Should I be making my 4th and 6th graders write primarily in cursive?...

[Sue G in PA]

My dd11 knows how to write in cursive but prefers to print. I find that when I force her to write in cursive, she takes much longer to write her paragraphs, makes more mistakes and it's not as neat. She just prefers print. Ds9 is really just learning cursive although he did HWT last year and is continuing this year with a more Zaner-Bloser style (his preference actually). He can't read cursive well and his writing is coming along, but not great. Should I be forcing them to write their formal work in cursive? I had already posted that ds9 prefers to type his narrations. He is just starting a writing program (Wordsmith Apprentice). Any thoughts?

[Ellie]

IMHO, our children should be fluent in cursive writing, and the way they become fluent is to do lots and lots of writing in cursive. Even if they prefer printing.

[Beth in SW WA]

No, My dc 10 & 12 do not write in cursive except it Julie's copywork books. Ds 12 types all his papers. We have too many important things to worry about than perfect penmanship. Time spent on Latin and Math is more important, imo.

 

My kids need to print legibly in their workbooks, math, etc. But I don't make them write in cursive.

[RoughCollie]

I felt the same way. The kids didn't like it, but now they write a lot faster in cursive than they can print.

 

IMHO, our children should be fluent in cursive writing, and the way they become fluent is to do lots and lots of writing in cursive. Even if they prefer printing.

[AllSmiles]

Personally, I don’t worry too much about cursive. I make sure that my kids can read it, and know how to form the letters, but that is about it. Most everything in life has to be printed or typed. I’d rather work on those skills, and let cursive writing take a backseat.

[Karie]

Ds has to do cursive for copywork, but other than that, I don't require him to use it. He much prefers manuscript. I also prefer manuscript for myself and can write faster than using cursive. Ds also types and I think that is a skill that is much more necessary nowadays than cursive. I taught him cursive so he could read it, not write it. I pick and choose my battles, and cursive is not one I'm willing to die on.

[momofkhm]

They both know cursive and can use it made to. But I tell that as long as I can read it easily. My oldest only prints. My middle goes back and forth. I'm sure there is rhyme and reason, but I haven't paid enough attention.

 

DS hasn't learned cursive yet but he will - maybe next year. Then he will have to use it for a couple of years and then it will also be up to him.

 

I look at it as what will they need for later. Yes, most things are typed these days, but what about the essay part of the SAT? Handwritten. But I don't know if it has to be in cursive or just legible.

[swimnactmom]

If they know how to write and read cursive, that's enough. I've actually compromised with my son. He has to write cursive 2 times a week and he picks what he writes as long as it is 4 or more sentences of one answer or paragraph. Easy!

[karensk]

He had learned cursive using HWT, too. But in 4th grade, he still preferred printing and was not interested at all in shifting to doing more of his writing in cursive. (He was okay with doing the daily cursive in HWT, though.)

 

In a blank, wide-ruled spiral notebook, I copied passages from some of his favorite literature books (like Narnia or LOTR) in blue pencil and in cursive, 2 lines per capital letter. Each day, he was to trace one sentence. This makes it so he doesn't have to think so much about how to make the connectors between the letters, etc. It's a bit more mindless, I guess. We did this kind of tracing thing for several months. And after awhile, he didn't need to do it everyday; we probably increased the amount of tracing per day, over time. (And it was in addition to his daily handwriting assignment, which took only ~10 min./day.) The main thing was that he was able to transition to cursive with very little frustration on his part.

 

But just today, he wrote a page and a half for his nature journal in cursive...his choice (5th grade), as dc get to write however they like in their journals.

 

I plan to do the same type of thing with dd8. But I think instead of wide-ruled I'll use narrow-ruled paper; then the capital letters won't be so tall.

 

HTH!

[Lux Et Veritas Academy]

I don't make them- They both can but they don't prefer to and either do I. I just want to be able to make sure they can read it, although they will always probably read font-;)

[Mrs Mungo]

My kids have the zaner-bloser handwriting books. They use cursive while working in those as well as for copy work and spelling workout. Other than those subjects they can choose which they use.

[Myrtle]

I regret not making my son use cursive more often when he learned it in the fourth grade. He's in the sixth grade now and does exactly what you describe, he takes longer to complete assignments, makes more mistakes, more erasures, etc.

 

Because he wasn't doing any copywork in cursive or reading anything written in cursive he had lost his ability to do that and it was personally humiliating for me to discover this gap in his literacy. He gets plenty of copy work now and I plan on requiring it most of his subjects.

 

Most people I know use a hybrid of script and print when they are trying to write something very quickly. He won't have that option unless he really learns cursive well.

[Cami in UT]

My ds9 is writing in cursive the subjects of spelling and dictation. Now that it is a new month I am adding grammar. Then it will be writing and then History/Science. My goal for him is to be completely cursive by May. I also do not allow half print/half cursive assignments.

 

My ds7 is just learning cursive. He knows how to make all the letters so all his copywork is in cursive but everything else is print. This year my goal is to have him know how to write in cursive and be able to read cursive. Starting in September I will start adding subjects that will need to be in cursive.

 

I believe that they should know how to write in cursive and they should be able to write it quickly and legibly. Just my two cents worth.

[unsinkable]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/10/AR2006101001475_pf.html

 

Here is an interesting article about cursive.

 

This is from the Wash. Post:

 

The loss of handwriting also may be a cognitive opportunity missed. The neurological process that directs thought, through fingers, into written symbols is a highly sophisticated one. Several academic studies have found that good handwriting skills at a young age can help children express their thoughts better -- a lifelong benefit. Children who don't learn correct technique find it harder to write by hand, so they avoid it. Schools that do teach handwriting often stop after third grade -- right after kids learn cursive. By the time computers are more widely used in classrooms for writing, perhaps in fourth or fifth grade, many children already have decided they don't like to write.

 

In one of the studies, Vanderbilt University professor Steve Graham, who studies the acquisition of writing, experimented with a group of first-graders in Prince George's County who could write only 10 to 12 letters per minute. The kids were given 15 minutes of handwriting instruction three times a week. After nine weeks, they had doubled their writing speed and their expressed thoughts were more complex. He also found corresponding increases in their sentence construction skills.

 

But Graham worries that students who remain printers, rather than writing in cursive, need more time to take notes or write essays for the SAT. Teachers may say they don't deduct for bad handwriting in class, but research tells another story, he said.

 

When adults are given the same composition written in good handwriting and poor handwriting, "they still give lower grades for ideation and quality of writing if the text is less legible," he said.

 

Indeed, the SAT essays written in cursive had slightly higher average scores than those written in print, according to the College Board.

 

It doesn't take much to teach better handwriting skills. At some schools in Prince George's County, elementary school students use a program called Handwriting Without Tears for 15 minutes a day. They learn the correct formation of manuscript letters through second grade, and cursive letters in third grade.

 

 

 

unsinkable

[BizyPenguin]

Hi Sue! I make my ds do almost everything in cursive since he's a 5th grader. It's what would be expected of him if he attended our local ps.

[supermom]

When my sister put her children into private school, from a homeschool, they had to learn the fast way to write in only cursive. It was required for 4th graders, and possibly even the 1st grader (not sure on that one, but the first grader now writes perfect cursive.) She said it only took a couple agonizing weeks and they were writing cursive quickly and pretty, too. So, I decided to require it of my children and after just a few days they were also writing so much better. I don't want my son to grow up to write as poorly as his dad. That is one good reason to require it. He complains that it's slower, but it is faster if you get good at it. So I am going to require them all to practice in all their work until they are so fast they will not wish to print anymore ;o).