 6.5 and will be starting 2nd grade in the fall. I mentioned that he's interested now in cursive, but I felt he wasn't ready due to his printing was not great. She said to go ahead and start him now, or at least definitely next year.

 

She said that they actually wait too long in public school to start cursive. Because by 3rd grade, a child is writing more and then they have to focus on cursive. She said it is better to start in 2nd grade when writing for other reasons is not required as much.

 

So that being said - we will be starting cursive as soon as he finishes his current HWOT 1st grade book (skipping grade 2). We will just be going slow and really working on getting the wave 'c' down before really continuing.

 

Good luck!

[Surfside Academy]

I started my oldest in 2nd grade and decided to teach my middle son, then a kindergartner cursive at the same time. Both did just fine.

[justamouse]

I started them in cursive. No printing. First grade or as soon as they wanted to learn.

[Dmmetler]

My DD started asking to write cursive right about her 5th birthday, so I jumped from teaching print to teaching cursive. Right now, she tends to go back and forth between the two (probably because she's still in parochial school K), but I suspect that next year, when she's home full time, she'll go to cursive exclusively.

 

I used HWT, mostly because I'd done the teacher training class for it and therefore have the entire PK-5th grade curriculum on hand.

[Pamela H in Texas]

Do it mid-2nd, sooner if you expect issues. My mom is an OT and she has kids struggling with print to start cursive in late 1st grade. I should have listened to my mom.

[SonshineLearner]

Of course, my vote is to start with cursive and then progress to printing late... like jr high or whatever. You need printing when you are marking maps. Cursive is best:-)

[Pongo]

As soon as mine had manuscript down we went right to cursive. K or 1st for us.

[FO4UR]

I start with cursive. My ds7 was sent to an OT for fm delays at 4. He began cursive instruction at 5yo, and by 6yo his cursive was better than mine and he picked up print on his own (he prints like every other 1st grader LOL). I'm a BIG fan of doing cursive early, if not first!

[EKS]

4th grade for my son with writing issues, and we'll be starting in 3rd grade for my other son.

[Malenki]

My eldest son was 6.5 when he decided he really really wanted to learn. He's done just fine and has nice handwriting. He'll defer to printing if he's tired or working on another skill (like tough spelling words).

 

Our younger son has no interest and struggles even with print. He'll probably be around 7 or 8. We're playing it by ear.

[apCrazy4Jesus]

All three of my boys started with cursive in K. It has worked out great, I never had to teach them print.

[Momofeat]

My son isn't writing yet, but as an OG tutor, I start all of my students on cursive in their very first lesson--even if they're in K.

[Mom0012]

Do it mid-2nd, sooner if you expect issues. My mom is an OT and she has kids struggling with print to start cursive in late 1st grade. I should have listened to my mom.

 

I so wish I had done this! My son always had a hard time with print and was just becoming fluent with it when we switched to cursive. He does so much better with cursive, but it is going to be a while before he is truly fluent so it's kind of like we've started all over again. I had briefly toyed with doing Cursive First in K, but chickened out because it seemed "so different". We were seeing an OT when my son was in 1st, and another in 2nd but unfortunately neither of them recommended we switch to cursive.

 

Lisa