diaperjoys Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 My 7yo would like to learn cursive. He's officially 1st grade, and can print beautifully. He prints CLE/ETC-style, no slant, so not sure if I can get away with using Classically Cursive with him, which is what I've always used in the classroom & with my oldest. Here are the options I'm seeing.... New American Cursive - Nice line size for a 1st grader, fun presentation. But it goes in alphabetical order! What's up with that?? Seems like doing the easy letters first makes more sense... Also, this method would take the entire year to get introduced to all the letters, and he wouldn't be using cursive in his other work until 2nd grade at least. Not sure if this is good or bad. Might be good - might satisfy his desire to work with cursive a bit, without overwhelming e Zaner Bloser - Seems okay. I guess. Starts with easy letters. Classically Cursive - This is what I'm most familiar with. I've taught from these materials in the 2nd grade classroom, and we take on two letters a day, finish the alphabet in 13 days, and require all work in cursive from that point forward. It's based of D'Nealian/Modern Manuscript font, though, which my son hasn't learned. The font is a little smallish for my first grader. Not sure this is a good fit for him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 Isn't Cursive First similar to Classically Cursive? I don't see anything about Classically Cursive that would require printing with slant first. My son is learning GDI cursive italic right now. While the book starts out teaching print italic, I skipped that part (he's done HWT print) and just went straight to the cursive. He's doing fine. I don't think you have to slant the print in order to learn cursive. Teach the cursive, and the paper slant will help them slant. My son started out slanting to the left or straight up, but he's starting to get a slight slant to the right if I slant his paper appopriately. I've decided not to worry about the slant (after posting here with a mild freak out :lol:) and just focus on the letter formation itself. Once he can form the letters and do words and such, I'll put more focus on the slant being even and such. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C&R Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 I love the Italic program for printing and cursive. Getty-Dubay. I started off with a more traditional program, and was very glad for the switch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momofabcd Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 I'm using Cheerful Cursive with my 1st grade dd, and she loves it. What I like about it is that it uses fun stroke characters, which really stick in my dd's mind, to introduce the strokes. Then it groups letters by stroke. It eventually works on reading cursive and writing cursive from print. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Twain Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 I am not familiar with the programs you mentioned, but I really like HWOT cursive. I haven't used any of their handwriting before cursive. Their style is simple, up and down, and the program progresses nice and slowly. Handwriting is definitely not my son's favorite subject, but he doesn't mind HWOT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 http://www.peterson-handwriting.com/PDFbyHand.html It was a pain in the butt at first requiring a computer upgrade (Wacom tablet) due to aged computer, but works fine on laptop with (win7). I would not say the kids love it, but I can get them to use it on a regular basis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alveraz Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 HWOT has been amazing for us. Havent used any of the others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freeindeed Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 I voted for other. We like Cheerful Cursive. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sleeplessnights Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 My two oldest boys learned cursive in kindergarten with Handwriting Without Tears. They liked the book and the lines were just the right size. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootAnn Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 I voted for other - Cursive First. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teachmejoy Posted September 24, 2011 Share Posted September 24, 2011 Had to throw in Teach me Joy's program, Joy of Handwriting. I wrote it after using Cursive First and wanting something a little different. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MyLittleBears Posted September 24, 2011 Share Posted September 24, 2011 I voted for other - Cursive First. :iagree: My youngers are picking cursive up so naturally. The TM is really good. It taught me how to effectively teach and it has reproducible student pages. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
black_midori Posted September 24, 2011 Share Posted September 24, 2011 I am not familiar with the programs you mentioned, but I really like HWOT cursive. I haven't used any of their handwriting before cursive. Their style is simple, up and down, and the program progresses nice and slowly. Handwriting is definitely not my son's favorite subject, but he doesn't mind HWOT. :iagree: (except that we only started cursive because my then-6yo really wanted to!!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleIzumi Posted September 24, 2011 Share Posted September 24, 2011 HWoT here! We used HWoT manuscript so it was an incredibly easy transition to their cursive when dd requested it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nansk Posted September 24, 2011 Share Posted September 24, 2011 (edited) I voted other. My first grader is doing Getty-Dubay Italics cursive. But if you must choose from one of the other three, I would vote for NAC. I like its simplified letters. I'm sure you can tweak the program to suit your needs. Introduce the letters in families, all within a month or two. Then go back and do the letter practice pages. Edited September 24, 2011 by nansk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iamrachelle Posted September 24, 2011 Share Posted September 24, 2011 I am not familiar with the programs you mentioned, but I really like HWOT cursive. I haven't used any of their handwriting before cursive. Their style is simple, up and down, and the program progresses nice and slowly. Handwriting is definitely not my son's favorite subject, but he doesn't mind HWOT. :iagree:We love Hand Writing Without Tears here too!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted September 24, 2011 Share Posted September 24, 2011 HWOT-admittedly, mostly because I already had it, but it worked well to teach the basics. We've now moved to daily copywork. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
go_go_gadget Posted September 24, 2011 Share Posted September 24, 2011 I prefer the italic script, and appreciate the logical sequence used by GDI. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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