Which handwriting has curls/flourishes (i.e., not stick straight HWOT)?

[Sevilla]

DS is finished with HWOT K and has expressed numerous times that he would like to learn handwriting that has the 'endings' (the curls/flourishes/italic stylization) on the ends. This is especially the case with numbers, but also with letters. What would I look at and what level? He can write fairly small and knows his letters well (I would say 1st-2nd size lines - the larger lines in the K book were too large for him, and he can write lower and uppercase clearly and with good technique).

 

I'd like to get his next handwriting book ordered sometime this summer. Thanks!

[Five More Minutes]

Zaner-Bloser?

[amyco]

Getty-Dubay Italics, and also D'Nealian both have these.

[Crimson Wife]

Are you looking for cursive or italics?

 

For cursive, I think the prettiest style that's also easily read is Peterson Directed Handwriting. Unfortunately, PDH caused meltdowns in my DD so I finally switched to Memoria Press' New American Cursive.

 

I wouldn't personally teach italics unless one of my kids had an interest in calligraphy.

[Ellie]

Zaner-Bloser and Palmer are traditional penmanship methods that are quite nice.

 

If he wants *real* curlie letters and whatnot, there's always Spencerian Penmanship. Although it seems like lots of work to us, that hand used to be the norm for all school children.

[raceNzanesmom]

You can see styles here: http://familyphonics.com/handwriting/table.htm

[Hunter]

D'Nealian/Modern Cursive has a little less curling and looping than some of the other fonts. Compare the lowercase Os for example as well as the uppercase letters. Stay away from Italic.

[Mommy2BeautifulGirls]

New American Cursive is meant to be taught beginning around age 6, if you are ready to tackle cursive. It has fewer strokes than a traditional cursive, so it's a bit easier for younger kids to learn, without losing the look of a traditional cursive (if that makes sense!). On their website, they have an article that you can read about it.

[nansk]

Stay away from Italic.

 

Pray, tell us why?

[MeganW]

Stay away from Italic.

 

I was thinking we would do italic when the time came - why do you advise against it? Thanks!

[FairProspects]

As one of the first classes ever taught Italics instead of cursive in PS, I have to say it was one of the biggest epic fails of my education. None of us ever used it beyond elementary school, and it does nothing to help you read cursive in historical documents because it looks nothing like traditional cursive. Also, we all got made fun of by banks when writing checks and we were told to either use traditional cursive or print. It was seriously a huge waste, and I feel like an idiot for not knowing traditional cursive since everyone else does.

 

I actually was a little better off than my classmates, since I had one year of private school cursive before transferring to the craziness of PS italics. I am so embarrassed by my lack of ability to write cursive competently though, even as an adult. I can't even tell you how many times I have been made fun of for my handwriting or lack thereof (obviously, this could happen to any sloppy writer, but in this case, we were just not taught the tool). Numerous of my classmates and I have had discussions about this topic (including many of my friends who went Ivy League) and we all feel someone experimented with us and are resentful.

 

Granted, this is just anecdotal, and no one can predict whether cursive will be important at all in the future or not since cursive is rapidly falling out of the collective consciousness, but I felt I should share some of the potential problems with choosing Italics instead of cursive as someone who has been through it.

Edited June 21, 2011 by FairProspects

[nansk]

As one of the first classes ever taught Italics instead of cursive in PS, I have to say it was one of the biggest epic fails of my education.

 

Thank you for sharing your experience. It is good to get a perspective from another angle, since I have always read only good things about Italics.

 

Also, we all got made fun of by banks when writing checks and we were told to either use traditional cursive or print.

 

:glare: This is really strange and imo, unacceptable. According to this letter/comment I read yesterday, banks are legally bound to accept any type of signature, not just cursive.

 

...not knowing traditional cursive since everyone else does.

 

I guess this situation will not happen to our children in future, since no one (except some homeschoolers) will know traditional cursive. :)

 

As the letter I linked to points out (and has been my experience with my dd) it is possible to teach a child to read other people's traditional cursive pretty easily.

 

Also, just as I learnt to write Italics as an adult, I expect my child (or anyone else) can learn to write traditional cursive at a later age should they be interested to learn.

 

I can't even tell you how many times I have been made fun of for my handwriting or lack thereof (obviously, this could happen to any sloppy writer, but in this case, we were just not taught the tool). Numerous of my classmates and I have had discussions about this topic (including many of my friends who went Ivy League) and we all feel someone experimented with us and are resentful.

 

I am sorry that you had such a bad experience in school and thereafter.

I have no idea which handwriting instruction books were used in your school, but I suppose the teachers were also not properly trained.

 

I have mainly seen the Getty-Dubay Italic books and they are exceptional. Armed with those, I believe a committed homeschooling parent can help their child achieve great handwriting.

[ChrisB]

I just ordered Teaching Cursive! from Amazon because I really like the look of her cursive. You can see a sample by clicking the book image and seeing inside the book.

[boscopup]

Also, just as I learnt to write Italics as an adult, I expect my child (or anyone else) can learn to write traditional cursive at a later age should they be interested to learn.

 

 

:iagree: I just learned cursive italic (GDI), and it's actually very nice. My handwriting is so much less embarrassing than when I was trying to do traditional cursive, which looked awful. It looked like a second grader's handwriting! Now I'm looking more like an adult, and I actually enjoy writing "cursive"! I haven't changed my signature yet, but I need to practice one, as my current signature is pretty much a scribble. :tongue_smilie:

 

I posted a sample of GDI cursive italic done by a high school student in another thread that got bumped up today (SpyCar's thread about cursive), and I can't imagine anyone making fun of THAT. It's gorgeous. Very calligraphy-like.

 

I can read old style cursive when I didn't learn that really old style myself, so I'm sure a child taught italic cursive can learn the few weird cursive letters and figure out how to read old documents.

 

As far as why the OP should avoid italic... I assumed the PP was talking about the fact that it doesn't have the fancy loops and curls that the OP's child was wanting to do. It has a few little serifs and such, but nothing super fancy. The capital letters can be interesting and pretty though (I love the 'G', 'P', and 'B').

[desertmum]

Thank you for sharing your experience. It is good to get a perspective from another angle, since I have always read only good things about Italics.

 

 

 

:glare: This is really strange and imo, unacceptable. According to this letter/comment I read yesterday, banks are legally bound to accept any type of signature, not just cursive.

 

 

 

I guess this situation will not happen to our children in future, since no one (except some homeschoolers) will know traditional cursive. :)

 

As the letter I linked to points out (and has been my experience with my dd) it is possible to teach a child to read other people's traditional cursive pretty easily.

 

Also, just as I learnt to write Italics as an adult, I expect my child (or anyone else) can learn to write traditional cursive at a later age should they be interested to learn.

 

 

 

I am sorry that you had such a bad experience in school and thereafter.

I have no idea which handwriting instruction books were used in your school, but I suppose the teachers were also not properly trained.

 

I have mainly seen the Getty-Dubay Italic books and they are exceptional. Armed with those, I believe a committed homeschooling parent can help their child achieve great handwriting.

 

Many people I know including my mother, dh, and a few friends don't have traditional cursive handwriting signatures -the have artistic doodles and they have never been rejected by any bank so far.

 

They all have one of more university degree but choose to have very distinctive signatures. My mother has exquisite Palmer handwriting yet her siggy is a giant A with a sharp angled doodle after it (she is an architect). I think the bank official who rejected someone's siggy for not being in cursive is being difficult, for lack of a better word.

[nmoira]

Also, just as I learnt to write Italics as an adult, I expect my child (or anyone else) can learn to write traditional cursive at a later age should they be interested to learn.

I write very quickly, but don't use the cursive I was taught in school. Over the years I transitioned to something very like Italics, using a combination of manuscripts and joined letters. We weren't required to hand in typed papers until the last two years of high school.

 

The biggest problem I see wrt handwriting of any sort in schools today is the lack of consistent year-over-year practice. In most districts, keyboarding takes over by the middle grades, and an increasing number of schools don't teach cursive at all past 3rd grade. Without practice, a child will simply not learn to write legibly and at speed. This is as true of Italics as "traditional" looped cursive.

 

FWIW, I have my children read letters gleaned from Google Images written in a variety of hands. :001_smile:

[kristinannie]

You can see styles here: http://familyphonics.com/handwriting/table.htm

 

 

Thanks for sharing this. I always wanted a place to compare them all!

[Five More Minutes]

 

FWIW, I have my children read letters gleaned from Google Images written in a variety of hands. :001_smile:

 

That's a great idea -- thanks for sharing!

[4peanuts]

Another New American Cursive user here. My dd's (now 6 and 7) started at age 5 with D'Nealian, which we did because it supposedly makes it easier to transition into cursive. However, I'd not really given much thought as to when we'd transition. (too many other things on my radar!)

 

After coming across some info about the benefits of introducing cursive early, I decided to switch them over to cursive right away--I picked the New American Cursive because the description mentioned it was left-hander friendly.

 

Of course, reading this and another recent handwriting thread has got me googling and finding other styles I might have preferred more....the danger of reading threads....

Edited June 22, 2011 by 4peanuts

[Jayne J]

Apparently, I learned none of the styles of cursive presented in the family phonics site linked above. I didn't see anything that had all the same letter formations as I learned. My poor kiddos are going to learn a form of cursive that is already extinct, before *all* forms of cursive become obsolete.:D Even the community of homeschoolers who still learn cursive will mock their capital letter A's...:lol:

[Medieval Mom]

DS is finished with HWOT K and has expressed numerous times that he would like to learn handwriting that has the 'endings' (the curls/flourishes/italic stylization) on the ends. This is especially the case with numbers, but also with letters. What would I look at and what level? He can write fairly small and knows his letters well (I would say 1st-2nd size lines - the larger lines in the K book were too large for him, and he can write lower and uppercase clearly and with good technique).

 

I'd like to get his next handwriting book ordered sometime this summer. Thanks!

 

Ds enjoyed the Pentime series, which is available either at Rainbow Resource or Christian Light Education. :)