If you did cursive first, please share your experiences. All opinions welcomed.

[BethG]

I'm considering skipping printing and starting with cursive. If you did this (cursive first), please share your experiences.

 

Or, if you just want to share your thoughts, please add them.

 

Thanks.

[desertmum]

In the UK they teach a kind of joined up writing which looks like italic handwriting or simplified cursive. However, I don't see how it is an improvement on cursive. A friend of mine showed me some handwritten homework made by her children (she's got 5 kids of different ages). All the handwriting was pretty bad, regardless of age or sex. Somehow joined up writing did not end up looking "joined".

 

We are starting school this week and I'm still undecided about this matter. I worry that if I teach ds cursive he will look out of place when we go back to the UK. This week we started with italic handwriting but ds doesn't like it. He says he wants to write like me (mummy). I was taught a kind of German cursive. Sorry I can't offer any help. Oh, well. I am bumping this because I too want to hear from experienced homeschoolers...

Edited July 12, 2011 by desertmum

[Hunter]

cursive is very difficult for some learning disabilities, because they have to think about more than each letter individually, one at a time.

 

There is not a one size fits all answer to which method is better. It depends on how the brain is wired. Most children will be successful with either method, but some will not be able to adapt to one or the other successfully.

 

Statistically with no information about a child, it's a safer bet to start with printing and transition (or not) when you know a bit more about how their brain is wired.

 

If you are certain you have a nicely rounded child, with no disabilities, cursive first is a very good option to consider.

[Roxy Roller]

I did cursive with my DD starting at 4YO, using the Abeka K4, K5, Grade 1 and Grade 2 books. She had beautiful handwriting from the beginning, and I did not have to teach her manuscript, she just picked it up from her reading. This is how 'cursive first' is supposed to work.

 

I also started my 3 sons in the middle at 4YO with Abeka cursive. We struggled through until my oldest DS was in 1st Grade and my twins were in Kindergarten. Halfway through these grades, I gave up. My sons just were not wired the same as my daughter, and even though they had no physical limitations in their dexterity, they were struggling(mainly with remembering how to form and connect each letter). We switched to manuscript and all three of them started cursive in 3rd Grade. Now in 4th and 5th Grades, their handwriting is great.

 

My son who is just starting 1st Grade has been asking to learn cursive(and he probably could, as he has great pencil control). I have told him that he needs to run through a manuscript book, to make sure he can form all of the letters correctly, then we will switch to a cursive book, probably at the end of 1st or the beginning of 2nd Grade.

 

HTH

Edited July 12, 2011 by Roxy Roller
spelling

[wapiti]

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[Hunter]

The disabilities I'm talking about are not fine motor skills, but much deeper. Some children need to think about the IDEA of one letter at a time. To think about the necessary connection means already thinking about which letter is next, instead of just being able to stay thinking about the letter being currently written, until it is finished.

[FO4UR]

We did cursive first. My oldest had slight fm delays when we started. We took it very slow, and did only finger-tracing/writing in sand/with chalk/in paint/etc until he had those letter formations down pat. I didn't have him writing on paper at ALL until he began to write on his own for fun.

 

The kicker - guess what his first independent writings were! ALL CAPS.:001_huh::lol: I was a little (privately) miffed b/c I worked SO hard teaching him cursive and he has the nerve to write in ALL CAPS!!!!:tongue_smilie:

 

By the end of 1st grade, he was writing in both cursive and print with ease. He would copy whatever he saw.

 

By the end of 2nd grade, his cursive is better than mine (not saying much) and he can print very nicely too...and go between the two from dictation (w/o having to copy).

 

 

I never ever *taught* him to print, except for a few details here and there. He picked it up naturally after learning cursive. I vote cursive first for the efficiency factor alone.

 

My younger two did not have the fm delays my 1st had so they were copying print before I could even get started on cursive. dd6 learned cursive in K. ds5 will be learning cursive this year. My general rule of thumb with anything involving muscle memory is to teach it the way I want them to do it as an adult the FIRST time...and practice it properly every time. Muscle memory is very difficult to REtrain...very easy to initially train.

[RootAnn]

My oldest learned to print using ZB. Her handwriting wasn't great & her speed of formation was way below grade level (part of testing she did for possible vision therapy) up until three years ago when I taught her cursive over the summer. By October or November, her handwriting had greatly improved (when printing) and she was writing at what one would consider to be a "normal" speed in both print and cursive. She prefers to print, but keeps the "benefits" of learning cursive.

 

My #2 child learned cursive with her older sister that summer three years ago. (She wanted to. I resisted teaching her cursive, but she picked up so much of it on her own that I reluctantly agreed to add the letters she had missed or not gotten the first time.) Like some of the previous posters, she taught herself to print by copying from books. She mostly writes in cursive now - with beautiful spacing and nice looking letters. If printing, she will sometimes include upper case letters in the middle of a lower case word. That would be about the only thing I've noticed that my oldest stopped doing by this age (because I had so consistently drilled it into her at a younger age).

 

My #3 has taught herself to print her own name, but I'm starting cursive with her now. I figure I'll take it on a kid-by-kid basis, but I'll probably stick with "cursive first."

[BethG]

:bigear:

[Mabelen]

My oldest learned cursive first at her Montessori school. She was there for two years, Pre-K and Kindergarten. She had some fine motor delays and we worked on handwriting at home on top of fine motor skills play/work. Her cursive was still not neat looking. We switched her to a traditional private school for 1st grade and we worked on print during the summer because that's what they used at the new school. My dd did much better with print than with cursive. She found it easier and her handwriting looked so much neater.

[justamouse]

Yup, all of mine started with cursive, even my lefty, and it's all good. At 6th, lefty's handwriting is beautiful. Just beautiful.

 

The 9 yo's writing is beautiful, and the 8 yo BOY's is almost there.

 

5 yo just started (because she really wanted to) and so far, so good. She's got a lot of control for her age.

 

I wouldn't do it any other way.

 

I used The Writing Road to Reading for the handwriting and phonics, started with simple copywork one they had a good grasp and that's it. Everything is in cursive.

 

I used dot matrix paper for the easy visual lines, wrote a few simple letters in highlighter, wrote one in the pencil myself to show where to start and such, and let them go at it. You don't push them too hard, when they start to tire you stop. Even if they only get in one good letter that day.

 

I just bought Memoria Press New American Cursive as copybooks for this year and am totally impressed. I liked it so much I'm starting the 5 yo with it and she is loving it.

Edited July 14, 2011 by justamouse

[SonshineLearner]

Handwriting Without Tears, 3rd grade... Perfect to start at any age ;) Get the Teacher's Book, The book for the student... You're set. Easy Peasy!!! Perfect! And worth it to buy the workbook, as it's "trace one, do one" so you're always coming back to "right" before you practice (by yourself) again :)

[lilacii]

So glad to find this thread...

[Flux]

We just started not too long ago. My daughter is a perfectionist and gets frustrated that she can't make her letters exactly like a computer, but she would do that no matter whether we doing cursive/manuscript because that's just part of her personality. She is really proud of herself when she gets past the frustration and it makes her feel big. So far, so good!

 

We are using Zaner Bloser, but I still toy with using Memoria Press. I love that meerkat!

[Momofeat]

In my experience as an Orton-Gillingham trained tutor, students with dyslexia write better in cursive. I always teach cursive to my young students & require it for all.

 

With my own dc, who do not have dyslexia, I still required cursive first. I have no regrets. :)

[EmeraldGirl]

I taught CF in conjunction with SWR (sounds of the phonograms) to my 4 ESL adopted children who had virtually no educational background. All have had success with it, even the one with many LDs.

[lucyfan70]

I did cursive with my girls first...it wasn't that hard. According to Abeka you do cursive first and your child will learn to print w/o being taught. this is so true. I never showed my girls how to print and they did it on their own. I also agree that it depends on your child.

[flamommy2mygirls]

So glad to find this thread...

 

^^^Me too! I was just contemplating what handwriting book to get for my soon-to-be 6 y/o and really never thought of doing cursive first. I thought it would just be too complicated. Then I read all the responses on this thread and was wowed at the fact that 4 and 5 y/o's were starting with cursive. So I hopped over to MP and printed out some sample lessons and showed by daughter and she was totally intrigued. She looked at it and immediately wanted to try it...calling it "fancy" writing. She loves drawing so I thought that this might be a natural extension of artistic expression for her. She went to bed asking me to remind her that she wanted to do cursive when she woke up. I plan to buy the MP New American Cursive book and hope her enthusiasm continues when we get to actual lessons. Like others have said, we have never really worked on handwriting before, print or otherwise, she just learned from seeing printed letters all around her. This upcoming "K" year was going to be our 1st "formal" lessons. And I was --this-- close to ordering the ZB K book.

 

Thanks so much for all the info on this thread! So very helpful for a newbie!!! :thumbup:

[krismoose]

For my then-5yo, I used Handwriting Help For Kids: Create Cursive and did a lot of large motor activities. He had fine motor delays, and this had large enough font to not be frustrating. RR used to sell it, but I couldn't find it when I just searched, so I don't know if it's available anywhere else. He then used Pictures in Cursive primer & A books, and now is copying a (short) sentence a day. He taught himself to print with minimal instruction from me. He writes very little voluntarily ;), but when he does he uses print so far.

 

My dd started copying letters out of books etc. when she was three, so we went through the ETC Primers when she had just turned 4 so I could teach her how to form the letters. I also made HHFK cursive into a wipe-off book, and my dd4 loves it now. With her, she likes to color, so I bought A Beka Writing Phonics K4 book (it goes through the alphabet, and then a few syllables), tore out and reorganized the pages into Cursive First/HHFK order, and spiral bound it. I also used a permanent marker to make all the letters start on the baseline like Cursive First. Sounds like a lot of effort, I know, but it goes through the alphabet in such nice bite-size amounts, it's perfect for her. I just tell her to ignore some of the loopy curls on certain letters, and she's fine with it. She wants to do it everyday, mostly so she can color the pictures. I'm planning to use A Beka's Writing with Phonics K5 cursive book next. She also prints when she's writing something on her own.