Manuscript or cursive first?

[Angel in FL]

I've been looking at Abeka K4 and I see the option. What is the reason to teach cursive before printing? I didn't have or notice these options with my sons when they were little.

[FO4UR]

I teach cursive first for several reasons.

 

1-It curbs reversals. b and d, p and q look very different in cursive for

ex.

 

2-It curbs issues with spacing and separating words. I've never had that conversation LOL.

 

3-It's natural when learned first. Once the strokes are learned, writing just flows. No thinking about where to put the pencil next or how far to put it or when to pick it back up again.

 

4-My ds was sent to an OT for fm delay at 4yo, and I researched my brains out on the best way to approach handwriting and came to the conclusion that learning to write is a chore I only wanted to inflict upon him once.:tongue_smilie: So, I set out to teach him to write like an adult and not a kindergartener. Ironically, the first spontaneous letters written from his hand (after a LOOOOOOONNNNNGGGGGGGGGG time of me patiently teaching the strokes for cursive letters) were ALL CAPS:001_huh::lol: He still writes in both cursive and print.

 

My dd4 has been around listening to her brother's lessons all this time, and she reads cursive as well as she reads print. I'm now teaching her how to write the letters. It's all about what you are exposed to-

[Angel in FL]

So you taught your son cursive but then he just printed on his own? Do you not have to go back and teach the other later? And your daughter is learning cursive first?

 

I guess my fear is confusion. My dd3 can recognize all letters upper/lower case and I thought teaching her cursive first would confuse her by adding that in to her learning. Obviously I haven't done any research on it but I thought there had to be a reason.

 

I don't mind going that route I just don't want to confuse, ykwim?

 

Thanks, I really appreciate any input on the option.

[lovinmomma]

So you taught your son cursive but then he just printed on his own? Do you not have to go back and teach the other later? And your daughter is learning cursive first?

 

I guess my fear is confusion. My dd3 can recognize all letters upper/lower case and I thought teaching her cursive first would confuse her by adding that in to her learning. Obviously I haven't done any research on it but I thought there had to be a reason.

 

I don't mind going that route I just don't want to confuse, ykwim?

 

Thanks, I really appreciate any input on the option.

 

Right now I am teaching my children their phonograms using SWR. We are also going to use Cursive First. Saying that it would confuse the child is like saying that a child can not tell that 2 shades of blue are still both blue. My children have had very minimal exposure to letters, and they can easily recognize both. Liz that wrote Cursive First showed me how to write the print letters close together in a line and just simply connect them with connectors to show how they are "holding hands". It makes so much sense to my children. They can see how each letter is very similar to their cursive partner. There are a few exceptions, but not many.

 

I also had issues with spacing and reversals. That is why I chose Cursive First. Let me know if you have any other questions. I've just started this journey, but I'd be happy to help if I can.

[lovinmomma]

Right now I am teaching my children their phonograms using SWR. We are also going to use Cursive First. Saying that it would confuse the child is like saying that a child can not tell that 2 shades of blue are still both blue. My children have had very minimal exposure to letters, and they can easily recognize both. Liz that wrote Cursive First showed me how to write the print letters close together in a line and just simply connect them with connectors to show how they are "holding hands". It makes so much sense to my children. They can see how each letter is very similar to their cursive partner. There are a few exceptions, but not many.

 

I also had issues with spacing and reversals. That is why I chose Cursive First. Let me know if you have any other questions. I've just started this journey, but I'd be happy to help if I can.

 

 

Sorry, I wrote that wrong. She used a black pen to write the letters in manuscript, and then used a red pen to write over the top of them to show their connectors.

[Angel in FL]

Thanks! That does make sense. I did spend some time late last night doing a little research online about cursive first and will continue to do more. I did have major problems with my youngest son when it came to spacing and reversals. If that can be avoided with my daughter I'd like to try it.

 

I had never thought of it in relation to learning varying shades of colors. There are also so many different fonts used in books that we read together and she is picking up on those letters as well. I'm not sure why I thought using cursive would put her over the edge. :)

 

 

Have any of you used the Abeka books for cursive?

[FO4UR]

So you taught your son cursive but then he just printed on his own? Do you not have to go back and teach the other later? And your daughter is learning cursive first?

 

I guess my fear is confusion. My dd3 can recognize all letters upper/lower case and I thought teaching her cursive first would confuse her by adding that in to her learning. Obviously I haven't done any research on it but I thought there had to be a reason.

 

I don't mind going that route I just don't want to confuse, ykwim?

 

Thanks, I really appreciate any input on the option.

 

Yes, he writes in print w/o having been formally taught to print. I do sometimes correct him if I see him doing a stroke in the wrong direction. Other than that - I will consider having him do an Italics workbook when he's 2nd/3rd grade if he needs the practice to print neatly. Right now, his print looks like every other 6yo I know.

 

There has not been any confusion in our home.

 

I use StartWrite to make cards of our spelling words - one set in print, and one set in cursive. My kids like to lay them all out on the floor and match them up.

 

 

Thanks! That does make sense. I did spend some time late last night doing a little research online about cursive first and will continue to do more. I did have major problems with my youngest son when it came to spacing and reversals. If that can be avoided with my daughter I'd like to try it.

 

I had never thought of it in relation to learning varying shades of colors. There are also so many different fonts used in books that we read together and she is picking up on those letters as well. I'm not sure why I thought using cursive would put her over the edge. :)

 

 

Have any of you used the Abeka books for cursive?

 

I used Abeka K5 Cursive. I liked it. It has the children match up cursive/print letters every lesson. I use SWR and not their phonics, so about mid-way we put it down.

[lovinmomma]

 

Have any of you used the Abeka books for cursive?

 

No, I have not. We are using Cursive first with Spell to Write and Read. Even if you are not goin to use Cursive First you could go to her website (the author's). She has a ton of info. about cursive first.

[lovinmomma]

Yes, he writes in print w/o having been formally taught to print. I do sometimes correct him if I see him doing a stroke in the wrong direction. Other than that - I will consider having him do an Italics workbook when he's 2nd/3rd grade if he needs the practice to print neatly. Right now, his print looks like every other 6yo I know.

 

There has not been any confusion in our home.

 

I use StartWrite to make cards of our spelling words - one set in print, and one set in cursive. My kids like to lay them all out on the floor and match them up.

 

 

 

 

I used Abeka K5 Cursive. I liked it. It has the children match up cursive/print letters every lesson. I use SWR and not their phonics, so about mid-way we put it down.

 

We use our SWR cards and our Cursive First cards and we play a matching game. I won't continue that for much longer, because there are only about 3 that they didn't get on the first try. I want to make sure that they have that solidly before moving on, though.

[Teachnmama]

go along with their phonics. I start them in manuscript and transition them to cursive by 2nd grade. My thought is that this is the crucial time that they are learning how to read and I wanted what they saw in their readers to match their writing. By the end of 1st grade my kiddos have had a good handle on their reading and then I transition them to cursive.

 

Just my 2cents worth. :)

[scrappyhappymama]

We use the A Beka K4 and K5 writing and phonics and do the cursive right from the start.

 

I was actually torn about doing this with our first son, but when I spoke to my husband about it, I was surprised to find he was all for it. He majored in Russian in college and told me that the first day of his first Russian class, the professor began teaching them the Cyrillic characters- in cursive! He said the class protested and wondered why they were learning cursive first and the professor told them it was the way all Russian children learn and that it is a tried an true method. I looked into it further and found that most European nations also teach their children this way and that until the 1930's, so did we in America. Teaching manuscript first came into vogue alongside the whole language, non-phonics methods of learning to read.

 

My 7 year old writes in beautiful cursive script and reading and writing manuscript letters has not been an issue at all. I was AMAZED at how easily he picked up the cursive writing- I really was skeptical at first. Most of his books and other learning materials are in typeprint of course, so he is well exposed to both manuscript and cursive. He does some of his schoolwork with printing, but his writing in cursive. After finishing K5 and deciding not to continue with A Beka beyond that point, we have used Writing with Ease and I create his copywork and narration/copywork pages on StartWrite in cursive.

 

I've also started my 4 year old wit A Beka K4- again in cursive and so far he has taken to it just as well.