Handwriting

[TCoppock]

My DS is 8yo and has horrible manuscript handwiritng. I have watched him and he actually forms his letters incorrectly. Now he has learned cursive and has much neater handwriting but I wonder if I should go back and correct this. If so what handwriting program that might work?

[Sue G in PA]

Have him do a few pages each week with copywork and watch him carefully as he forms the letters. Start in the first printing book. Still have him do work in cursive to keep that fresh. Some kids just take to cursive better and can write neater with cursive. As we get older, we all adopt our own "style" anyway. My own handwriting is a mix of manuscript and cursive (but I know how to do each separately!). Just my $.02!

[Laura Corin]

He went through three schools and in the mess no-one took control of his handwriting. I just started him on HWT cursive and dumped the printing. When he needs to fill in forms, he just uses block capitals.

 

Laura

[Lenora in MD]

My son is now 10 and he has always struggled with handwriting. He has made great strides with hwt. I started with the first book for printing and that did really help, but he really, really improved when he got to cursive. He still is not so great printing, after all these years, but when he writes in cursive, it is like a different child's handwriting. I think that some kids just do better with cursive. If he is fine with that, I would say let him go with it.

[HSMom2One]

My dd-8yo has been a messy writer, and after spending some time working with her on traditional cursive earlier this year (mainly so she can read the handwriting of others), we then switched gears and started the Getty-Dubay Italics series beginning with Book C. This was a great place to begin at her age because it starts out with plenty of review of the manuscript method, allowing her to work on a few changes of style and the new flow of letters and strokes. It has been really quite simple and enjoyable. About 1/3 of the way into Book C it transitions into italic cursive, then each progressive booklet continues to build on that.

 

The claim is that children (and adults) experience improved handwriting with the program. It is a simple, clean style that is quite nice, easy to read and easy to master. Getty-Dubay is available through CBD, Amazon, and Sonlight.

[Suzanne in ABQ]

He'll still need to be able to print in order to fill out forms, do standardized tests, stuff like that.

 

I second Handwriting Without Tears. Since he knows his letter, and just forms them incorrectly, I'd get My Printing Book. You won't need the letter shapes, or the slate. Just the workbook. You might as well pick up Printing Power while you're at it. By the time he works through both of those, he should be printing legibly.

 

You can get it from http://www.hwot.com, or from Rainbow Resource.

[Guest Lorna]

I don't think he will need printing for forms. All the forms I know of ask for 'Block Capitals'.

My son learned almost no writing in school and so when I took him out he moved straight onto cursive. His writing is flowing and it helped him learn how to form his letters. When he began to do crossword puzzles and that sort of thing he did occasionally want to join between boxes but he soon stopped and he got the hang of it quickly without needing to learn printing as if it was a separate form of writing.

My daughter, on the other hand, learned to write at the age of four at school by printing. Of course no one was checking she was forming her letters in the correct way, they were simply looking at the results. I cringe when I see her form her letters occasionally. I think printing can encourage misforming of letters because one isn't forced to track the lines in the correct manner. She certainly takes longer to write because of it. Her handwriting is very presentable, it is simply her fluency. I know it is awkward for her and it certainly slows her down. If I ask her to concentrate on her handwriting she produces a near perfect page of handwriting but it hasn't become her natural hand like her brother's has.

I like this article on the subject of teaching a child to write.