Chasing Cheerios

Monday, July 23, 2012

Cursive Handwriting

O(6) requested that I teach her to write in cursive this school year.  I ordered this cursive writing book (primer) from Queen Homeschool.   O did NOT enjoy her first cursive lesson.





She liked writing on the wipe-off board a little better.





I'm going to try a few more fun techniques for her to practice her handwriting, so hopefully she'll enjoy it!  

A few weeks in, and I've decided to put cursive handwriting on hold and wait until we have our school room to do more "schooly" things like this.

10 comments:

  1. It looks likes she is actually doing well for a beginner! It certainly takes practice. Renee

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  2. I thought she did well, too, but she disliked it so much that I decided to wait a little longer. I'd hate for her to dislike writing in cursive since it's something she has wanted to learn for so long! :)

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  3. FYI...they don't teach cursive anymore in school, so I wouldn't waster your (or her) time!

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  4. Luckily, she's in homeschool, so she gets to learn what she's interested in (when she's ready) and doesn't have to learn what the educational bureaucrats decide is necessary. So, when she's ready, she will learn cursive (and she'll have fun doing it!).

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  5. Can I just say I *love* your response to 'anonymous'. Very classy and bravo to you for teaching cursive to your daughter. I plan to as well!

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  6. Teaching her the d'nealian style of printing (manuscript) in the meanwhile might help the transition into cursive when the time comes (it does slant and has tails on most letters). It looks a little fancy too so she might feel pretty good about writing in a new way...kudos to the both of you for diving in!

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  7. I've been a lurker for awhile (love your blog BTW!) but had to chime in to disagree with Anonymous who says don't worry about cursive since they don't teach it in school anymore. In my opinion, cursive is so important! Here are a few good reasons to teach cursive: http://www.swrtraining.com/id29.html
    In my homeschool I use a program called Cursive First. Even my 4 year old is writing in cursive, and her handwriting is beautiful. She does lack the fine motor skills to write on paper, so I have her write in a salt box, in sand, with chalk, or on a large laminated clock face that I ordered at the same time I ordered the cursive first program. We also have cursive first sandpaper letters, very similar to the Montessori style, but that teach how to properly form letters in cursive as opposed to manuscript. When she is struggling to learn a letter, we write it on cardstock with glitter glue. She loves doing that!

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  8. I was just trying to give genuine advice. :( No one needed to get sarcastic or defensive. As the wife of a 5th grade teacher I know that handwriting in general isn't given much focus anymore since 90% of school work is on computers & ipads now. As moms we're all in this together and I like helping other moms out whether IRL or the Internet...sorry I offended!

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  9. Anonymous- I don't think anyone was sarcastic or defensive ...I know that certainly wasn't my intention. I'm just very thankful that I have the opportunity to homeschool, so that we can teach what we choose to teach...it's a wonderful blessing. As a School Psychologist who works in a public elementary school, I see the unfortunate repercussions of handwriting not being taught all the time...it's an important skill, and it's unfortunate that it has been deemed unimportant in today's world.

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  10. Sorry if any feelings were hurt. I wasn't trying to be sarcastic or defensive with my response either. I was just giving a differing opinion about teaching cursive. Maybe it is true that the schools don't teach it anymore, but that certainly doesn't convince me! In fact, if the schools don't teach cursive anymore, that adds another reason to my list of why I WANT to teach my children cursive!

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