question about starting with cursive...

[genny]

I'm about to start my second on learning to write. My first has just finished with manuscript and it was a whole lot of work to get her on her way! I've heard teaching cursive is easier for various reasons. So now I'm seriously considering teaching my second child cursive first. I need opinions...good idea/bad idea? Is it really easier. My second will be 5 years old when I start teaching. Anyone one taught it at this age? What's are the best books for teaching instruction and practice?

 

I'm also wondering, if I teach cursive first will there be any problems teaching manuscript later. I can't think of any but I'm a little nervous for some odd reason.

 

Any other tips and information is greatly appreciated:)

 

TIA

[CrunchyGirl]

My kids have both picked up manuscript on their own prior to starting kindergarten (ArstyGirl isn't even in K yet) so for several reasons we chose to teach just cursive. So far so good with LegoMan, his cursive is legible at least. When he writes things for fun though he does tend to print.

[GloriaMS]

Hi, my daughter is 8 now and learning cursive and I sincerely regret not starting her on cursive first. But, she is doing great now anyway and enjoys it. It really depends on your child and the method. We use a method from Europe, where they learn cursive first, and it works great. You do not start directly with letters, because it is overwhelming, you start with signs that later will be used in building letters.For exemple, "m" is made out of two canes and a little duck. So first he learns how to make a cane, a duck, and than put them together and you have an "m". I haven't seen anything like that in the US to be able to compare.

On the other hand, almost everybody I know learned masnuscript on their own later in life.

[TheAutumnOak]

My upcoming third grader picked up manuscript writing around Kindergarten age, but I taught him cursive writing in the first grade...He writes cursive almost always and has a very neat, beautiful handwriting for an 8 year old...He now says he finds it easier to write in cursive because it is faster for him...My upcoming seventh grader knows how to write in cursive to some degree, but wasn't taught as young as my other son...I really wish I had taught him in first grade...I have an upcoming first grader who I have already started teaching cursive to...

 

My thoughts are this - whatever you want them to primarily write in, you should teach first...There is much time to practice cursive in first grade, but harder to start in third grade when you are use to printing and your work load just became more difficult...You will have to think not only about your writing, but also about how to form each letter...I like the cursive taught first way if you intend to teach it it all...

[genny]

What program to you recommend. I've been using pentime with my first little one and she is just about to start the transition book. Should I use the same program and start midway in the book when it transitions into cursive. What programs/books have you guys used?

[HeartatHome]

I'm planning to start my daughter with cursive early and going to use Abeka cursive books. I don't plan to use their curric just their cursive as they look great and very age appropriate because they are geared towards the younger ones. They use little houses to help them with letter formation, etc....very nice. They are more expensive though so that might be a factor. I plan to start with Abeka cursive for one year to get her started and then switch her over to pentime. I think both are very pretty cursive and seem close enough in style that I think the transition will be fine. HTH

[Hunter]

Alpha-Phonics combined with Don Potter's free supplements is a good cursive-first program.

 

Whatever you do, don't paste cursive onto a phonics curriculum designed for manuscript first, or one where the author doesn't know how to properly teach cursive-first. Spalding and most Spalding-clones are not a good choice to mix with cursive-first.

[zoobie]

My older kids learned cursive first in Montessori primary. I'd look online for Montessori methods such as tracing sandpaper letters with 2 fingers, using a pencil-shaped stick in a little sandbox...

[edeemarie]

We are using a loving Teach Me Joy cursive http://teachmejoy.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2&products_id=5&zenid=6a3a85cc8993161e549f13c8a6cee558 for ds4. When we need extra practice we use baggies filled with colored hair gel to practice and worksheets from www.worksheetworks.com. This is my first experience with teaching cursive first and it is going very well!

[Madeline05]

I’ve always started out teaching manuscript, but bringing up the question of could teaching cursive be more appropriate is a valid one. Because we have the option to have our kids use either, maybe we should try to leave it up them a little? See how their progress is doing with one over the other. Or put both options in front of them and see which is more appealing. I don’t personally know of the benefits of teaching one before the other, my belief is that it's just important that they both are taught.

 

I just a little Google searching about this and came across a few interesting resources that support both, but I can really see the benefits to teaching cursive first because of these:

10 Reasons to Teach Cursive Writing First Before Print

Why Start Cursive Teaching First

 

I use Zaner-Bloser’s handwriting practice for cursive and manuscript. Here’s a great article that supports the use of Zaner-Bloser Handwriting: https://www.zaner-bloser.com/news/word-about-handwriting

Their website has a lot of excellent research articles.

 

Here’s a relevant one about teaching vertical manuscript first. It has a lot of main reasons that I agree with for teaching manuscript first. https://www.zaner-bloser.com/news/six-questions-educators-should-ask-choosing-handwriting-program

 

To sum it up a little:

Overall it has been seen more effective to begin with a vertical manuscript alphabet. Mostly because the strokes are simpler and are relative to the lines and motions that children produce in their regular drawing activities, the letterforms are more easily read than other styles of writing and more popularly seen outside of the classroom, like out in public: signs, textbooks, etc.

[RootAnn]

Whatever you do, don't paste cursive onto a phonics curriculum designed for manuscript first, or one where the author doesn't know how to properly teach cursive-first. Spalding and most Spalding-clones are not a good choice to mix with cursive-first.

 

Actually, Spell to Write & Read (a Spalding spin-off) has Cursive First that integrates SWR with teaching cursive. SWR (now; it didn't always) advocates teaching cursive first.

 

I taught my dd#1 manuscript first. Dd#2 learned cursive first (but taught herself manuscript). Dd#3 learned cursive first and has since taught herself to print. I'll start teaching ds#1 cursive in the fall or next spring during his K year.

 

We have definitely seen the benefits of cursive first, although I've read it isn't for everyone.

[Hunter]

Actually, Spell to Write & Read (a Spalding spin-off) has Cursive First that integrates SWR with teaching cursive. SWR (now; it didn't always) advocates teaching cursive first.

 

I taught my dd#1 manuscript first. Dd#2 learned cursive first (but taught herself manuscript). Dd#3 learned cursive first and has since taught herself to print. I'll start teaching ds#1 cursive in the fall or next spring during his K year.

 

We have definitely seen the benefits of cursive first, although I've read it isn't for everyone.

 

I was trying not to name curricula, but...umm...this is one of the Spalding clones where I think the author...umm--I just don't recommend SWR handwriting as an efficient way to teach cursive-first.

[RootAnn]

:laugh: We all have our own experiences, Hunter!

 

I've looked at other cursive handwriting notebooks (especially those geared toward K & 1st graders like Abeka's, McRuffy's, & the aforementioned Teach Me Joy). I really like how Cursive First does lower case first & groups the letters by stroke & not alphabetically. Teaching upper & lowercase together totally stressed out my dd#3 when I tried something different.

 

I will note, to the OP, that I wait to teach handwriting until phonics has been worked on for at least six months. (Fine motor skills are sometimes later to develop, at least in my experience.)

[genny]

:laugh: We all have our own experiences, Hunter!

 

I've looked at other cursive handwriting notebooks (especially those geared toward K & 1st graders like Abeka's, McRuffy's, & the aforementioned Teach Me Joy). I really like how Cursive First does lower case first & groups the letters by stroke & not alphabetically. Teaching upper & lowercase together totally stressed out my dd#3 when I tried something different.

 

I will note, to the OP, that I wait to teach handwriting until phonics has been worked on for at least six months. (Fine motor skills are sometimes later to develop, at least in my experience.)

 

 

 

yep...with my first child her fine motor skills took quite a while. My second child is doing amazing with reading. He'll be turning 5 soon and is reading at least a 2nd grade level. I haven't formally schooled him yet (waiting 'til he turns 5). I'm trying to get things now organized for him. I don't know if his fine motor skills are ready for letter formation instruction with pencil and paper. If it isn't I'll just have him trace with his finger, salt box, sand etc... He colours a whole lot neater than his older sibling at the same age. His grip is a little strange though. Not a fist but not a tripod. I plan on getting him to work on his grip when he's colouring pictures etc... I had dh order a pencil grip when he was making an Amazon order. Sure enough, the order arrived and they forgot to pack the grip!

 

Thanks for all the info. and suggestions. This is the one subject I don't enjoy teaching. I would like to make it as painless as possible for the both of us.

[Hunter]

It's not the SWR Cursive-First WORKBOOK that I have a problem with! It's having to write the Ayres list in cursive instead of word families.

 

This is an early lesson from How to Tutor/Alpha-Phonics. Notice that the student is only having to learn a few letters at a time, to begin the lessons.

 

 

 

 

I prefer not to introduce lists of high frequency words to students that have not yet learned to write in cursive fluently. I don't mind teaching high frequency word lists in manuscript, but cursive is a whole other story. Writing in joined letters requires a student to multitask. They must be thinking ahead to the next letter, while still working on the letter they are currently writing. By teaching word families, the student can practice the different types of joinings with less stress.

 

As you notice in the above sample, not only are there a reduced number of letters used, but there is only one type of joining used for the "a".

[TheAutumnOak]

It's not the SWR Cursive-First WORKBOOK that I have a problem with! It's having to write the Ayres list in cursive instead of word families.

 

This is an early lesson from How to Tutor/Alpha-Phonics. Notice that the student is only having to learn a few letters at a time, to begin the lessons.

 

 

 

 

I prefer not to introduce lists of high frequency words to students that have not yet learned to write in cursive fluently. I don't mind teaching high frequency word lists in manuscript, but cursive is a whole other story. Writing in joined letters requires a student to multitask. They must be thinking ahead to the next letter, while still working on the letter they are currently writing. By teaching word families, the student can practice the different types of joinings with less stress.

 

As you notice in the above sample, not only are there a reduced number of letters used, but there is only one type of joining used for the "a".

 

Good point about the word families...I never thought of that...

 

A previous poster mentioned waiting until fine motor skills are developed, and I thought I should mention since I like teaching cursive first that my boys are 6 years old when they start Kindergarten, so they are a little older than maybe many here who start school earlier...My kids were still playing at 5, doing no scheduled academics at all...

[Hunter]

 

Good point about the word families...I never thought of that...

 

A previous poster mentioned waiting until fine motor skills are developed, and I thought I should mention since I like teaching cursive first that my boys are 6 years old when they start Kindergarten, so they are a little older than maybe many here who start school earlier...My kids were still playing at 5, doing no scheduled academics at all...

 

 

Yes, it certainly matters at what age you introduce a "first". Some "firsts" are so much easier to introduce at 6 than 5, or at 7 than 6.

 

I'm wondering if the European countries that teach cursive-first are also the ones that wait till 7 for first grade.

 

Playing does so much to prepare a student to write.

[beth83]

The private school my husband went to taught cursive first. Their reasoning was that it was more difficult to write letters letters backwards.

 

[FO4UR]

Abeka has some very nice materials for teaching cursive first. I don't endorse the entire curric...just the cursive workbook for 1st grade. (I think the K and probably 2nd grade wbs are good too, but I haven't used them.)

 

 

After the Abeka wb, I bought Startwrite and started making our own handwriting practice and copywork. Startwrite is ideal b/c you can design your own handwriting book according to your dc's needs, changing font sizes, using material from your other school books, etc...

 

 

I agree with Hunter about being careful about mixing spelling and early writing. (I started my oldest out in SWR and CF. :huh: SWR was a flop. CF took.)

 

Recipe for Reading is a more straight O-G program, and it worked much better for ds10 as a "spell to read" program. We focused on one phonogram at a time, which is good for handwriting as well as retention. (Blend Phonics would work just as well if your main focus is handwriting.) I think those Spalding phonograms make perfect practice material b/c they repeat over and over again.

 

 

We have had no troubles learning print...except reversals, which would have been *even worse* if we didn't do cursive early. I don't think my 10yo would have ever learned cursive if he didn't learn it first. He struggles in LA and it would be the first thing I would have cut off of our schedule, and it would have been a great loss for him b/c he has a very nice cursive hand...even if his spelling is still uh-trow-shus. ( :lol: )

 

 

Agreeing with the Montessori sandpaper letters. That is how we first started. Long before he put pencil to paper, he knew the sounds of the letters and the strokes for writing them. I didn't start pencil/paper lessons until he began writing spontaneously as per Montessori.

 

 

1- Sandpaper letters

2- Abeka 1st grade

3- Startwrite incorporating whatever other school materials you use