Cursive for younger student

[DandelionPrincess]

I'm posting this here in hopes that maybe some of you have experience doing cursive with a younger student (he'll be 6 in the fall). He is BEGGING to learn cursive, writing all day long with long scribbles and calling it cursive. His printing is very good, he writes every letter easily, so i'm figuring why not teach him cursive now, right????

 

I was going to wait another year or so, but i think i would rather teach him now than have him keep scribbling all day long, right? (looking for validation here lol)

 

Anyhow, i'm looking into either Zaner Bloser or Cursive First. We're using ZB gr. 1 book right now, should we stick with the same program? I know Cursive First is kind of geared towards the younger crowd, but since he's already printing well, would ZB be okay? (i'm thinking the gr. 2C book, where it's an intro to cursive for the 2nd grade crowd) I'm going to have him continue formal handwriting practice for several more years, so i'm leaning towards ZB, BUT, i don't want to scare him away from it with something that is just too much for a kid so young, KWIM?

 

Maybe i'm over thinking this, too, and could just pull out a white board and teach him to write his name in cursive, and call it a day for a little while. I hate when they force you to change your very well laid out plans!!

[wapiti]

There is nothing wrong with starting cursive now. Have fun!

[Berta]

I taught my daughter cursive when she was 5. She wanted to learn, so I bought A Reason For Handwriting. She is 8 and has beautiful cursive. She prefers it to printing.

[SarahW]

MP has a cursive curriculum for 1st graders http://www.memoriapress.com/curriculum/penmanship/new-american-cursive

 

It looks very kid-friendly, if that helps.

[DandelionPrincess]

ooo thank you SarahW, i think i'm going to go with that, i like the look of it :)

[kohlby]

I don't have any comments on those curriculums but wanted to let you know that my daughter had great success with cursive at 6. My oldest two learned cursive at the same time. One was ready at 6 and one not until 9. I used the Handwriting Without Tears workbooks. I liked the explanations at the top of the page. My daughter easily did the 3rd grade level cursive book, though they now have a 2nd grade one out. My son, the 4th grader who had never done cursive, decided on the 4th grade book just because he didn't want the same level as his sister - and he also did well. So, as far as picking a cursive level, neither of my kids picked the typical level for their ability (my oldest) or their age (my middle) and it was fine.

[Mama Anna]

FWIW, I've got dd6 who worked through ZB1 this last year and was begging to learn cursive. I'd already purchased ZB 2C for next year, so I started her off halfway through where the cursive starts just at the end of the school year. She'll need to continue through the summer, but I figure she doesn't need the review at the beginning of the book since she's moving straight from ZB1 and her post-test looked really good. So, you're not alone at least! :) Mama Anna

[CrunchyGirl]

For various reasons we decided to only teach cursive. He had taught himself basic printing. LegoMan started in January and is finishing the first NAC book (we haven't been terribly consistent). It's going great. He'll be 6 next week.