Cursive for lefties?

[three4me]

I bought my seven year old lefty the same cursive I used with my daughter (Pictures in Cursive) but I'm finding it (and many others) isn't going to work well. He's supposed to copy the letters/words on the same line as the example. The problem is that his writing hand covers the example! Are there any cursive books where the example is on the line above where they are supposed to write?

 

Thanks!

[HomeschoolingHearts&Minds]

I just bought this for my 8-year-old lefty: http://www.currclick.com/product/21168/Crawly-Critters-AZ-Cursive-Penmanship?it=1

 

I haven't used it with her, yet, so I can't confirm that it will be a good fit, but once you get past the first few pages, it does have the model on a separate line, then a dotted version to trace, and under that a line to copy it on. 

[boscopup]

My lefty used Pentime. He has beautiful cursive. The model is above the writing line.

[Insertcreativenamehere]

My lefty gets frustrated with most handwriting books that have left-handed bindings. I bought this one for him and it has been great.

 

http://www.rainbowresource.com/proddtl.php?id=044986

 

After we finish this, we'll use The Good and the Beautiful handwriting -- I bought the PDF and had it bound on the top.

 

 

[forty-two]

I used Smithhand cursive with my lefty. I picked it because I really liked the hand, and it turned out to be a good hand for my somewhat dysgraphic lefty dd. It took a decent bit of work on both our parts, but she now has an attractive, legible cursive hand. (It's a slanted hand, but dd tends to write it straight up and down, or slanted to the left, and it's been no problem.)

 

The instructions are pretty bare-boned - a sequence of instruction that groups letters made with similar strokes together, with a few example words. In theory you could write in the instruction book, but it's really meant that you do your practice on a separate pad of paper - that way you can do as little or as many practice lines as needed. And it also allows you to have your examples above your practice line, too, or wherever you want them.

 

(Actually, the program is designed with minimal models to practice on purpose - the idea is that you learn each letter and internalize how to make it, and then move to practicing writing from print models or from dictation or whatever - that's where the bulk of practice comes in. But my lefty dd was a really awful, awful speller when we started cursive, and trying to write stuff in cursive she couldn't spell in print was a disaster (even with a model). So instead, for each lesson I wrote up all the phonograms and blends you could make with the letters learned so far, and she used those for practice instead of the model words. (We just did four lines a day, repeating lines until she was ready to move on, so each day I just handwrote that day's phonogram models onto her paper.) Then we moved to doing easy CVC words from dictation (so without a cursive model), and so on and so forth through her phonics book (20 words a day). It was a combo of cursive and spelling, and did wonders for both.)

[sweetpea3829]

We did Pentime Grade 3 this summer and my only Leftie did ok with it.  His fine motor and penmanship has always been...meh.  And for sure, he had some difficulty with certain cursive letters.  But overall, he did ok.

 

I really focused on making sure he positioned his hand correctly and that his paper was angled well. 

[Clemsondana]

Handwriting without Tears is a somewhat different-looking cursive, but it's great for lefties. They design their curriculum to put the examples above the writing space. My leftie did well with it.

[Tanaqui]

In addition to having the examples either above or on the right side of the line, you want to look at handwriting styles that are upright. Many lefthanded people have trouble slanting the usual way, because of course we hold our paper the other way! An upright style is just fine.

[kolamum]

My leftie has always used HWOT & had no issues. Keep in mind that the kid has always loved to write & draw. :)

I will say this though, it's easier for a leftie if you bind across the top of the book {like a steno pad} or on the right hand side of the book instead. I often just unbind, run a copy & bind it the other way. :)

[ScoutTN]

New American Cursive worked great for my lefties. MP sells it

[three4me]

Thanks everyone! I'll take a look at these.