bethben Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 Can this work? Has it worked for you? I just read an article about it and the thought makes me go "hmmm". It makes a lot of sense since 8 year old ds is having trouble just making the switch over to exclusive cursive. Ds 4 (I'm looking at next year) is also a lefty. Does this mess up a young child? After all, they have to learn a whole other alphabet- the cursive one. Anybody do this with success or failure? Beth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cworthy Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 I believe Abeka curriculum does this -- or at least it did in the past. My son went to a morning preschool at age 4. They learned to write in cursive and he has beautiful handwriting now at age 10. I have no idea if that had an impact. His fine motor skills may have more to do with building Lego projects. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hmschooling Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 I am looking into this as well. My dd7 is having trouble switching over to cursive now and I'm thinking of starting my ds5 with New American Cursive in K in the fall. Right now, he's just gently learning a modified print from Starfall b/c he wants to know how to write now that he's learning to read... he just traces...it's a print that will lead well into the early cursive. Abeka is a pretty formal looking cursive. If you are looking for a less swirly/loopy one, I'd take a peek at the New Amer. Cursive since their cursive workbooks are aimed at K-2 whereas other cursive workbooks may be aimed at 3rd and up (could be intimidating to a little one!) (or like Abeka, might be more loopy than you want). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie in Monterey Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 Our local public school teaches this and I've switched over this year to it for my oldest who is in 3rd grade now. She is still working on cursive. I started with it for my youngest 5.5 yearrs and she loves all the curls at the end of most letters. Her handwriting is great and I understand it's a super easy transition to cursive. Check it out, it may be just what you are looking for. Scott Foresman puts out some good basic D'Nealian handwriting workbooks. Julie in Monterey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arcara Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 What if you've already started teaching your dc print? I keep seeing this topic come up on the board, and it makes me think. My ds will be 4 in about a week. He's been doing HWT. He loves to write! When he says he wants to do school work, this is what he means...he wants to practice writing. I've had to make practice pages and put them in page protectors so he can practice with dry-erase markers as many times as he wants. I'm wonder if he might like to try cursive? However, I don't want to "mess him up" :), especially after already being pretty far into print instruction. What do you think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retired Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 I didn't teach my children writing but one of my children was taught in ps with print first then switch over to cursive 3rd grade. His handwriting and cursive are horrible. I have tried remedial writing course and he is always going to have terrible handwriting. He is 15, he can print well but his cursive is a mess. My second son attended a Christian school using Abeka. He started off with cursive and was taught print by me in 3rd grade. he is 11 and has the most beautiful cursive and his print is very even and pretty. I don't know if its just the child. I don't think so since my oldest with the bad handwriting is a perfectionist. He really did try to improve. I would go with cursive first, just with what I've seen with my boys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonshineLearner Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 You can do a search for "Cursive First" on here; it's the one that is suggested by SWR. I have it, and it comes with phonograms to study. I laminated them and we orally practice manuscript and cursive letters. I can't say it's been perfect...He's reading, but for writing he "draws" the letters he sees his sisters printing on the board. Of course, looking at his sister's handwriting is a good reason to teach cursive first! Carrie:-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoggirl Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 Our local public school teaches this and I've switched over this year to it for my oldest who is in 3rd grade now. She is still working on cursive. I started with it for my youngest 5.5 yearrs and she loves all the curls at the end of most letters. Her handwriting is great and I understand it's a super easy transition to cursive. Check it out, it may be just what you are looking for. Scott Foresman puts out some good basic D'Nealian handwriting workbooks. Julie in Monterey Ds had started in public school and this is what they used, so we just carried on with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cherrie Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 because her printing was all over the page. She took to it quickly everyone thought it was a much older student doing the writing. Fast forward more than 4 years latter improvent as been slow. Her handwriting is still far beter than her printing but I thought by now there should be more of a differance from 4 years ago. So we are spending more time using practice books something we did not do much of until now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FO4UR Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 I am teaching cursive first now. My ds is 6yo and dd is just starting at 3.5yo. ds6 was sent to an OT at 4yo for fm delay. HSing and doing short daily lessons in cursive have worked wonders for him. We started just tracing with his finger, to tracing with a pencil, .....His writing now is decent when he is copying, and rough when he is spelling from dictation (we do SWR). With dd3, we are still just tracing with fingers and practicing making loops in the correct direction and such. I am waiting on Startright to come in the mail right now - finding good cursive copywork (cheap)for a 1st grader is tough.(materials for the preschool set is even more fun:glare:) With Startright I can cut&paste from public domain texts online for good copywork, and change the sizing with a click. ds6 has no troubles reading or writing in print even though I don't teach it. His print looks like every other 6yo's in his SS class (and he does print when he is given that for a model). That is the amazing thing about teaching cursive first to me - there is NO penmanship drill in 3rd grade:D Print comes naturally, and cursive is done! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bethben Posted February 17, 2009 Author Share Posted February 17, 2009 Would you say cursive first is worth the money? I know it's non-consumable, but I would have trouble coming up with something on my own. I do have startwrite though... Beth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FO4UR Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 Would you say cursive first is worth the money? I know it's non-consumable, but I would have trouble coming up with something on my own. I do have startwrite though...Beth If you have startwrite, then no Cursive First is not worth the $ imho, however the CF flashcards are worth their weight in gold:001_smile: CF just goes through the numbers and letters, and then through the phonograms as taught in SWR. If you are doing SWR, you can easily make your own pages with SW. If you aren't doing SWR, then those phonogram pages might not be what you want anyway. (I ran into this kind of roadblock with Abeka K5 - I loved it until it started going with their phonics program which we don't do.....which is why I bought SW;)) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bethben Posted February 17, 2009 Author Share Posted February 17, 2009 So, how would I write my own handwriting program? Do I just start at "a" and go through each letter? I have a set of phonogram cards from all about spelling. Is there a place that would help me make my own workbook? I'm thinking of cursive first and how they say they group similar cursive stroke letters together. Beth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrothead Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 So, how would I write my own handwriting program? Do I just start at "a" and go through each letter? I have a set of phonogram cards from all about spelling. Is there a place that would help me make my own workbook? I'm thinking of cursive first and how they say they group similar cursive stroke letters together.Beth Have you looked at ZB fonts online? http://www.zaner-bloser.com/educator/products/handwriting/index.aspx?id=4296 You can make your own pages there. I'd start with c then go to o, a, g, p, q and do all the round letters first. After that go on to e then i. Last would be the rest of the letters and then capital letters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bethben Posted February 17, 2009 Author Share Posted February 17, 2009 For those who want to know... I found a sequence order that you can use to make your own workbooks. http://www.hwtears.com/files/HWT-TEACHING-ORDER-CURSIVE.pdf Thanks to all who helped. We're going to try this! Beth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FO4UR Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 For those who want to know... I found a sequence order that you can use to make your own workbooks.http://www.hwtears.com/files/HWT-TEACHING-ORDER-CURSIVE.pdf Thanks to all who helped. We're going to try this! Beth :001_smile: Sounds like a plan! You can use your AAS phonogram cards to make pages after you teach the individual letters in the HWT order. Just put them in whatever order they are taught....that is essentiall ALL CF does for SWR. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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