Start Write handwriting software?

[campmom]

I'm wondering if any of you have this or have used it? It looks pretty good, but I'd like to hear from someone who has actually used it.

thanks

[birchbark]

Yes, I love it. We got it in third grade and I wished I would've broken down and gotten it sooner. It is especially nice if you like to do copywork for handwriting practice.

[campmom]

Thanks, thats what I'm wanting to do, which font do you use it for if you don't mind my asking.

[Ecclecticmum]

I haven't used it (sorry!) but we are planning to use it for next year. It basically gives you the ability to make your own handwriting sheets, including cute little clipart, the way you want your child to copy (over shadowed or dotted lines) or blank copying. It has many different fonts that suit a lot of current handwriting programs.

 

I like the ability to just write what we want, how we want. We can use it to further practice with ETC, or to copy words from their favourite or our current reading book, which will make much more sense to them. It also, I believe, gives the oppurtunity to have a blank bit above, so the child can copy the sentence from the book you just read, then draw a picture afterwards of what the words say, I think this is a good reward for those that don't like handwriting much, giving the oppurtunity to draw a pretty picture afterwards

 

I did have the oppurtunity to get an older copy free, but passed on it, as a few features in the new version have greatly pleased me :D

 

I know I haven't used it, but hopefully some of what I said has helped :001_smile:

[boscopup]

I use it and love it. I make narration pages for everything, with appropriate sized lines and nice pictures. I make copywork galore. Great program. If you get it, head over to Homeschool Buyer's Co-op to their writing section (of the ongoing member discounts section), and you can get 25% off.

[birchbark]

Thanks, thats what I'm wanting to do, which font do you use it for if you don't mind my asking.

 

We use Handwriting Without Tears, both print and cursive.

[desertmum]

I just bough Startwrite and I really like it. Except for one thing. I want to use cursive italic capitals and italic lower-case letters and splicing the two is messy. It involves opening a new text box everything you change font type and I haven't been able to do a neat job of it. Other than that the software is great.

[boscopup]

Thanks, thats what I'm wanting to do, which font do you use it for if you don't mind my asking.

 

I missed this question earlier... I've used HWT for print and GDI for print and cursive. There are several choices from various popular handwriting programs. :)

[Pink]

We love it! I also got it so DD could use the HWT feature for copywork.

[campmom]

Thanks everyone, the part about having trouble using the capital and lower case cursive togther being difficult doesn't sound to good though. Thats exactly what I will be wanting to do. Has anyone else had this problem?

[nansk]

Thanks everyone, the part about having trouble using the capital and lower case cursive togther being difficult doesn't sound to good though. Thats exactly what I will be wanting to do. Has anyone else had this problem?

 

Afaik, there is no problem if you use the same font for upper and lower case letters.

[boscopup]

Thanks everyone, the part about having trouble using the capital and lower case cursive togther being difficult doesn't sound to good though. Thats exactly what I will be wanting to do. Has anyone else had this problem?

 

The PP was talking about mixing cursive and print. If you're wanting to use all cursive, there is no problem. You just can't change font in the middle of a text box, and cursive and print are two different fonts.

 

If you want to mix the two, I'd look at Educational Fontware. It's more expensive, but you can use it in any program on your computer because it is just a set of fonts. The downside to EFI is that you have to use their little program to join cursive, then paste it back in the document. So that's an extra step for cursive only. Startwrite joins automatically, but doesn't have the flexibility of creating anything you want. You are limited by the options in the program.

[desertmum]

The PP was talking about mixing cursive and print. If you're wanting to use all cursive, there is no problem. You just can't change font in the middle of a text box, and cursive and print are two different fonts.

 

If you want to mix the two, I'd look at Educational Fontware. It's more expensive, but you can use it in any program on your computer because it is just a set of fonts. The downside to EFI is that you have to use their little program to join cursive, then paste it back in the document. So that's an extra step for cursive only. Startwrite joins automatically, but doesn't have the flexibility of creating anything you want. You are limited by the options in the program.

 

Exactly! I bought Starwrite because it is an "instant" download. Living overseas means sometimes things get lost in the post and delivery times are anywhere between 2-6 weeks. I was worried if the cd from Educational Fontware went awol that's $50 down the drain.

[campmom]

Oh thank you for that information. I'm not sure if I would ever need to mix cursive and print? I wasn't thinking that I would mix it just use it for italic print now and then italic cursive when we get to that later in the year or next year.

Does that sound right?

[boscopup]

Oh thank you for that information. I'm not sure if I would ever need to mix cursive and print? I wasn't thinking that I would mix it just use it for italic print now and then italic cursive when we get to that later in the year or next year.

Does that sound right?

 

Yes, I've never had to mix the two in one text box. I either use print or cursive. The PP was apparently teaching the cursive capital letters with the print lowercase, so she had a unique situation. :)

 

It has both italic print and italic cursive, and you can have both on the same page, just not in the same text box. Unless you're doing what that PP was doing (teaching cursive capitals instead of print capitals), you should be fine.

[Twingles]

We have been using it for several years. I love using it for their spelling list. The customer service was great when I had to reinstall a few years after purchasing and couldn't find my code.

[tuesdayschild]

Someone kindly introduced us to Startwrite from the go get and we've used it extensively over the years to create pages like this - so easy to generate and then to modify the same piece of copywork for DC writing at different levels, print or cursive.. in italics.

[Qcaller]

Startwrite joins automatically, but doesn't have the flexibility of creating anything you want. You are limited by the options in the program.

 

Could you clarify/expand on that comment? I've been weighing the options of buying fonts versus Startwrite.

 

Thanks,

Pam

[boscopup]

Could you clarify/expand on that comment? I've been weighing the options of buying fonts versus Startwrite.

 

You might want to try the demo program (if they haven't changed it, it is fully functioning until you close it the first time, so I kept it open for about 3 weeks to really give it a good trial run :D).

 

Basically, Startwrite is NOT a word processor. It allows you to create any number of textboxes, and those textboxes can have one font each in them. You can change the line and letter style in those boxes in many ways, and you can change the font size and color (in 6.0 - I don't think 5.0 had the option to change color). You can add picture boxes with whatever you get off the web, etc. So it is a nice program. It just isn't a word processor. You can't make bold text, for example. You can't add a table. You can't have text go in various directions (vertical, diagonal).

 

The company itself also limits what you can do with the software. You cannot sell the pages you create. You cannot even give away to your friends the pages you create.

 

With EFI, you can sell/give away whatever you want, and since it is a font, you can use it in any of your office programs (Word, Powerpoint, Excel, Word Perfect, etc.). So EFI has a little more flexibility of use, BUT you don't have as many options of line styles and such (like choosing which lines to show - I can put on or take off any of the 3 lines in Startwrite), and if you want to do joined cursive, there is an extra copy and paste step to use the joining program, whereas in Startwrite you just type and it automatically joins.

 

So there are pros and cons of each program. If you think you might want to make available the work you do, you'd want EFI. If you think an extra step in cursive joining would get on your nerves, you'd want Startwrite.

 

I chose Startwrite (after mulling over this decision for a few months) mostly because it was cheaper ($29.95 with HSBC code vs. $50 for EFI), the cursive joining extra step in EFI, and the fact that I really kind of like the different colored lines (baseline is blue, middle line is red - for most of what I print out in HWT style lines). Though that last one was not a deal breaker. It was a nicety.

 

Hope that helps explain my earlier point. :)

[Qcaller]

You might want to try the demo program (if they haven't changed it, it is fully functioning until you close it the first time, so I kept it open for about 3 weeks to really give it a good trial run :D).

 

 

Thanks for the great comparison. I did download the trial and I'm having fun playing with that. I noticed that StartWrite uses all fonts installed on my computer in addition to the ones that come with the program. For instance, I have this D'N-style font installed and was able to use it with the SW demo. I have made some practice sheets with that font in the past with my word processing program. The lines and clipart from SW are nice but not necessary.

 

Pam

[boscopup]

Yes, you can use any font on your computer. It just won't have the lines with it or the ability to manipulate the colors, line style (dotted/shaded), etc. I usually do instructions in Comic Sans. :)