Staceyshoe Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 I've been thinking about just using Donna Young's site to teach cursive next year. My son struggled terribly with printing and thought it was torture, but he's made incredible strides. (He was in public school at the time, so I didn't go through the learning-to-write experience with him.) He doesn't particularly enjoy writing but is very excited to learn cursive. (Some of his friends write in cursive.) I'm not sure his enthusiasm will continue after he sees that it requires some effort. Would I be better off purchasing a cursive curriculum for a child like this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootAnn Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 Can you teach it without curriculum? Absolutely. Should you find yourself a curriculum to teach it? That depends. If you have something (free except for printing) that you will follow through with as a "do the next thing," I wouldn't worry about purchasing something. If you are the kind that needs an outside force (even one that is just a workbook sitting on a shelf waiting for the next page to be filled in) to get that subject done, you might want to purchase something. If you feel fairly confident that you can keep your kid going without the bells & whistles, I wouldn't purchase anything. I think you'll find that there are plenty of practice pages out there on the internet. The big questions are what order to teach the letters & whether to teach upper & lowercase together. Using one resource (like Donna Young) answers both these questions for you, so you just need to print the next page. I use Cursive First - which is pretty basic & fairly inexpensive (and re-usable). But I'm the type of person who really likes to have the next sheet ready to use so I don't have to think about what to do next or go to the computer to print out the next lesson. (And, pre-printing all the lessons on DY's site could have fixed both of those stumbling blocks for me.) :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 I like the instructions in Writing Road to Reading. The 5th edition is better than the 4th. The 6th edition is supposed to be even better but I have not seen it. I have Cursive First and don't use it, because it is actually easier to just follow the few pages of scripts in WRTR. WRTR teaches a very precise manuscript, and then teaches just a few more strokes--all named--to join the manuscript letters into cursive writing. The notebook pages provide more examples of what the cursive looks like. I've found that it only takes the average adult about 3 hours to learn the cursive lowercase alphabet in WRTR. It takes about 6 hours for the average remedial adult. I haven't personally tested it on a child yet. One of the adult students I tutor asked her mom if she would ever learn to write in cursive, when she was about 8 years old, and her mother assured her she would. She never did learn until this month. In less than a week she finally learned to write in cursive at the age of 50. Cursive First is good if you want to spend money to have it take longer. WRTR can be borrowed from the library and mastered before it needs to be taken back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KristenR Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 I researched all sorts of curriculum and then finally decided on these as my final picks for teaching my 5.5 dd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ALB Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 Maybe you can, but I couldn't! I tried printing off the worksheets from donna young just a few weeks ago and giving it a go with dd, but it was frustrating for both of us. Although I always write in cursive, it was hard to explain the letter strokes and how exactly to do it. Also, the printables from donna young had such small lines and letters that it was a bit overwhelming. At first I was so proud to tell dh that I was going to teach cursive without spending a cent, but then I eventually gave up and ordered Handwriting Without Tears :tongue_smilie:! It hasn't arrived yet, so I can't tell you how it compares. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staceyshoe Posted March 15, 2012 Author Share Posted March 15, 2012 I'm starting to think that we will have a smoother year if I order a curriculum. I've seen what feels like a bazillion threads about cursive here, so I dread the process of figuring out what will be best for us! I will look into your suggestions. Anyone else, feel free to chime in if there is a cursive curriculum you really love!;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swiegers Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 We use Cursive First. It explains the letter formation pretty good, in my opinion. But I basically just use it to see what order they teach the letters in. My dd is a terrible printer, but she's picking the cursive up at a really quick pace. Right now I just show her how to make the next letter, she practices it a few times and then uses the new letter with her other letters to make words. Then we move on to the next letter. We do a few letters a week, depends on how much time we have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Down_the_Rabbit_Hole Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 You don't need a curriculum unless you really want one. used a curriculum for the boys. We did handwriting page after handwriting page. They hated it and so did I. When dd wanted to learn cursive I got one of those wipe off pads with cursive letters. She practiced when she wanted. I now have her write her spelling words in cursive and tackle any letters she is having difficulty as we reach them. I have not heard any complaints from her and her handwriting practice is being used in conjunction with another subject so no wasted time on boring handwriting pages. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mytwomonkeys Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 No, I don't think you need a curriculum. However, I use HWT and love it. It makes the process so simple and effortless. The student book is cheap enough that it makes it worth my while to use a curriculum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DianeW88 Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 I love "New American Cursive" from Memoria Press (Rainbow sells it). Easy-peasy and works. Curriculum makes the whole process a lot easier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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