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Teaching Cursive


barnwife
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I am pretty sure I am going to teach cursive first. This seems overwhelming to me, probably because my own cursive is...not pretty. But DS5 seems much more excited about learning "fancy writing" than printing. 

So help me out. Is there a particular cursive curriculum/workbook that you like? Or even a website that you just print from.

Give me all the cursive resources that you like, please!
 

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I agree with ZB. I spent about 8 months researching and reading historical material and studying the stroke and flow of it, and I ended up going to ZB as the best I could easily get right now that would still be "fun" with colorful material. I also opted to teach my son using a fountain pen. I got the Pelikan Twist that is available through Amazon. My son is doing 2 C with ZB and isn't yet at the cursive, but I have already seen an improvement in his manuscript. So that has to count for something!

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I used Cursive First, and liked it.  The only trouble was it wanted very small kids to do far more practice than is appropriate, but I just ignored that.

 

One of the things I appreciated was that they didn't have huge spaces for letters like many programs - I found with cursive it was actually more difficult for my kids to make giant letters.

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I really liked the free, design-your-own printable worksheets from Worksheet Works.  The font was similar to what I learned (which I think was rather pretty), and I liked that you could change the font size (we started big and got smaller as they grew more competent), decide which guide-lines to include, and even select whether you want dotted lines to trace or empty letters to fill.  I also liked that I could do exactly as much practice as we needed, printing an extra page of something or teaching a few letters at a time as we needed, rather than being limited to what the book provided.  And my kids liked the fact that I tried to pick words to practice that applied to them.  I looked at the tables of contents of a few cursive programs online and used that to determine the order I introduced letters.

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Zaner Bloser is excellent. It begins by teaching the children to write different strokes, then morphing those strokes into letters.

 

ZB is probably my favorite style of writing. But...it looks like they don't teach cursive from the beginning. Am I missing something? 

 

I'd love, love, love, a ZB handwriting book that taught different strokes then morphs that into cursive at the K level.

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Unless a child is gifted, choosing to do cursive first requires planning the entire curriculum around that choice.

 

If choosing cursive first, I prefer Alpha-phonics, which is now free. Don Potter has a free slanted cursive handwriting curriculum. I prefer Spalding's vertical hand.

 

I teach manuscript uppercase instead of cursive uppercase because modern English included so many acronyms. Also, more and more people struggle to read cursive, and a vertical hand with manuscript uppercase is easier to read for many people.

 

The first step is fixing your own handwriting, so you are not reliant on workbooks. Is your hand slanted or vertical? Slant is one of the hardest things to switch later in life. You are probably best sticking with your current slant.

 

For the rest of the curriculum, vintage methods are best. Curricula that have students writing reports in K and 1st are not compatible with cursive first. Ambleside online works with cursive first.

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I used free online letter worksheets for those cursive letters that look vastly different than their manuscript counterparts with finger writing in kinetic sand. Then we did about a month of tracing cursive sentences that I created with free online software.

 

Now to transition to copying I find something interesting and creative to write an original phrase about, I take DS' answer and write in pencil as the model, then write in highlighter for him to trace, then he copies it. His favorite thing is to play Rory's Story Cubes and he comes up with the story title for the copywork.

 

Note: He did not do cursive first but he is learning cursive at four years old. If he is more receptive to a handwriting book when he's five I would switch.

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Unless a child is gifted, choosing to do cursive first requires planning the entire curriculum around that choice.

 

If choosing cursive first, I prefer Alpha-phonics, which is now free. Don Potter has a free slanted cursive handwriting curriculum. I prefer Spalding's vertical hand.

 

I teach manuscript uppercase instead of cursive uppercase because modern English included so many acronyms. Also, more and more people struggle to read cursive, and a vertical hand with manuscript uppercase is easier to read for many people.

 

The first step is fixing your own handwriting, so you are not reliant on workbooks. Is your hand slanted or vertical? Slant is one of the hardest things to switch later in life. You are probably best sticking with your current slant.

 

For the rest of the curriculum, vintage methods are best. Curricula that have students writing reports in K and 1st are not compatible with cursive first. Ambleside online works with cursive first.

 

I can't say that I found teaching cursive first made much of an impact on anything else I did.  My kids wrote in cursive when they were younger, and around grade 2 we added printing, and after that we used both at various times.

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I don't see why you couldn't get ZB cursive and just repeat it more with the strokes and such till mastery occurs when you are working with a younger child. My son's 2C has a couple pages on strokes then goes into letters. I normally copy his pages in case I need him to repeat a page later. So you could just do that if need be. It says it can't be copied but my understanding is that it can't be copied and given to a classroom, or ALL your children. Copying for single use is still okay.

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Unless a child is gifted, choosing to do cursive first requires planning the entire curriculum around that choice.

 

I am not following this train of thought. Maybe I haven't had enough chocolate yet today.

 

 

FWIW, deciding to do cursive first is the last thing I have decided for the K year of our oldest next year. And I have no plans to change anything else that's been decided on because of this decision.

 

Why would choosing to teach a child to write in cursive mean they can't do Miquon (or Saxon or MM or whatever)? Why would it mean the phonics/reading program needs to change? (We will still use Webster's as our main program.) 

 

Everything else will be interest-led/life and lots of library books. 

 

So, now that I have decided to teach cursive, does any of that need to change? Because I can't fathom why it should. 

 

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Yes, it can even affect math, if you are using worksheets. If you are teaching slanted cursive, the student should be writing slanted numbers. I don't know of any modern worksheets that model slanted numbers.

 

Websters works with cursive first. OG and Spalding clones do not. At least not in my opinion with non-gifted students.

 

Cursive requires multi-tasking. To choose the right connectors the student needs to think ahead. Romalda Spalding started with manuscript and didn't transition students to cursive until they were spelling in syllables, not phonograms.

 

Teaching early readers to write in cursive is like tying a hand behind their back. When cursive first was the standard, curricula were designed for these impeded students.

 

I'm distracted and busy. I can't write an organized and defendable explanation tonight. But asking non gifted little boys to complete a regular modern curriculum in cursive is setting some of them up for failure.

 

Cursive is cognitively more difficult than manuscript. Cursive is not just training the hand.

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Yes, it can even affect math, if you are using worksheets. If you are teaching slanted cursive, the student should be writing slanted numbers. I don't know of any modern worksheets that model slanted numbers.

 

Websters works with cursive first. OG and Spalding clones do not. At least not in my opinion with non-gifted students.

 

Cursive requires multi-tasking. To choose the right connectors the student needs to think ahead. Romalda Spalding started with manuscript and didn't transition students to cursive until they were spelling in syllables, not phonograms.

 

Teaching early readers to write in cursive is like tying a hand behind their back. When cursive first was the standard, curricula were designed for these impeded students.

 

I'm distracted and busy. I can't write an organized and defendable explanation tonight. But asking non gifted little boys to complete a regular modern curriculum in cursive is setting some of them up for failure.

 

Cursive is cognitively more difficult than manuscript. Cursive is not just training the hand.

I might have to turn in my HS badge for admitting the following...I don't care whether the numbers slant or not regardless of what type of handwriting we do. And even if a student is using slanted numbers in a program that doesn't, why does that matter? As long as the student can read/identify the numbers in the program, isn't that all that matters?

 

I am not sure I am following why it's like tying a hand behind their back. 

 

I agree that cursive is cognitively more difficult than manuscript. 

 

I would love to hear more of your thoughts if you ever have the time!

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I agree with Cursive First at Peterson's above.  It is not the prettiest (you can see all the letters here) but it does teach strokes and puts them together quickly.  I do not follow it exactly (I hate the letter c they use) and I also use the idea of clock time and upstairs, downstairs, basement from the program Cursive First (start at the 10 and go to the 2). My 4 yo went to preschool very part time (at grandma's behest) and learned all UPPERCASE letters - UGH!  So, we had to go back and teach lowercase cursive.  In my estimation it is easier because it always starts in the same place - on a line - and ends in the same place.  There are a few connectors which can be more difficult - but compared with constantly having to decide where to start ball and stick I think it is much easier. 

 

Don Potter's Shortcut to cursive also uses strokes, is less than 20 pages and a free PDF! 

 

As far as curriculum, many of the copywork programs I use have a cursive font option.  It may not look EXACTLY like what we have but it is close enough. 

 

I will say that my 9 yo sometimes has trouble communicating with friends because he is cursive first and his friends haven't learned cursive.  Maybe that is our summer project - some manuscript letters. I am a little surprised he hasn't just picked it up on his own.  

Edited by TX Pilgrim
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The problem I had when we did cursive first, is my son could write quite beautiful handwriting when doing copywork. But places like church or whatever the people would print.... so anytime he wrote on his own it was an untaught printing that looked awful.

 

And his sister couldn't do a single letter legibly at all with it for some reason. She is lefthanded and would mirror print from the start.

 

So I gave up and we changed to italics for everyone.

 

Sent from my SM-T530NU using Tapatalk

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Yes, it can even affect math, if you are using worksheets. If you are teaching slanted cursive, the student should be writing slanted numbers. I don't know of any modern worksheets that model slanted numbers.

 

Websters works with cursive first. OG and Spalding clones do not. At least not in my opinion with non-gifted students.

 

Cursive requires multi-tasking. To choose the right connectors the student needs to think ahead. Romalda Spalding started with manuscript and didn't transition students to cursive until they were spelling in syllables, not phonograms.

 

Teaching early readers to write in cursive is like tying a hand behind their back. When cursive first was the standard, curricula were designed for these impeded students.

 

I'm distracted and busy. I can't write an organized and defendable explanation tonight. But asking non gifted little boys to complete a regular modern curriculum in cursive is setting some of them up for failure.

 

Cursive is cognitively more difficult than manuscript. Cursive is not just training the hand.

 

I really disagree with the gifted idea.  I've found teaching cursive first solved all kinds of problems, and was generally easier, than print first.  No reversals, fewer issues with spacing or words climbing up the page, letter sizes more consistant.

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I taught cursive first with my daughter and we went through a period where she'd write cursive during school work but if she was doing anything on her own she'd use manuscript.  And since I never taught her how to form the manuscript letters correctly she just wrote in all caps.  I contemplated going back and teaching the strokes for the manuscript letters (lower case) so that she could form them correctly but she started using cursive more and more.  She still uses manuscript caps when she writes on her own but I don't care much.  I have taught her how to form a few lower case letters here and there and she's doing great.

 

We used Logic of English Foundations which has the handwriting built in with the reading.  It worked beautifully for my daughter.  Now, for my son, that's another matter and I may just skip the handwriting portion of LOE until he's more ready.  We'll see.  I agree with whoever said that writing huge letters in cursive was harder than writing more small  -  we've run into that as well.  My daughter much prefers the smaller lines, mostly because she's still learning how to move her hand while she writes instead of keeping it planted where she started.  It's all a process. :)

 

Do some research and decide which one you like best.  I would NEVER use HWOT because I think the font is absolutely horrid, but that's just me.  I haven't looked at ZB but if I wasn't doing LOE, I'd probably do that.  So, for me, part of my decision was the font used in the handwriting instruction.  I found a free worksheet maker that uses d'Nealien and cursive (which is how I learned to write) so I've enjoyed that for practice.  http://www.handwritingpractice.net/handwriting/index.html

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I'm teaching my Kindergartener cursive first and it didn't affect my whole curriculum at all. I find that, while my son is still learning to actually write, he can read both cursive and print regardless of the slant. I am thrilled that he can do this.

 

I didn't teach cursive to my oldest until he was in second grade and it took him a long time to master it. The reason I did it then and not in third grade was that he couldn't read grandparents' letters or anything in cursive!

 

The funny thing is that my Kindergartener is picking up print on his own. I'm sure that by the time he's in second grade he'll probably be able to do both handwriting styles without a stressful transition.

 

I use ZB, by the way.

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Numbers and letters need to be the same slant. They just do. How else can you write an address? You cannot mix vertical numbers and slanted letters without it looking messy, and actually banging into each other.

 

Writing in cursive requires multitasking. Copying is easier than composing original words as it doesn't require the same level of multitasking. Vintage methods used so much copywork and narration because so many students couldn't handle the multitasking of cursive writing. Manuscript allows younger students to be able to compose original sentences.

 

I'm not an expert and I'm in the process of moving and my brain is just so overwhelmed and disorganized. And I'm on a cell phone and searching and posting links is difficult. I'm just not up to an article like post about cursive-first. I'm so sorry.

 

Cursive-first is possible. But it is not as simple as just substituting a cursive workbook for a manuscript one.

 

For moms that enjoy reading educational theory and Charlotte Mason and other vintage authors, cursive-first will work.

 

For a totally modern workbook using mom, it might be a disaster. Expecting the average 6 year old male to complete modern workbooks in cursive is setting him up to fail. Have I seen it done? Yup, of course I have. But they were not average kids, even if their mums thought they were.

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Kids with dysgraphia seem to do better with cursive. Joining the letters seems to make it stick in their heads better.

 

If I'd known about the dysgraphia before I started, I'd have done joined italics instead of Spencerian, but it'd cause more problems to switch now, so we're sticking with it.

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Numbers and letters need to be the same slant. They just do. How else can you write an address? You cannot mix vertical numbers and slanted letters without it looking messy, and actually banging into each other.

 

You can use a label maker to print out your address, or you can write the number out in words, I suppose.

 

The real question is this: Are you writing your numerals all at the same height, or are you having some at x height, some with raised ascenders, and some with descenders below the line? I believe some countries teach the latter method in their schools as the right way to write them. Here's an example of text figures in print handwriting, though in this case I think it's probably an affectation.

 

Edited by Tanaqui
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You can use a label maker to print out your address, or you can write the number out in words, I suppose.

 

The real question is this: Are you writing your numerals all at the same height, or are you having some at x height, some with raised ascenders, and some with descenders below the line? I believe some countries teach the latter method in their schools as the right way to write them. Here's an example of text figures in print handwriting, though in this case I think it's probably an affectation.

None of the curricula being discussed here does this, and I didn't want to overwhelm people with more info than necessary. If someone chooses a curricula that does this, then I am willing to discuss this, too.

 

I cannot advocate a system of handwriting that doesn't allow a student to mix numbers and letters.

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None of the curricula being discussed here does this, and I didn't want to overwhelm people with more info than necessary. If someone chooses a curricula that does this, then I am willing to discuss this, too.

 

I cannot advocate a system of handwriting that doesn't allow a student to mix numbers and letters.

Maybe I'm dense of something, but I can't see the problem with slant handwriting and vertical numbers... just leave more space before and after the number. If done neatly, what is the issue? I guess the numbers would stand out more - kind of like the opposite of using an italic version of a font to denote the title of a book or something.... but no biggie....

 

 

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Maybe I'm dense of something, but I can't see the problem with slant handwriting and vertical numbers... just leave more space before and after the number. If done neatly, what is the issue? I guess the numbers would stand out more - kind of like the opposite of using an italic version of a font to denote the title of a book or something.... but no biggie....

 

 

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I think I fall in this camp.

 

But then again, I frequently send a letter to a fire number address. The fire number starts with S and then the numbers. I learned long ago to write the S in cursive. Otherwise people assume it's a number (5) as it's part of the number part of an address. I always print the rest of the address. 

 

At first having only that letter in cursive drove me bonkers. I've learned to deal though. It's more important that the mail get where it needs to go. (Don't ask why I don't write the whole address in cursive. Having to do that would bother me to!)

 

Thanks everyone who has replied. There are various reasons I think cursive first will be a good fit for our oldest. (Such as the fact that he is semi-interested in "fancy writing" but has no interest in printing.) And the replies here have given me some good options to look at.

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The number and letters slant thing doesn't make sense.  Many children learn to write their numbers vertically and then give them a proper slant later - anyone who teaches cursive second witnesses this. 

We use an italic print (d'nealian).  My son's math worksheets started out with vertical numbers.  He had no problem switching over to a slant once the dotted guide lines were gone because his paper has always been at a slant.

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Well, some of the responses here contradict WHY most people choose cursive first.

 

But if cursive first is just what a kid wants to do, and mom doesn't have any OCD tendencies, I guess that can work.

 

I'm just trying to wrap my OCD brain around this. I've been nicknamed the handwriting Nazi. My attention to detail and very explicit teaching is welcome to students that failed at more loosey-goosey methods. All of my students come to me with a history of failure. I need to get it right the first time.

 

I understand that gifted kids are more resiliant and have greater problem solving skills and abilities to multitask. I had a kid gifted in maths. I had room to be loosey-goosey with him in maths. He filled in the gsps on his own. I don't have that room in maths with my current students.

 

My gifted kid never learned proper handwriting, despite being gifted. I didn't know then how to teach it. I wish I had. He has great problem solving skills, so will make do, I'm sure.

 

I think slant, spacing, size, etc. are critical parts of handwriting instruction. I do not use instructional materials that do not include these topics or cannot be adapted to me adding them.

 

I think most of us struggle to teach handwriting because we were not properly instructed ourselves and and have seen too many loosey goosey workbooks for sale.

 

It is impossible to have neat handwriting without consistent slant. And the entire system of letter formation is usually different for slanted and vertical. Vertical cursive is often joined ball and stick manuscript. Slanted cursive is usually not circles, and often not even slanted ovals, but something else entirely. Slanted writing is often joined strokes.

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Peterson Directed Handwriting has a cursive first option

 

 

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Yes, we do Peterson directed and you can look at all the books online (you just can't print them).  We didn't do it as cursive first, but this is the book (I think) we used first:

http://www.peterson-handwriting.com/Publications/review_ebooks/Peterson_CursiveFirst_IND_REV.pdf

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I attended Montessori school from age 4 to 3rd grade.  I learned cursive first and I don't even remember learning print, but I of course I know how, so obviously I learned at some point.  My preference is cursive.  Print makes my hand cramp and is slower for me.

My first 2 children attended private school for their first few years before homeschooling.  They did the modern print first and cursive later.  I found it to be very laborious.  It took dd until 7th grade to master and ds until 8th grade.  With my 3rd child we are learning cursive first.  I am not repeating the disaster of waiting until 3rd grade again.

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what about Italics?

 

My dd learned beautiful print handwriting and then she did NOT want to transition to cursive. I used RFH and she made beautiful verse memory sheets, and she spent all of 4th grade (an ENTIRE year) being ONLY allowed to write cursive and she absolutely hated it the entire year.

 

So this year in the beginning of 6th grade, I asked her what hte problem was and she said she could not understand why so many cursive letters look so differently than manuscript.  it seemed illogical to her.  So I bought the Getty Dubay Italics desk strip and she redesigned all her cursive to be almost exactly like italics and now she loves it!

 

The frustrating thing about cursive and print is that they are almost two different languages.  The wonderful thing about Italics is that the student simply adds loops and connections to the same exact letters they already learned.  So, they have the benefit of being able to start out in print, and fill in any Walmart workbook, Sunday School paper, or any other tracing paper that is put in front of them, AND the benefit of fast, legible connected handwriting later on.

 

I cannot recommend Getty Dubay enough!!! 

 

(PS I have gorgeous cursive that was re-trained in 8th grade by a nun in Catholic School using PEterson Directed. So I do love my own cursive but truly, it's not logical if you really think about it.)

 

PPS I wanted to add that my son had gorgeous cursive, which he started early in first grade (Calvert Script) and used almost exclusively for FIVE YEARS and I thought he would write in cursive the rest of his life.  THE VERY day I said he no longer was required, he switched back to manuscript and has never looked back.  He wishes he had also learned Italics with GEtty Dubay because it looks for the most part like the letters we read all the time.....

Edited by Calming Tea
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