Introducing Cursive

[plain jane]

I am hoping to start cursive when school resumes in January. I should not have put this question off until now, but here goes.:tongue_smilie: I plan to use my StartWrite CD to make up my own copywork sheets and tracing pages, but I do not know what sequence the letters should be introduced in. Can you please recommend an inexpensive, yet thorough TM that will give me the information I need. A free online resource would be even better.;)

 

I would appreciate any further tips or ideas any of you may have to share.

[Lovedtodeath]

 

Handwriting Without Tears (TEACHERS edition) I wonder if this would help. It is on Paperbackswap. You can get a credit including shipping for $3.50 if this is what you need.

[plain jane]

Handwriting Without Tears (TEACHERS edition) I wonder if this would help. It is on Paperbackswap. You can get a credit including shipping for $3.50 if this is what you need.

 

 

Does this cover all of the levels of HWT? I have never used HWT, does it cover manuscript and cursive? I'm hoping for something parent-friendly, pick-up-and-go. I'm hoping it isn't too much to ask. Teacher dd how to print was difficult enough.:tongue_smilie:

[Lovedtodeath]

That's wierd, I did not research it. On the HWT site they sell a different TM for each grade level. You would need grade 3.:confused:

[Mallory]

We just started cursive this year. Both boys were very excited about it. Of course what they were excited about was that signature, so we started with the letters in thier name.

 

I had thought about the order I wanted to teach it- letters that are like "a", tall letters, ect. But after they had done thier name, first and last, we just went through the remaining lower case letters in abc order. We are now working on the Capitals, again just in abc order.

 

So far they are doing great!

[ElizabethB]

Don Potter has links to cheap and free handwriting resources.

 

Peterson cursive is cheap and simple, then there are several different free online handwriting books, scroll down to the paragraph titled "handwriting," about 3/4 of the way down the page:

 

http://www.donpotter.net/ed.htm

[MrsMe]

I plan to use my StartWrite CD to make up my own copywork sheets and tracing pages, but I do not know what sequence the letters should be introduced in.

I would appreciate any further tips or ideas any of you may have to share.

 

I know exactly what you're talking about. I haven't bought a program because I want the letters they make to be similar at first. I know there is one out there and now can't remember what it is.

 

But you want them to learn the similar letters first. That's probably something you can do if you look at the writing. So since c and a is similar in writing, practice c, a, then putting them together, then t, l, i, then combining c a t. KWIM?

 

c a

t i l e u w

d o

m n

[Mallory]

This was my plan-

 

• c, a, d, g, q, o- these letters all start like c does
  
• e, l, b, h, k, f- these letters all start with that first loop
  
• i, j, t, u, w, r, s, p- these letters all start much like an i
  
• m, n, x, v, y, z- these letters all start with a hump
  

When they only had a few letters, I didn't worry about making real words as much as I worried about practicing connections. For example o, b, w, and v don't connect at the bottom line, so they can make some unusual conections (think r after o).

[Cindyg]

You know, if you get a cursive teacher's manual, you'll get all the info you need to make the copy sheets on your own. In the early days, when the kids have only learned a few letters, it's hard to think of "legal" words (words that contain letters they know).

 

So, if you followed the word list in a published curriculum, you'd get that help. And you can still use StartWrite to make the worksheets. Then, after you've introduced everything, you can proceed with your own material.

 

I've been making my own handwriting worksheets for 2+ years. (I used Educational Fontware.) It is a great idea. I'm able to keep the workload and content appropropriate for my child while staying in the font of our choice.

[lionfamily1999]

We just started cursive this year. Both boys were very excited about it. Of course what they were excited about was that signature, so we started with the letters in thier name.

 

I had thought about the order I wanted to teach it- letters that are like "a", tall letters, ect. But after they had done thier name, first and last, we just went through the remaining lower case letters in abc order. We are now working on the Capitals, again just in abc order.

 

So far they are doing great!

We did Andrew's name first, too. We did all three names, upper and lower case for each. By the time we were done we'd gotton a good part of the alphabet already, lol. The only diff, was we did all the rest in upper case, and then the lower case alphabet. Next year, we're going to link lower with upper, work on it for a week or so and then just start having him do his copywork in cursive alone.