jozi Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 My son is halfway through 3rd grade, so I thought it was time to introduce cursive. Any helpful tips on curriculum that has worked for you would be great!!! Joelle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In the Rain Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 I used a cursive workbook from the teacher store to start, and then moved on to Cursive Connections. I started my dd a year younger than your son, but my suggestion would be to move quickly through the books. Once my dd knew cursive, I smade her continue to practice. It was always torture. :tongue_smilie: A friend suggested I start requiring it for spelling dictation, and start adding in other subjects. It ended the battles. She just got used to using it, and quickly adapted to using it in all of her schoolwork. With younger dd, I'll end the misery of transition by switching her over sooner and more quickly. :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Down_the_Rabbit_Hole Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 My boys always had a workbook for learning cursive but hated them and tears always flowed. I decided for dd to go a different route. I don't teach her letter by letter, instead we use her spelling words and I teach her word for word. I take the letters of the word and show her how to form them, then add them together to form the word. She practices the new letters and writes the word. As she practices her handwriting she is practicing her spelling. Best of all, no tears. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momsuz123 Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 We do 1-2 pages a day out of HWOT cursive, and that is going really well. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jozi Posted January 4, 2012 Author Share Posted January 4, 2012 (edited) Julianna - That's a great tip! I have a first grader, too so maybe I will do it together with them! Down the Rabbit Hole - Great tip for my 3rd grader! momsuz123 - I will check out HWOT! Edited January 4, 2012 by jozi adding to it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In the Rain Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Julianna - That's a great tip! I have a first grader, too so maybe I will do it together with them!Down the Rabbit Hole - Great tip for my 3rd grader! momsuz123 - I will check out HWOT! First grade is a fine time to learn. My youngest was very interested in cursive in first grade, but wasn't reading well. I thought it might be more confusing to start before she had transitioned to being a strong reader. She finally took off with reading this fall, so I let her start cursive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
watertribe Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 My 7yo just finished his cursive book - we used Zaner-Bloser 2c workbook. It starts with manuscript and then moves to cursive (lower case then upper case). He always wanted to learn it (like his big brother) and he's very artistic so he enjoyed it. Now I have him write in cursive for his WWE2 copy work but use manuscript for his dictation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YankeeMomInVA Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 We started Handwriting Without Tears cursive last year when my son was in 2nd grade. I have a VERY reluctant writer. Writing is torture to him. But he absolutely loved (and still loves) HWT cursive! Good luck with whatever you choose! :-) ~Lauren Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aludlam Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 I think third grade is the perfect time to start cursive ... just my 2cents. We used the Transition book of A Reason for Handwriting. It worked great for us. hth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathryn Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 May I piggyback a question? First grade DS does HWT. He can do it well when he's trying, but usually is pretty sloppy (readable, but definitely sloppy). He REALLY wants to do cursive next year. I've told him I'd think about it and I'd think more positively if he showed me that he could not be so sloppy. I have the second (more print) and third grade (cursive) books already. Should I let him start cursive? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lbakos Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 We're using HWT and love it. We'll be starting cursive in the next couple of months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom31257 Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 I tried some cursive workbooks from RR when ds was in the latter half of 2nd. I didn't feel he did well with a lot of curls to the letters. I found BJU's handwriting and it's going very well this year. I used half of the 2nd grade book this year already (1st half is manuscript) and am having him start the 3rd grade book now. They developed their own font and it's so much easier for ds, than what we tried in the past. Here is a link to their curricula. I have not used the teacher editions at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Twain Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 We started Handwriting Without Tears cursive last year when my son was in 2nd grade. I have a VERY reluctant writer. Writing is torture to him. But he absolutely loved (and still loves) HWT cursive! Good luck with whatever you choose! :-) ~Lauren My son is similar. We started HWOT cursive in third grade. I bought the main book and a practice book. We do one page per day, and his handwriting is looking very nice. My son doesn't mind HWOT at all, even though he used to hate handwriting practice. I love HWOT cursive! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LolaT Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 We've been doing D'Nealian manuscript workbooks K through 2nd. We are about halfway through the 2nd grade book and will be starting cursive tomorrow! My DD's writing has gotten a bit sloppier once her writing became more automatic. We do manuscript regularly though, so cursive will be no different. She's excited to start because it's something new. I'm sure it won't be super easy but I think she'll be fine. Part of the reason for doing D'Nealian is because manuscript and cursive letters are very similar, making the transition more natural. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurelia Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 I've been very pleased with Ariel's cursive learning. We started with the Kumon cursive letters book, and moved to Teach Me Joy's cursive curriculum (I downloaded it from CurrClick). She hasn't been frustrated with this at all and enjoys handwriting practice. Both Kumon and TMJ are perfectly appropriate for first grade, IMO. I believe TMJ was designed to be started in kindergarten. I wouldn't have done the Kumon book if I'd known about Teach Me Joy, but Ariel really liked the colorful pages and gentle progression. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nansk Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 My boys always had a workbook for learning cursive but hated them and tears always flowed. I decided for dd to go a different route. I don't teach her letter by letter, instead we use her spelling words and I teach her word for word. I take the letters of the word and show her how to form them, then add them together to form the word. She practices the new letters and writes the word. As she practices her handwriting she is practicing her spelling. Best of all, no tears. We had the same experience. When I made my dd do Italic letter formation worksheets that I had made using StartWrite, I got a lot of tears. When we switched to practising Italics handwriting via her WWE copywork, she was much more willing to write one sentence and be done with it. Around Nov last year, she transitioned to Italics cursive for her WWE copywork and now does her spelling dictation in cursive too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YankeeMomInVA Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 May I piggyback a question? First grade DS does HWT. He can do it well when he's trying, but usually is pretty sloppy (readable, but definitely sloppy). He REALLY wants to do cursive next year. I've told him I'd think about it and I'd think more positively if he showed me that he could not be so sloppy. I have the second (more print) and third grade (cursive) books already. Should I let him start cursive? THat was us! He really wanted to start cursive....his manuscript was sloppy but that was more because he just hates to write and will do it as fast as he can to get it overwith. I was stunned to find that his cursive is BEAUTIFUL. I never thought I'd use that word to describe his handwriting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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