Where to Start with Handwriting for K? (cursive/manuscript...)

[Guest Xapis10]

I'm leaning toward starting out manuscript, but maybe not ball/stick? I could really use a good resource(s) for reading up on this subject (anyone have a link? this may have good coverage in an earlier thread?).

I also bought a dry erase board with lines for practicing writing. Is there anything bad about that?

Thanks for your help experts :)

[ALB]

Well, I appreciated reading through a copy of the teacher manual for Handwriting Without Tears. It gave some good ideas for teaching printing. We haven't started cursive yet, so I'm not any help there.

[Tanikit]

I like these articles for teaching handwriting and they also discuss whether cursive or manuscript though I didn't feel they were forcing you to choose what they thought might be best. I started with manuscript for my DD recently teaching letter formation first. As she is quite young still she needs to be able to write bigger than any worksheets I have seen for handwriting and ait writing seems to have worked well for her - every now and then I get her to write in felt tip pens and then I can see whether her writing is improving in fluidity since if she stops halfway through a curve you see the dot the pen makes more than with a pencil. She has improved a lot recently.

 

http://www.peterson-handwriting.com/Info.html

[Tinkerbell]

I think you will find advice for doing either style. Some say cursive first, others say manuscript first, and both seem to have valid reasons.

 

I decided to do manuscript first because that is easiest for me... I like to print. I loved Handwriting Without Tears because it gives you an "order" to teach how to write the letters. They recommend capital letters first, and they group them together by starting stroke. There's not a lot of practice, so my 4 year old didn't get overwhelmed looking at a whole page of tracing letters.

 

The dry erase board can be a fun supplement for your child to practice writing. But my ds could never write small enough to fit his letters exactly on the lines, so we just used a blank board instead (on the back side).

[misslissa]

We're a cursive family. I like that it's a gross motor skill and only needs 4 basic strokes to learn all 26 letters. It's worked for 2 of my kids who have vastly different development schedules and learning styles. We'll start my 5 year old on it this fall.

Either way you go, I recommend starting BIG. Practice on a large easel or in a sand box. Then start practicing on paper using the entire sheet and then to multiple lines per sheet.

For either manuscript or cursive, there are visual guides for vertical spacing like sky, grass, dirt, or the house visual (attic, main floor, basement), that are very helpful.

 

We don't use a formal curriculum but I've heard Cursive First is a good one if you go that route.

[CrunchyGirl]

DS has a mild neurological imbalance so we are going with cursive first. I just got the NAC book and StarWrite software. Right now I'm working with him on making the 4 basic shapes with hope that we can start on letters late this summer or early fall.

[Guest Xapis10]

Thank-you for the suggestions!

I'll be reading through the Peterson page, and then I'm guessing I'll be back with questions (more input in the meantime is great!).