Do you teach cursive handwriting

[jenlaw31]

I dabbled with it a few years ago with my dd, but probley not as much as I should have. I am planning on buying A Reason for Handwriting cursive book for her to mess around with. I have heard of some people on other boards who are not teaching it at all. I was thinking about it, and I never write in cursive except to sign my name. What do you all do ??

[Dinsfamily]

We're taking a cursive first approach. I started my oldest in print and switched him at 6yo when he asked to 'write fancy.' Now that I've seen all the benefits of it, I'm starting my next ds with cursive instead of print.

[Sara in WA]

I do think it is important to learn and I teach my children around 3rd grade using the Zaner Bloser books.

[Alenee]

I've taught all of my children Cursive from the start with Cursive First. It worked well for us and I'm glad that not only do they know how to use it, they also know how to read it. Being able to read it comes in very handy!

[mom2bee]

I prefer cursive first also. Go with what works for you and your students, that tends to be the only guaranteed win-win situation.

[Ibbygirl]

I went to PS. I remember on the first day of 7th grade that several of my teachers said to us that we couldn't use manuscript anymore. We were 7th graders now and we needed to write all in cursive or they wouldn't accept our papers. Needless to say it got us writing in cursive. lol We also felt much more grown up by writing like adults.

 

I wanted to do the same with my dd. I used to buy one of the cursive writing workbooks each year and have her complete it as her handwriting practice. When she hit 7th, I told her that she had to write in cursive and she does mostly although with math I will allow manuscript, but language arts etc has to be in cursive.

[jenlaw31]

Being able to read it comes in very handy!

 

Good point, I didn't really think about that.

[nova mama]

DS8 started Cursive Connections this year and he really likes it. It's attractive, with a nice slant. Not too loopy. Since finishing the book, he's been doing copywork in cursive.

[razorbackmama]

DEFINITELY. Apparently our public schools don't teach it at all around here, and it drives our Taekwon-Do teacher up the WALL. LOL He said he has needed some kids' signatures before, and they had no idea what he was talking about.:001_huh:

[Ellie]

Of course.

 

It is how English has been written for hundreds of years. It is how people in other English-speaking countries still write. Why wouldn't I want my dc to be able to write--and read--plainly their own language, in any form they need to?

[5LittleMonkeys]

I teach both. Dd8 has gone through print (italics) and cursive (traditional because she thinks its prettier than the italics type of connected letters) and is now having fun developing her own style. I expect cursive from my olders on some work simply because it causes them to take more time and pay attention to neatness. I like that they can read it also because we have many relatives that still send handwritten notes in cursive. Even if I weren't going to expect them to write in cursive I would still insist that they be able to sign their name and be able to read it at the very least.

[coffeegal]

Yes, we work on cursive through the 8th grade. :001_smile:

[nmoira]

Manuscript and joined Italics (GDI). It's elegant, yet highly legible, even by those who cannot read cursive, and it's designed for speed. These attributes dovetail neatly to cover my primary goal for the girls' handwriting: to have them develop the ability to take/make legible notes at speed. They each do ten minutes best writing (usually in the form of copywork) per day, every school day, and will continue to do so for a number of years.

 

I teach them to read a variety of styles of traditional/looped cursive and other scripts. FWIW, since Italics is an older writing form than looped cursive, so is actually the more traditional if that is an area of concern. :tongue_smilie:

[Kirch]

Yes, ds 6 is learning cursive now at his own request. I would have introduced it later anyway, but I'm liking the benefits now: he's consistently using lowercase letters when appropriate rather than randomly mixing in uppercase letters; it's neater because he's more careful with his writing and he WANTS to do it; he's much better about uniform letter size even when writing on unlined paper.

[thood]

My dd is 9 and 3rd grade, and we have taught her cursive this year, using handwriting without tears. My son, who is in second grade and 8, wanted to learn as well, but was struggling with his printing as was, so we did not introduce it to him. Instead, I used HWOT first grade book the first 18 weeks, and we are now doing the HWOT second grade book and will do cursive with him next year.

 

I have a few relatives that are Occupational Therapists, so HWOT, for us just made since as it is all based on developmental levels.

 

I too agree that it would be helpful to teach it for the pure fact that they will need to be able to read it.

[Miss Sherry]

I think it's important for everyone to at least be able to read cursive. Even if your child prefers to write in manuscript or type everything, it's still important they be able to read cursive handwriting because sooner or later someone will write them a note in cursive. Although most writing is done in typing now, people still write on occasion in cursive.

[tiffanyl]

Yes we teach it here, I personally feel it is very important...

 

For my older kids who learned cursive in 3rd gr. I required everything in cursive starting in 4th grade.

 

For my 9yr old.... I started her with cursive first in 1st grade, So she has used cursive for everything from the start.

 

For my 1st gr. DS ...he is using cursive first this year and will follow in his 9yr old sisters steps.

 

I have found that teaching cursive first works great. After they learn the cursive the printing is no problem, it comes easily.

[rolandgill037]

We often take the things we learned while young for granted. Reading and writing are two things that all of us do on a daily basis. When you've been doing something for a very long time without having to think about it, teaching a beginner how to perform this function can be somewhat challenging. Writing in cursive is something that most of us learned many, many years ago. Showing a young child or an adult how to do so can be frustrating for the student if they are not being taught step-by-step.

[Tracy]

I am teaching cursive first, as well. Part of the reason for it is that I am heavily involved in family history, and I have lots of documents written in cursive that I want my kids to be able to read. Arguably, you don't need to write it in order to read it, but I do think that writing it makes reading it easier.

 

But my biggest reason is that it is easier and faster to write in cursive. I will never forget sitting for the Bar Exam for a 6-hour essay test. I was glad that I was able to use the fastest and easiest form of writing without having to think about it.

[chrissymama]

My 9yo, 3rd grader is learning cursive this year, with HWOT.

 

After reading this thread, now I am considering teaching Lilah next year, when she'll be in 1st grade.

[Satori]

Yep, my daughter begged to learn it at age 5. She started trying to teach herself, so I quickly got HWT Cursive and we went from there. We did finish up all of HWT Printing. She's working on HWT grade 4 Cursive right now in fact.