Early and Begining Handwriting

[arliemaria]

I have read many many threads on handwriting, but still wanted to ask for advice. Forgive me.

 

First my thoughts on handwriting and things I've explored and gleaned:

 

I definitely want to teach my children cursive penmanship. I believe this should probably be started no later than first grade, if not from the beginning. I am not completely sold on teaching cursive first because I do believe they will print in their lives and want that to be very legible and beautiful as well as their script.

 

I read and think I believe with these points: Using a t with a tail instead of a straight stick t to avoid confusion with +; Also using a q with a tail to avoid confusion with p

(I read these two points on a handwriting website a few months ago and these ideas have stuck with me and now I cannot find the site again.) I think when Classical Converstaions debuts their new Scribblers program they are going to use either an italic or D'Nealian form which would avoid these problems.

 

I do not think I like or can believe in D'Nealian or other italic forms of manuscript, although I think I would like to be proved wrong on this because I do think they are pretty. I can see the many problems that could be made with learning this and probably avoided in traditional manuscripts. If I did teach one of these methods for their printing, I do not think I would carry over to the cursive as this is very ugly. I do not like the New American Cursive that Memoria Press has published either.

 

I really dislike the look of Handwriting Without Tears, but can see the value of a very simple font to introduce letter formation. If this can be easily taught and then a more beautiful manuscript is later developed and then moved onto cursive. Although perhaps I am judging HWT too harshly and it is not all that ugly.

 

I really love very traditional styles of penmanship, Spencerian (I have the Mott Media materials.), Palmer, and the cursive form of Peterson Directed Handwriting. I am even leaning towards thinking Zaner-Bloser isn't so bad afterall. I don't know why I've discredited this font, perhaps because I know it is used in most public schools. I'd also like to investigate The Writing Road to Reading and how this looks.

 

Please help me decipher all this information and make a very good decision. I was thinking I would just do the Peterson Directed Handwriting both print and script, but after really looking at their print, I found a few letters I rather disliked. When I look at Handwriting Without Tears I don't see those problem letters, but they do look overly simplified.

[arliemaria]

I should add that I do like Charlotte Mason's approach to achieving perfection and think that HWT seems very inline with her philosophy. These lessons are short and there is a focus on perfection. I like this point that is in the second edition of TWTM.

 

"The workbooks have many model letters per line, so the child doesn't write a line of one letter, consistenly getting worse and worse as he goes (children tend to copy the last letter they made, rather than looking back at the correct model)."

 

This idea I think I will use no matter what style I choose if I have to write in multiple letters as models myself or if I use a worksheet software.

[Ohmomjacquie]

Bju teaches precursive manuscript. It has the tails and slight slant to the letters. The idea is to make the cursive transition easier (2nd grade). We used it this year and both enjoyed it

l you could probably start the cursive earlier if you wantes. That's thw thing I've seen that sounds like whhat you are looking for?

[Tanikit]

I just taught my daughter the way I wanted her to form her letters and didn't worry with someone else's programme - advantages of this are that you can decide exactly which way all the letters are formed (you could even mix and match easily) and there is no cost in purchasing a programme.

 

The disadvantages are that you have to do the work yourself and make your own copywork sheets at least initially (Once my DD was forming all letters correctly I chose a font that most resembled the one I had taught her and then told her that certain letters (I, t, j etc) looked slightly different and she must still write them as she had been taught. Naturally I do not use dotted tracing pages with her but having read up on the dangers of tracing I am quite happy with this. I still watch her when she writes but her letter formation is correct based on what I taught her despite copying something different but since later she'll be copying text from various books I feel it is fine to do this now.

 

Bsed on what you wrote I think whichever font you choose will work because you expect them to write neatly and that is good.

[Tracy]

I taught my dd7 to write in manuscript first. She started at 3yo, and we transitioned to cursive at 5yo. To me, it seemed that the transition just created more work than necessary. So now I am currently teaching ds4 to write in cursive from the start. We started with textured letters that he could trace with his finger, and he is now moving to writing those letters from memory in a salt box. Once he can write a whole word in the salt box, we will begin using the white board. I am amazed at how quickly he is learning. I really wish that I knew about teaching cursive this way when I started teaching my first 3yo how to write. It would have been so much easier.

[Twigs]

… . I can see the many problems that could be made with learning this and probably avoided in traditional manuscripts. …

 

Would you mind elaborating on what problems you see?

Thanks

[MeganW]

Your child is 3? I would definitely start with Handwriting Without Tears for now. It's about the only thing out there that is developmentally appropriate for preschoolers, and corresponds much more closely than curseive to the fonts he will be using in learning to read. Work on basic hand strengthening, counterclockwise circles, and basic printing for pencil control. Decide in kindergarten or first grade about moving to cursive.

 

 

 

I really dislike the look of Handwriting Without Tears, but can see the value of a very simple font to introduce letter formation. If this can be easily taught and then a more beautiful manuscript is later developed and then moved onto cursive. Although perhaps I am judging HWT too harshly and it is not all that ugly.

[threeofakind]

Your child is 3? I would definitely start with Handwriting Without Tears for now. It's about the only thing out there that is developmentally appropriate for preschoolers, and corresponds much more closely than curseive to the fonts he will be using in learning to read. Work on basic hand strengthening, counterclockwise circles, and basic printing for pencil control. Decide in kindergarten or first grade about moving to cursive.

 

:iagree:

[FO4UR]

If I could go back to when mine were 3yo....

 

 

(Disclaimer: I did do this some, but not enough.;) My youngest is 5 now and I am seeing where my inconsistencies lie.)

 

 

 

 

I would have a letter time each day. Talk about the sounds that the letter can make, find that letter in books, on a box of food at the grocery store, on a street sign, etc... And - fingertrace a sandpaper copy of the letter, verbalizing the sounds that the letter can make. This should take all of 3-5min of sitting on the couch talking about a letter, and then the rest is caught in teachable moments throughout the day.

 

 

Fingertracing a sandpaper letter truly helps form the letter into their muscle memory. When my youngest was about 3yo, he would climb up in my lap and grab my hand, pointing his little finger out. That was his way of asking for these mini-lessons. I would put his little hand in mine and help his pointer finger trace around the letters. I wish I had done this more often.;)

 

I would not purchase any handwriting curric unless it is to self-educate. I would choose a font and start (very gently - no paper/pencil yet) now. Wait until he starts writing on his own before requiring any pencil/paper work. If he is learning letter formation and seeing you and your dh write with pencil/paper, he will want to try out his new skills. Expect to "input" for a long, long, long time before he gives any "output."

[besroma]

:lurk5:

[stm4him]

I applaud you for looking into handwriting now as it is one of the first decisions you have to make and one that can be harder to undo. I am about to start teaching my fourth child to write next year and I will be doing things differently than with my others. I agree with much of what you said and here is how I'm working those thoughts out.

 

I plan to use The Writing Road to Reading manuscript style with her at age 4. I think manuscript first is easier, but I do agree that moving quickly into cursive is a good idea. Then when she is in K I plan to switch her to The Logic of English's manuscript style, which is an altered D'Nealian with distinct handwriting instructions to teach them the formation of the letters without tracing, which disrupts the natural flow of their hand. This gives them the option of knowing how to write in a pretty manuscript. From there I would give them a choice in which of the two to use when they are writing most things but perhaps for copywork I would require D'Nealian. Then I would start teaching cursive in first grade using the Logic of English's cursive program. Another good one is Cursive First. I did this one with my oldest and it worked well.....it just took a long time.

 

With my second and third child I have used a lot of tracing techniques using Christian Liberty Press, Memoria Press, and Rod and Staff workbooks. This summer I'm going to teach my second one cursive using LOE and next year I will use LOE manuscript to teach my third child. I can tell you that starting with D'Nealian was very hard for my son so I chose not to start with it for my third child. I think it is fine to start once they can write their letters in plain manuscript style. I really like the way The Writing Road to Reading teaches it b/c they use a continuous hand flow font and have clear teaching instructions. You can use a chalkboard and a salt box and then work on moving to paper.

 

I am planning to use Pre-Scripts so I'm really hoping they offer several fonts. I have no interest in an Italic font but hope they use D'Nealian, WRTR, and/or cursive. I saw two sample ones in December and they were both in cursive but I didn't pay attention to the font. There was also talk of Spencerian but I think that looks really hard.

 

Anyway, I don't know if that helps at all but I would look into TWRTR and LOE's handwriting instructions and see what you think.....

[nansk]

I can see the many problems that could be made with learning this and probably avoided in traditional manuscripts. …

Would you mind elaborating on what problems you see?

Yes, I'd like to know too.

 

Can you write in a beautiful cursive style? If yes, you can try to teach your child using your own handwritten models. I learnt Italics two years ago and taught my daughter using my handwritten models for copywork.

 

Or, you can teach her specific letters from each handwriting style that you like (such as, say, the majority of the letters from Peterson Directed and for the few that you don't like from PDH, from another style).

 

Just know that no matter how hard you try and how well you teach, your children are free to, and probably will, change their handwriting style (or atleast certain letters) at different stages in their life. They may even switch over to a totally different style in adulthood.

 

So don't make the handwriting decision such a stressful one for yourself. :)

Edited April 21, 2012 by nansk