If you have done cursive first or early cursive...

[Mommy22alyns]

How long do you keep up cursive instruction? And what have you used to maintain neat cursive handwriting? Becca can form all of her letters in cursive and is using a fourth grade handwriting book. In the series we use, though, they graduate to no guidelines at all and I don't think she's ready for it. I wouldn't mind using another series, but I don't want her to be making endless lines of basic letters, KWIM? She hates that and would rather write a sentence or two, something with meaning. Any suggestions?

[Medieval Mom]

Yes! (Ds began cursive at 5.)

 

1. Pentime. Available at Rainbow Resource. They have cursive books from 3-8. The 3 has rather large lines, and worked very well for ds at the age of 6. If a whole page practice is too much, just do half a page, or whatever amount is reasonable for her. There's no rush!

 

2. CLE has a nice workbook here.

 

3. You can make practice books yourself. Zaner Bloser has a template called Fonts Online. Some people like Startwrite, a program with several handwriting fonts. I bought Educational Fontware, often make my own copywork. I'm geeky, and think it's fun to make up copywork in cursive fonts. Ds needs gradually thinner lines, so I just make the font smaller as we go.

 

4. The least expensive it to buy the lined paper you need, in the width you need, and write it out yourself. (If you have admirable penmanship yourself, that is ;) )

 

Hope that helps!

[Medieval Mom]

I forgot to add that we stopped formal instruction once he knew how to form all the letters. Copywork and Pentime were his practice. Ds is in 2nd grade and occasionally asks, "Mom, how do I form the Uppercase (fill in the blank)." I simply show him, he remembers, and we move on. If he is doing his copywork and it is obvious that his letter r's are looking sloppy all over the place, I have him write 3 r's as neatly as he can. He loves this, and takes such pride in his work. :)

[JayneJ]

I've struggled with the question of "how long" do I make my daughter practice/write cursive. After a lot of discussion with my husband and looking at the facts of living in the 21st century. We've decided that 1 strong year of formal cursive is all we'll do. So far we are about 1/2 done. For us it made sense to go with Abeka (I wouldn't say it's the best or worst) and I don't require perfection just her best. I don't grade each assignment. Instead, we use a check +, check, & check - system. For grade purposes it translates into A+ (excellent), B (good), C (could use improving but nice try). The pressure is less for her since my daughter can be somewhat of a perfectionist. We opted for "Writing with Phonics 2 Cursive" it's the second grade main handwriting/writing workbook. I wouldn't recommend it for a beginner. We did a simple workbook by TeacherCreatedResources called " Cursive Writing" (link provided). It's very basic and a little different then Abeka but a nice starter for learning cursive. I really wanted to do Copywork Cursive from Memoria Press. But since we haven't started Latin I decided not to get it when we do get to Latin I may add it as part of Latin instruction. If you want something meaningful and our thinking of adding or have started Latin consider Memoria Press copywork book.

[FO4UR]

I like Abeka K5 for a beginner. I've not used any other of their years b/c beyond that ds7 was able to keep up his cursive by doing daily work in cursive.

 

We don't spend any time on cursive instruction anymore, but he uses it daily. That's the key.

 

Can she look at print and write in cursive? If so, just give her handwriting paper and something to copy. If not, can she copy what you have onto handwriting paper?

[rwjx2khsmj]

My ds does all his Latin work in cursive. We both consider it to be lovely writing with a purpose.

[Whereneverever]

We did Cursive First. I periodically watch her write and spot correct letters as needed. When she really has trouble with a letter for some reason, I make up a silly sentence that uses it a lot and have her copy it three times.

[Rosie_0801]

The samples for Pictures in Cursive looks nice.

 

 

Rosie

[Tress]

I always write in cursive, so I just write out her copywork and let her copy it. We used Cursive First to learn the letters and than started using copywork.

 

We do use lined paper with 'help lines', she is not yet ready for normal lined paper.

[scrappyhappymama]

We start with A Beka cursive. Once my son was writing well in cursive, I didn't continue penmanship specifically, but he does his WWE copywork in cursive. Instead of buying the workbook, I make his copywork pages with StartWrite. Two Birds, Same Stone. :001_smile: