hlee Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 Saw this in the NYTimes today and thought it interesting as I had no idea how much cursive usage has declined among youth! I for one am committed to my kids learning how to write cursive and am happy to encourage them to do so. (My kindergartener was so motivated to try it this year after seeing his brother write in cursive, and he has progressed well overall, which has been fun to see.) Anyway, I thought the hive would find it of interest! http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/28/us/28cursive.html?_r=1&hp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heartlandsahm Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 Interesting! I have heard that it is best to teach cursive first. Any thoughts anyone? Am about to teach DD (5) handwriting starting next year, and DS (8) will be moving beginning cursive this year (this was our first year to HS and we did cursive). Should I start DD on HWT in cursive even though it is for grade 3, technically? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aggieamy Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 Interesting! I have heard that it is best to teach cursive first. Any thoughts anyone? Am about to teach DD (5) handwriting starting next year, and DS (8) will be moving beginning cursive this year (this was our first year to HS and we did cursive). Should I start DD on HWT in cursive even though it is for grade 3, technically? Thanks! My six year old is doing HWT and I love it. I don't know how well it would work if she didn't already know print though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonshineLearner Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 Teach cursive first; it's better anyway and children never have a hard time learning print letters if they want to... Everyone knows that it's most likely for students to go back to how they first learn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonshineLearner Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 Interesting! I have heard that it is best to teach cursive first. Any thoughts anyone? Am about to teach DD (5) handwriting starting next year, and DS (8) will be moving beginning cursive this year (this was our first year to HS and we did cursive). Should I start DD on HWT in cursive even though it is for grade 3, technically? Thanks! Yup!! That's what I did. I actually tried another cursive first... HORRIBLE!! (for us) so... I ordered 3rd grade Handwriting Without Tears, with the Teacher's book. Easy... peasy!!! I can't say enough good things about it. And, just printing sheets off would not be the same. The Teacher's book is great, and had him holding his pencil correctly in less than 5 minutes. I then told him that was how he needs to hold his pencil... gave him stickers... and well... it was just SOOO perfect. It's not beautiful, but you can read it!! And, he can add "style" later. I'm just so happy to have legible. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 My ds7 are in first grade and learning cursive. When they were in K and tracing letters for me both of them begged to learn how to write "pretty" writing, so I had them trace cursive words and such while I watched to make sure they were not picking up bad habits. It has made formal cursive instruction much easier. When I heard that many schools are discontinuing penmanship considering that most children will be typing or texting in place of writing, I have to wonder who will be signing their names for them.:glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huntchaos Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 In our state, cursive is still pretty valued in the schools. When we switched to homeschooling this year we joined a co-op. One day, I got out the Declaration of Independence for the group I was working with. Some of them (not all) looked at me like I was crazy and said their mom(s) told them that cursive was not important anymore. They could not begin to read it. That really bugged me - I work off and on for the Library of Congress and most primary source documents are written in cursive. I don't like hearing that the public schools are giving this up either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy Jo Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 (edited) I found out last weekend that my neighbor (~15yo) was taught cursive in 7th grade, they are required to use it in 8th, and in 9th no one cares what they use! In that case I wonder why bother!?!?! Unless it is to be able to read cursive and isn't about writing it. Even though I prefer the look of italic & italic cursive, after reading Don Potter's information, my kids are/will be learning cursive first. Edited April 28, 2011 by mtcougar832 pronouns Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
April in NC Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 For dyslexics and LD, cursive can be key - it makes it much harder to have letter reversals, since with cursive each letter is about a specific sequence of connecting strokes, not about a picture put together in random order. (I know that printing is also taught as a sequence of strokes, but because the strokes are not connecting, and they can technically be formed in any order, the child may tend to use a different order to come up with the same "picture" of a letter. And if they are iffy on which way the picture faces, there are fewer cues in print that tell them what to do . . .) Not to mention, b and d look different in cursive, so no confusion there! My children's printing is still haphazard at the age of 10, despite years of printing workbooks. Their cursive is much better, and there is no question about which letters face which way. I wish I'd taught them cursive from the beginning, but at the time I thought people who did that were a little nuts! :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerryAtHope Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 I wish we had started with cursive as well. Although, when I was in school, we were required to write everything in cursive from 3rd-8th grades and it never did become natural to me. I'm one of those who reverted back to printing! I only made my oldest work on it from 3rd-6th grades, and my youngest from 3rd-5th. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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