Once your child learns cursive letters, how often do you make them use it?

[ChristusG]

My 3rd grader is nearly finished learning all of her cursive letters (using Handwriting Without Tears). She prefers printing (as do I....I never use cursive except for signatures), so I'm wondering how much I should require her to write in cursive so that she can keep it fresh in her mind. I don't want her to forget how to read/write it. I know that it is not used often anymore, and some schools do not even teach it any longer, but I'd still like for her to know how. What do you guys do?

[ChristusG]

Are we the only ones still learning cursive? LOL

[Tress]

Nope, you are not the only ones :D.

 

I start with cursive and from then on they write everything in cursive.

[Ellie]

All the time. For everything except labeling maps.

[Tress]

All the time. For everything except labeling maps.

 

 

I should have waited for Ellie :D so I could just say :iagree: .

[UrbanSue]

Yup, for everything. At some point I will probably stop requiring it for everything but I'll decide on that later. Once I got to high school my teachers didn't care what I wrote on tests as long as it was legible and papers had to be typed. I guess I see that kind of trajectory. But for now it's all in cursive.

[Mommamia]

Once they can read/write cursive I only require them to write their name (signature). My husband never uses cursive at work, nor do his coworkers- in fact, fairly certain it would be frowned at. I naturally write in cursive, but hate my handwriting. My dc and husband naturally write in print. HTH

 

Now typing.....excited to have them master that.

[KellyMama]

We use it selectively. I have them write out their spelling words daily - 2 or 3x a week in cursive (for 3rd grade) and daily in cursive from 5th onward. We also write out our Bible memory verse for the week. From 5th onward it's in cursive. All of our assignments are typed. For shorter comprehension questions answered on paper I let them choose. I also let them choose how they would like to take notes. I figure as long as they've mastered the skill and are practicing it in some way daily, I don't need them to write everything in it. Then again, I prefer print, LOL I think that heavily weights my decision. ;)

[Tree Frog]

Once my dc learned, I required it with all written work. It's interesting now that my youngest is in ps (6th grade), his peers have commented about how they can't read his writing because it's in cursive. When they trade assignments to correct them, the kids don't know what he's written. (His cursive is legible.) Many students don't know how to sign their names because they don't know how to write in cursive.

[Tracy]

For every assignment. (I don't make her use cursive when she is writing for fun.) Dd7 has been doing cursive for over 2 years now, and she still defaults to manuscript if she doesn't have to write in cursive. So it is mandatory until it is more automatic, because her manuscript writing is horrific.

[fourisenough]

All school work is done in cursive as soon as they know all the letters/connections. It certainly slows things down for a few weeks, but it is worth it to switch cold-turkey. I'm always amazed how quickly they progress from the point where cursive is laborious and time-consuming to total fluency with cursive handwriting; I'd estimate it to have taken about 3 months for each of my 3 DDs.

[Loowit]

My oldest two use cursive for all their assignments. My youngest is still using a combination of both, but really prefers to print. He knows most of his letters, but will only do his name in cursive. My plan is to gradually switch him over and next year start with cursive only.

[Mommy22alyns]

Right now, I just have Rebecca do Bible copywork and geography vocabulary in cursive, plus a small handwriting lesson. Next year, I'll have her do everything in cursive, drop handwriting, and have her do typing again.

[NoPlaceLikeHome]

I switched ds over to all cursive in 4th grade. I should have done it sooner. He preferred print as well at the beginning and it was slow going at first when he had to write his essays and longer papers in cursive, but now he prefers cursive!!

 

I think being fluent in cursive is a huge benefit for note taking in high school and college since fluent cursive is much faster than print. I also thinks it helps develop brain pathways.

[NoPlaceLikeHome]

I forgot to add that the way I learned cursive, was to be required to use it for everything from 4th grade onward!

[NoPlaceLikeHome]

All school work is done in cursive as soon as they know all the letters/connections. It certainly slows things down for a few weeks, but it is worth it to switch cold-turkey. I'm always amazed how quickly they progress from the point where cursive is laborious and time-consuming to total fluency with cursive handwriting; I'd estimate it to have taken about 3 months for each of my 3 DDs.

 

This was my experience as well with ds and it was worth the effort!

[Cosmos]

I also required all school work in cursive, but the change-over didn't happen right away. He continued to do cursive in his handwriting workbook and print for other school work for awhile until the cursive became more fluent. I think he started learning cursive at the beginning of fourth grade and was doing all cursive by the end of fourth. Maybe it didn't take a full year, but it was several months.

[Heidi]

I only require them to copy their latin vocabulary in cursive. They write it four times a week.

[boscopup]

I'm still undecided. Manuscript is just this year (age 8) becoming automatic. He still has to think about b/d sometimes (reversal). He's working through Pentime 2, second half (cursive), but he can't remember how to form all of the letters of his own name yet, let alone do other school work in it. I may change him over once he's done a good chunk of the grade 3 book. We were SLOWLY goin through the grade 2 book at half a page per day, but now he's doing a whole page per day. He just started capital letters and hasn't done any sentences yet.

[wehave8]

All the time. For everything except labeling maps.

 

 

Same here. We start with cursive.

 

Pam

[Clear Creek]

From 4th grade onward everything is in cursive.