Would you bother to teach...

[cseitter]

cursive to a 10th grader? My son has HS'd 1 year (8th grade) and is coming home for the rest of high school. In his many long years of PS they have failed to teach him to read or write in cursive.

 

Would you bother at this late date to teach this?

[Teachin'Mine]

Yes. It shouldn't take much time at all and I couldn't imagine someone not being able to at least read cursive. But apparently graduates from that ps system will be unable to do that. :confused:

[In The Great White North]

yes.

 

There is still a need for hand-written thank you notes, letters to (and from) Grandma, etc. It is also needed for reading most primary sources more than 50 years old, geneology records and oodles of things he may have no use for now but might in 20 years.

[KAR120C]

cursive to a 10th grader? My son has HS'd 1 year (8th grade) and is coming home for the rest of high school. In his many long years of PS they have failed to teach him to read or write in cursive.

 

Would you bother at this late date to teach this?

He should definitely learn to read it at least.

 

I'm not in the same situation (and I don't know what complicating factors there might be in bringing a highschooler home from PS), but DS and I were talking today about making this year something of a "consolidating" year. Spending less time learning new things (not dropping that aspect altogether of course!), and more time making sure the things he already knows pretty well are absolutely solid. That includes cursive. He's had "good enough" cursive for a long time, but we're going to spend some time making it really nice. Same with some other things... basically all the bits and pieces we've been a little careless of, this year they're getting some focused attention.

[black_midori]

Might as well - it shouldn't take very long (my 7yo learned it in 1/2 a year or less fluently, worked on for minimal time), and it will allow him to read things he otherwise might encounter and have difficulty with.

 

I wouldn't expect that he'll write in it at this late date, though! I love cursive and write in it most of the time - my hubby hates it and writes in all caps (with the REAL capital letters just being bigger) - go figure :)

[elfgivas]

our dc find it makes taking notes faster.... but perhaps in a few years that will all be data entry on a laptop, so ???

 

fwiw,

ann

[justamouse]

Yes. At that age they should be able to do it quickly.

[cseitter]

So what program should I use?

[Teachin'Mine]

So what program should I use?

 

Since he doesn't need the big lines with the dotted line down the middle as he's already fully competent in writing, I'd just get something out from the library and let him follow that and practice on regular lined paper. If you think he needs the tracing and all, you can get a workbook made for younger ages. I can't imagine it taking more than a couple of weeks or so since he's able to do several pages in a day. I'd just look at the different styles of cursive and pick the one you like. They all vary just a bit in style, but once you can read and write in one, you're good to go for reading any of them.

 

For practice, I'd have him write only in cursive for one or two of his subjects - maybe vocabulary/spelling - something which will allow him to practice a bit.

[In The Great White North]

http://www.rainbowresource.com/product/Mastering+Cursive+Practice+Workbook+5/014673/fd228b28857b8b9d8eb3e114

 

It has fairly small letters, but still has stuff to trace over and little arrows to show where to start each letter.

 

No dinosaurs, clowns or other kid stuff.

[AHASRADA]

To be the dissenter, I personally wouldn't bother, unless he is interested himself. By that age, he has established his penmanship style, and trying to change it now has the potential to be agonizing, awkward and honestly time-wasting.

 

I am imagining myself as an adult trying to learn a different form of writing. If I were doing it for fun, willing to take the time to write slowly and beautifully for cards, etc., that's one thing. Actually trying to change my daily writing style at this point, particularly if forced, would be miserable and likely unsuccessful.

 

If you simply want to introduce him to cursive, familiarize him with reading it, or if he is interested in learning it himself, that would be fine, as long as it is done casually and in only maybe 10 minutes per day.

 

However, at Grade 10, the bulk of his time really needs to be spent on academics, not on remediating handwriting.

 

If you do choose to work on handwriting with him (or he would like to), I would recommend http://www.bfhhandwriting.com/fixitwrite.php It is a quick program for adults to improve their handwriting. It is not a traditional cursive, but a form of italic, which is much easier to learn and implement. I would expect a higher likelihood of success with this program than starting from scratch with traditional cursive.

[Teachin'Mine]

I can picture someone graduating college and landing a job. They show up and receive a phone call while away from their desk/office. Another worker took a message and puts it on his/her desk. It's written in script. IMO no one should hit the workforce without being able to read script, and certainly not if they're homeschooled as for most it's totally avoidable. I know not everyone wants an office job, but the very same thing could happen in a construction job or anywhere. Many older people tend to write in cursive. It was the reason my dd asked me to teach her in Kindergarten. She couldn't read the notes the teacher sent home to me. :lol: