Copywork / Penmanship Combo

[amyc78]

What is your favorite resource that teaches copywork and penmanship at the same time? For 2nd grade... Bonus points if it is Charlotte Mason-ey :)

[6packofun]

Sorry, we always do penmanship taught by me and not a program, but for this age and copywork, etc. I LOVE English Lessons Through Literature from Barefoot Meandering.  :)

[SilverMoon]

We did this, but not with any specific program. Decide where the bar for neatness is in your homeschool and insist upon it, especially in that copywork exercise. Anything messy gets redone until it meets that bar before it can be declared finished. I sit near little ones with an eraser and erase anything terribly messy as they go. I think the latter is a CM thing, so the child doesn't get images of messy letters in their mind. I do it because I've seen in my own kids that dropping the pencil and picking up the eraser makes them mentally change gears, and then back again. When I erase it they don't have a mental transition. My oldest has severe ADHD; transitions could make or break a school day, but this technique has worked well for the other kids too.

 

To teach them to look at their own writing more critically, when a page was all done the DC and myself would go back and pick our favorite letter and circle it. Just one each. The one that looked the neatest, sat on the line just right, or whatever they were really working on at the moment. As they grew this became words. Somewhere along the road we just forgot to do it and then it was gone.

 

I would remind them when they first started copywork that it was to be done in their best handwriting. They *all* had a whole page they handed me that was so terrible I really did make them do the entire assignment all over again. They considered this the utmost torture and it was rarely repeated. They all only did separate penmanship lessons first to learn to form manuscript letters correctly and later down the road to learn cursive. Once they're confident in their ability to form the letters well we drop the separate practice and expect relatively neat work in other subjects.

Edited April 5, 2016 by SilverMoon

[TX Pilgrim]

Are you thinking about penmanship as in learning cursive or a special type of writing?  All copywork reinforces penmanship (as mentioned above).  Barefoot Ragamuffin does have a series called Handwriting Lessons Through Literature.   It might be a bit too simple for a 2nd grader - you'll have to judge.   Instead of looking for a special copywork program maybe you could have a sheet that shows proper strokes and have him compare his letters when he is off.  Remember you do want the best handwriting so better a little done well versus a lot done poorly.  The post above is great.  

 

For cursive I like Peterson's or Don Potter's.   Here is Peterson's manuscript. I am not a fan of how Peterson's cursive looks but I like the rhythm and strokes so I have changed some of the roll tops to sharp tops, etc. to make it look better. 

 

[scoutingmom]

Penny Gardner's Beautiful Handwriting for children is CM ish, italic style. It has copywork quotes as well. Available as an ebook.

 

Sent from my SM-T530NU using Tapatalk

[KeriJ]

I personally think Pentime fits this.  At least it does for us.  It is penmanship lessons, but with elements of copywork, such as mottoes, scripture and short poems as the years progress.

[Holly]

Print to Cursive Proverbs from Simply Charlotte Mason.  It alternates beginning cursive lessons with manuscript copywork based on Proverbs verses.  

[blue plaid]

A Reason For Handwriting teaches handwriting through working on a Bible verse per week.

[FO4UR]

I'm Charlotte Mason-y.

 

I merge spelling & cursive with an intro to both in 2nd Grade Essentials in Spelling.  The spelling involves CM style visualization techniques and copywork, leading up to dictation.  I have some special needs, so I do not stick strictly to CM.  I add in things that have been vital in getting success for my specific children.

 

 

In 2nd grade I also do CM style reading, oral narration, poetry & copywork through the Treadwell Readers.  I wrote Companions for the Treadwell Readers and you can find them HERE.  In the 2nd Reader Companion, I use D'Nealian manuscript b/c that is meant to be independent copywork with the cursive instruction happening during the spelling lessons.  The 3rd Companion, you have a choice between manuscript or cursive.  My kids did cursive, but some kids may need another year before doing all work in cursive.

 

 

 

 

[Hobbes]

I personally think Pentime fits this. At least it does for us. It is penmanship lessons, but with elements of copywork, such as mottoes, scripture and short poems as the years progress.

I thought the same thing. This is essentially how I'm viewing Pentime. The copywork isn't always my "first choice" material (I'd rather have excerpts from literature), but it's in the hand I want my daughter to practice and it's generally nice material.

[Amie]

My plan has been to continue penmanship lessons in some form through elementary grades along with our other writing (like copywork, dictation, etc.).  I like to choose a lot of my own copywork, so in the early stage I write the passage out myself.  That way the student can copy from a cursive model until they are fluent enough to copy from ordinary print in a book.  However, this can get time consuming, so I completely understand your request. :)  Plus, even after they graduate to being able to copy from books, I have found it beneficial to periodically have them learn or copy from a "perfect" cursive model.  

 

We have really enjoyed some of the Scripture books from this series: 

http://www.penmanship.ca/product-category/penmanship-books/ 

 

I buy the pdf version.  The author also encourages making decorative borders on the page and gives some examples to copy.  I didn't think this would appeal to my boys at all, but they actually loved it.  It was good for my not-so-artsy boy when he was in second grade.  Book 5b, which we are just beginning, introduces versal letters and decorating them at the beginning of passages (this has gone well with our medieval studies).  I plan to try the Proverbs book next. I also have the upper grades of Pentime on my radar.  (I think they have one that covers state birds or something, which would be great when we do our study of the states.)     

 

We have also used Cursive First and some Rod and Staff Penmanship, but mainly for the more explicit cursive instruction.  As far as being CM, I think the best thing you can do is help your student get to the point where he can copy from anything.  My oldest is able to do copywork from a variety of books we are reading, including Scripture and poetry.  And lately, I am even letting him choose his own sometimes.  I hope this will transition him into making his own commonplace book of sorts.  

 

But yeah, I still can't bring myself to abandon the Penmanship lessons entirely...not yet anyway. :)

Edited April 6, 2016 by Amie

[Rosepetal]

I'm Charlotte Mason-y.

 

I merge spelling & cursive with an intro to both in 2nd Grade Essentials in Spelling.  The spelling involves CM style visualization techniques and copywork, leading up to dictation.  I have some special needs, so I do not stick strictly to CM.  I add in things that have been vital in getting success for my specific children.

 

 

In 2nd grade I also do CM style reading, oral narration, poetry & copywork through the Treadwell Readers.  I wrote Companions for the Treadwell Readers and you can find them HERE.  In the 2nd Reader Companion, I use D'Nealian manuscript b/c that is meant to be independent copywork with the cursive instruction happening during the spelling lessons.  The 3rd Companion, you have a choice between manuscript or cursive.  My kids did cursive, but some kids may need another year before doing all work in cursive.

Would you mind sharing the free link for Essentials in spelling? Thanks....