Kidlit Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 My dd will be learning cursive next year, and I have picked up a Getty Dubay Italic workbook for this. However, we started with HWT a couple of years ago when she was learning to print. Does anyone have experience transitioning from HWT to something else? I'm a little apprehensive because I think she would actually prefer a loopier style of cursive, but she doesn't enjoy handwriting and I thought the Italic style would be easier. Thoughts, anyone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Honey Bee Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 Italics is pretty easy. I really like the look of it with a calligraphy pen, especially when they learn the cursive Capitals. Its neat and dresses up really nicely! I would suggest using Book C with her. My 1st grade son has started it. 2/3 of the book is italic print an the rest is cursive. This would give her a good introduction before jumping into the cursive. I have my son do 4 lines per day, which is half a page. He'll get to the cursive sometime next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kidlit Posted March 8, 2011 Author Share Posted March 8, 2011 (edited) Thanks, Melissa! I think I got B and C, with the idea that she could go through B this summer (she can use the practice) and do C beginning in the fall. Edited March 8, 2011 by hopeistheword wrong pronoun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Honey Bee Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 That sounds great! Especially if she likes to write. Have fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 We're making the transition next year, and I plan to use book C. I've practiced both fonts myself, and HWT and italics are VERY similar. Many of the letters are formed the same, except the italics has a slight slant to it. The letters that change are easy to change. It really isn't a big deal. I think it'd be an easier transition than traditional cursive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 I was pressured into learning and using Italic cursive when I was homeschooling my son who liked the font and found it easier to read and write, than a curvier font. One of the things at the top of my list for recovery from severe Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome was to pick a handwriting font I like and that reflects my personality and to master it. I'm making some real headway with D Nealian :-) It feels good :-) Every time I see my handwriting, I feel like I have claimed something and developed a little more sense of self, and am becoming just a bit less like robot girl. I smile as I write and all the practice is so worth it! I think your daughter should pick the font that she likes and seems like it reflects her individual style. Even if she does it badly...still...it will be...her. If she picks the font and you teach it like art class, with beautiful paper, a worksheet maker that prints things she loves, and colored pencils and pens, it will be fun even if difficult. Also look into Waldorf form drawing and make forms into borders that are based on the cursive letter she is learning. Also turn the letters into doodles and pictures. If the font seems wrong for her don't use it! I like it for anal little boys. It's perfect for them. And of course other people that like it, but...it's too tight and rigid for some of us. It says something about us that is not true...or at least that we don't want to be true. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rowan25 Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 I was pressured into learning and using Italic cursive when I was homeschooling my son who liked the font and found it easier to read and write, than a curvier font. One of the things at the top of my list for recovery from severe Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome was to pick a handwriting font I like and that reflects my personality and to master it. I'm making some real headway with D Nealian :-) It feels good :-) Every time I see my handwriting, I feel like I have claimed something and developed a little more sense of self, and am becoming just a bit less like robot girl. I smile as I write and all the practice is so worth it! I think your daughter should pick the font that she likes and seems like it reflects her individual style. Even if she does it badly...still...it will be...her. If she picks the font and you teach it like art class, with beautiful paper, a worksheet maker that prints things she loves, and colored pencils and pens, it will be fun even if difficult. Also look into Waldorf form drawing and make forms into borders that are based on the cursive letter she is learning. Also turn the letters into doodles and pictures. If the font seems wrong for her don't use it! I like it for anal little boys. It's perfect for them. And of course other people that like it, but...it's too tight and rigid for some of us. It says something about us that is not true...or at least that we don't want to be true. This is all well and good, but what if you are font ignorant!! :lol: This idea actually appeals to me for my daughter, but I wouldn't know which fonts to show her for her to pick from. Is there a website that lists a few of them for comparison purposes? TIA! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 I think it helps to pick a font that is included in a worksheet maker like StartWrite AND has prepared hardcopy curricula that teaches the letters by each type of stroke. There were fonts I liked better than D Nealian cursive/ Modern Cursive, but they didn't come with enough support. If you search here for "handwriting fonts" all sorts of threads will come up. As you look at fonts, look at how slanted the font is, how curvy it is, how the letters join up, and look at the capital letters. Even though the capital letters are the most striking thing about the Font, those would be the easiest to do differently. You could teach the font intensively with one curriculum and then switch to another for the capitals. I preferred to really buckle down and accept a font as a whole though, because I really enjoy just copying and pasting poems, hymns, quotes and scripture into StartWrite and just printing it out to trace and copy. Tracing has been SO helpful. You can download a trial version of StartWrite and compare the fonts it includes. It has both several each of both curvier and Italic ones and HWT. There is other software and free online worksheet makers as well. The websites show what fonts are available for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rowan25 Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 I think it helps to pick a font that is included in a worksheet maker like StartWrite AND has prepared hardcopy curricula that teaches the letters by each type of stroke. There were fonts I liked better than D Nealian cursive/ Modern Cursive, but they didn't come with enough support. If you search here for "handwriting fonts" all sorts of threads will come up. As you look at fonts, look at how slanted the font is, how curvy it is, how the letters join up, and look at the capital letters. Even though the capital letters are the most striking thing about the Font, those would be the easiest to do differently. You could teach the font intensively with one curriculum and then switch to another for the capitals. I preferred to really buckle down and accept a font as a whole though, because I really enjoy just copying and pasting poems, hymns, quotes and scripture into StartWrite and just printing it out to trace and copy. Tracing has been SO helpful. You can download a trial version of StartWrite and compare the fonts it includes. It has both several each of both curvier and Italic ones and HWT. There is other software and free online worksheet makers as well. The websites show what fonts are available for them. Excellent! Thanks much Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 I just think it is so important to match a font to a child's personality. More important than even what colors they wear or what hairstyle they have. It should reflect the child and not the parent or be what was picked for an older sibling. Handwriting can be changed as a teen or an adult, but not without a lot of effort. A child can grow up and change so many other outward things that were forced on them as a child or younger adult, but handwriting is the hardest and it says so much about a person, and even TO the person as they are writing with it each day. Even a name is easier to change than a handwriting font! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aspasia Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 I just think it is so important to match a font to a child's personality. More important than even what colors they wear or what hairstyle they have. It should reflect the child and not the parent or be what was picked for an older sibling. Handwriting can be changed as a teen or an adult, but not without a lot of effort. A child can grow up and change so many other outward things that were forced on them as a child or younger adult, but handwriting is the hardest and it says so much about a person, and even TO the person as they are writing with it each day. Even a name is easier to change than a handwriting font! I absolutely agree that handwriting says a lot about a person, but that is also why I believe that it isn't heavily shaped by the way we're taught. For example, I was taught completely differently than my mom was, and if you were to compare our handwriting it would look slightly different. But if you look closely, you can see that they're actually exactly the same--hers is just bigger and less controlled, because that's her personality. Mine is smaller and a little more intense, because that is my personality. Ultimately, I think handwriting is genetic and its manifestation is based on personality. That said, I'm currently agonizing over the choice of a handwriting font for dd, and maybe I shouldn't. I was using zaner-bloser because it's more "standard", but d'nealian seems more intuitive and easy to learn. Hmmm.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rowan25 Posted March 11, 2011 Share Posted March 11, 2011 I absolutely agree that handwriting says a lot about a person, but that is also why I believe that it isn't heavily shaped by the way we're taught. For example, I was taught completely differently than my mom was, and if you were to compare our handwriting it would look slightly different. But if you look closely, you can see that they're actually exactly the same--hers is just bigger and less controlled, because that's her personality. Mine is smaller and a little more intense, because that is my personality. Ultimately, I think handwriting is genetic and its manifestation is based on personality. That said, I'm currently agonizing over the choice of a handwriting font for dd, and maybe I shouldn't. I was using zaner-bloser because it's more "standard", but d'nealian seems more intuitive and easy to learn. Hmmm.... That is interesting. My handwriting isn't anything like my parents. However, I distinctly remember going out to get the mail and finding a letter in the mailbox that I had written. Except that I didn't. It was from one of my dad's sisters that lived out of state. Our handwriting is virtually identical, so much so that I thought I had written a letter to myself and forgotten about it!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted March 11, 2011 Share Posted March 11, 2011 My dad, my brother, and I all have very similar handwriting. My mom's is so much nicer. My sister's is different from everyone's, but she's also a lefty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted March 12, 2011 Share Posted March 12, 2011 Personality will change a font a bit, but personality and genetics will not change Italic into Palmer or vice versa. Some people will print their capitals no matter how long mom/teacher spent on teaching them fancy ones. Some students will purposely spend a LOT of time as teens creating their own font and style. But many, many students just do as they are told. Yes, maybe it's a bit rounder or less slanted, but you can still see which font (or font family) a student was taught. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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