Learning cursive BEFORE printing?

[mommy25]

I read an interesting article by Sam Blumenfeld about the importance of teaching your child cursive writing before printing. Is there anyone that has taught cursive first? What was your experience? Any opinions?

 

You can read the article here if you like.

 

Thanks :)

[SonshineLearner]

I'm totally sold on it! I purchase Cursive First, which is an easy cursive to use. That being said, my son is only 5, so right now...he's more into copying everyone else. I have told him that writing is a privilege and though he can copy the words, he must use the correct formation. Of course, it doesn't help that he has 3 sisters that print! urghhhhhh!!! But, Cursive First makes a great argument for the correlation between phonics, blending letters together as they connect....and the drop of cursive for printing around the time of starting to teach sight words...instead of phonics...

Carrie:-)

[mommy25]

I'm totally sold on it! I purchase Cursive First, which is an easy cursive to use. That being said, my son is only 5, so right now...he's more into copying everyone else. I have told him that writing is a privilege and though he can copy the words, he must use the correct formation. Of course, it doesn't help that he has 3 sisters that print! urghhhhhh!!! But, Cursive First makes a great argument for the correlation between phonics, blending letters together as they connect....and the drop of cursive for printing around the time of starting to teach sight words...instead of phonics...

Carrie:-)

 

Hi Carrie - my name is Cari too! Which cursive writing program are you using?

[Beth in SW WA]

I'm totally sold on it! I purchase Cursive First, which is an easy cursive to use.

 

Dd 5 is doing Cursive First also. It really does make sense to start cursive early.

[SonshineLearner]

Hi Carrie - my name is Cari too! Which cursive writing program are you using?

 

http://www.swrtraining.com/id52.html

 

 

Cursive First, is non-consumable...

"While Cursive First was written to coordinate with Spell to Write and Read, many teachers using other phonics or reading programs are discovering the benefits of this penmanship method and are using it along with their other curricula. It is recommended that teachers who are not using SWR at least have the 70 Basic Phonogram Cards since these are needed to make Cursive First a complete set for non-SWR users. If you are purchasing the SWR Core Teacher's Kit, your phonogram cards are already included.

 

Cursive First $15.00

Cursive First & 70 Basic Phonogram Cards $26.00

Save $2 when purchased as a set "

 

And, I'd buy the little clock stamp, too, which is $5, I think??

 

 

Another nice cursive program is Memoria Press' http://memoriapress.com/descriptions/Copy-Books.html

 

They've recently started to offer cursive as a good program for younger students.

[Susie in CA]

I grew up in Austria. We never "learned" print. We were taught cursive only. Print just came naturally through reading.

 

For some reason I went with printing first because that's what everyone was doing. The problem I see with my boys now is that

1. They have no interest in learning another way to write.

 

2. They really have no personal incentive to learn cursive. We get maybe a card here or there in cursive. That's it!

 

3. My personal feeling is that proper keyboarding today is far more important than handwriting. Therefor I have a hard time justifying to do print, cursive, and keyboarding. It seems like overkill.

 

With that said I want to say that I do make my boys write in cursive because it is if nothing else beautiful and personel writing. I just wish I had gone with cursive first.

 

Susie

[FO4UR]

I am doing cursive first with my dc. ds will be 6 this month and has made great strides this year - he was sent to see an OT at 4yo for fm delay.

 

I too have noticed ds just writes print when he wants, even though I don't teach it. Part of my reasoning for cursive first is that I know ds will not want to spend time in 3rd grade on penmanship, and this way he won't have to.

 

I am working with dd3 too. We have Cursive First flashcards that we use to trace w/ fingers to learn the formation. Then use mini chalkboards.

 

I can testify to the help of cursive with reversals too. ds mixed up b and d for a while (what kid doesn't?), and one day just told me that d looks like d in cursive and b doesn't - problem fixed. He sometimes hesitates when going through letter flashcards on b and d, but he traces with his finger and gets it right every time. This was much easier than my whole "bed" explanation...:lol:

 

I understand the importance of keyboard skills, and will teach it early-just not to the exlusion of penmanship. I don't worry at all that my dc won't be able to fill out forms, but I would worry what my dc would do when their laptop crashes during a lecture in college kwim. Those old fashioned pens might come in handy someday:tongue_smilie:

[SonshineLearner]

Hey Susie, were you taught more like Spencerian Cursive? I think that's the most beautiful and what children learned to do, before adults learned that it was too hard:-) I believe that most other places teach cursive, until you need to do mapping in High School, which would mean that Americans may never need to print:-)

Carrie:-)

[Audrey]

I grew up in Austria. We never "learned" print. We were taught cursive only. Print just came naturally through reading.

 

For some reason I went with printing first because that's what everyone was doing. The problem I see with my boys now is that

1. They have no interest in learning another way to write.

 

2. They really have no personal incentive to learn cursive. We get maybe a card here or there in cursive. That's it!

 

3. My personal feeling is that proper keyboarding today is far more important than handwriting. Therefor I have a hard time justifying to do print, cursive, and keyboarding. It seems like overkill.

 

With that said I want to say that I do make my boys write in cursive because it is if nothing else beautiful and personel writing. I just wish I had gone with cursive first.

 

Susie

 

 

I could have written your post. I do want ds(9yo) to learn cursive, but he's completely resistant to it. I've tried, but that's not a hill on which I'm willing to die. :blush:

[bookmomma]

The problem I see with my boys now is that

1. They have no interest in learning another way to write.

 

2. They really have no personal incentive to learn cursive. We get maybe a card here or there in cursive. That's it!

 

Susie

 

Funny, my boys think that writing in cursive is a privilege. My ds6 keeps asking me to show him how to write his name in cursive again. It's like a private club!

[JulieD]

My son really struggled with printing and I switched him to cursive when we started homeschooling in first grade. There was an immediate difference. He developed an efficient grip, letter and word spacing problems disappeared; his writing was finally legible.

 

I did use Cursive First and I loved the flashcards. The worksheets were too visually cluttered for my son to use well. I ended up making a complete set of lowercase cursive worksheets myself that worked better for him.

 

My daughter is in first grade now and I'm using the third grade cursive book from Handwriting Without Tears for her. Last year I taught out of the book, but on paper with wider lines. The third grade book teaches all the lowercase letters on a two page spread. The first page uses first grade lines, and then the second page provides practice on third grade lines. My son is going through it, also. Even in third grade he needs to spend some time focused on writing individual letters everyday or his handwriting will deteriorate.

 

Pros for Cursive First: prettier style, all letters taught from base line

Cons for Cursive First: clockface didn't work for son, worksheets too crowded and visually distracting

 

Pros for Handwriting Without Tears: clear instruction, workbook uncluttered

Cons for Handwriting Without Tears: plain style, can cause confusion on where to start letters (bottom or top)

 

I'm very happy I switched to cursive early with my son and taught it first to my daughter. My son benefited from a form of writing that is easier to learn and from the extra practice he's had with cursive. Switching forms later would have been extremely frustrating for him. My daughter thinks it's great fun to learn cursive and finds it grown-up and beautiful. She has no trouble reading adults' cursive messages (sometimes to their surprise). Early cursive has worked for both my children, even though they are at opposite ends of the handwriting spectrum.

 

Julie D.

[Rosie_0801]

When I went searching for info about this online I found numerous articles on why we should teach cursive first, and none on why we should teach printing first. I figured if there was a good reason, someone would be trying to convince us all! The cursive first people had some good arguments and my handwriting is ugly from having swapped and changed writing styles while learning, so I'm not inclined to do the same with my kids. You can certainly get through life without pretty handwriting, but it's rather embarrassing at times. Anyway, if cursive is easier why do things the hard way?

:)

Rosie

[Susie in CA]

Hey Susie, were you taught more like Spencerian Cursive? I think that's the most beautiful and what children learned to do, before adults learned that it was too hard:-) I believe that most other places teach cursive, until you need to do mapping in High School, which would mean that Americans may never need to print:-)

Carrie:-)

 

Hmmm...

I don't actually remember which style we were thaught, just that we never used print.

 

Susie

[rockermom]

When I went searching for info about this online I found numerous articles on why we should teach cursive first, and none on why we should teach printing first. I figured if there was a good reason, someone would be trying to convince us all! The cursive first people had some good arguments and my handwriting is ugly from having swapped and changed writing styles while learning, so I'm not inclined to do the same with my kids. You can certainly get through life without pretty handwriting, but it's rather embarrassing at times. Anyway, if cursive is easier why do things the hard way?

:)

Rosie

 

.. so true..

 

I was worried that RockerDad would resist my claims that learning cursive first would be better. He told me today that he found some free workbooks online (including handwriting). To my surprise, he only showed me the cursive ones and he agrees completely and wants RockerTot to learn cursive first.

[Beth in SW WA]

.. so true..

 

To my surprise, he only showed me the cursive ones and he agrees completely and wants RockerTot to learn cursive first.

 

My older dc, 11 & 13, learned cursive in 3rd grade at private school. What a waste of precious time! They should have been learning grammar!! They spent hours of class time perfecting cursive -- following years of perfecting their print. Makes no sense.

 

Rant over.