Cursive?

[bry's-gal]

What did you use to teach cursive? Any good freebies out there?

[veggiegal]

I incorporated cursive into our AAS lessons. My older boy, age 8, was expressing an interest in cursive, so when we did the spelling words each day, I'd write them on our whiteboard 3 ways: lower-case printing, upper-case printing (for my 6 year old), and cursive. Both boys can now read cursive, and the 8 year old can write it--after he'd spell the word in printing, he'd watch me write the cursive and copy. As most spelling lists focused on particular sounds (e.g., th/sh/ch 'consonant teams', 'ng' ending, etc.) each ten-word list had repeated practice of certain letters when learning cursive. My son was never the type to sit at a workbook and write "A A A a a a apple ant" over and over again, though. :-)

[Staceyshoe]

I've been considering using Donna Young's free materials when we are ready for cursive.

[black_midori]

I started with just a Walmart wipe off cursive booklet, but then ended up using Handwriting Without Tears. He learned the letters quite well from the wipe off, but he was able to learn all the connections better and in a more exact manner with HWOT. I really like the book, too - I skipped over multiple parts (like the "cutsey" stuff, since he's 7 and not interested!), but calling them "tow truck letters" and explaining which ones did what was great. Now we just do a sentence or two a couple times a week and periodic review of all letters.