Name: Thrive! NCHE Homeschool Conference
Start: 2025-05-22T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-05-24T23:59:59-05:00
Location: Winston-Salem, NC

Tagged: cursive

This topic has 8 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 10 years, 8 months ago by erin.kate.

Viewing 9 posts - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)

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August 10, 2014 at 4:51 pm
caycecronk
Member
We have been doing one handwriting without tears workbook a year. My son will be beginning cursive instruction and is doing well with HWWT curriculum. Along with doing the workbook we did copywork as well using curry licks copywork in HWWT style. My questions should we continue just doing copywork in print while we get started learning cursive or begin cursive copywork along with cursive instruction?! Would this confuse him? He will be third grade this year. We have not started dictation yet but will be doing a bit with the spelling wisdom. Hoping to be doing a lot more dictation next year!
August 10, 2014 at 4:53 pm
caycecronk
Member
Meant to say we use currclicks copywork!
August 10, 2014 at 5:35 pm
Wings2fly
Participant
I am not sure if we do it right. I hope others more seasoned will chime in. I had my son start learning cursive letters while still doing copywork in print. We did that for 2 years. The next year, he did copywork in cursive and he chose to write in print for anything else. For next year in 5th grade, I am going to require all work in cursive and begin teaching typing later in the year or the next year. I have noticed he does better learning spellings in print rather than cursive. So my exception is to allow print for dictation. We are using Spelling Wisdom and we are a little ways into level 1.
August 10, 2014 at 6:04 pm
caycecronk
Member
Wings2fly,
Thanks for chiming in! I hope others do too. It will neat to see whether he likes cursive over print or vice versa. My son is third grade this year and we are just starting with spelling and grammar. It’s been going slow for us but still going. My mother in law was arguing with me today about me teaching him cursive writing. She thinks I shouldn’t even bother! Let’s just say I got very irritated with her! I’m very fond of cursive and I think it’s great that they know how to do both.
August 10, 2014 at 6:09 pm
caycecronk
Member
Was debating when to begin typing instruction! Would third grade be too early especially while learning to do cursive for the first time.
August 10, 2014 at 6:36 pm
Monica
Participant
I don’t think third grade is too early for typing, and I wouldn’t have any hesitations starting typing and cursive in the same year.
August 10, 2014 at 7:10 pm
Wings2fly
Participant
Typing and handwriting require hand muscle use, those fine motor skills some boys struggle with, and visual perceptual skills. For this reason, I have not had my son learn typing and cursive at the same time. We have gradually increased the length of copywork to build those skills and when he can easily write a good sized paragraph in legible cursive, then I will have him begin to learn typing. I did not learn typing until grade 9, so I am in no hurry. Eventually, he can type his dictation.
August 16, 2014 at 8:55 pm
caycecronk
Member
Wingstfly,
I think I will take your advice! Unlike the way you approach language arts!
August 16, 2014 at 10:10 pm
erin.kate
Participant
I do it a little differently. I teach printing as copywork until the letters are mastered and the child is writing with great ease, then onto copywork of sentences, ie, SCM’s Copybook Readers. Then I introduce cursive once the child is very comfortable and her best effort shows beautiful work in printing. Then I treat cursive, ie, Print to Cursive Proverbs, as copywork, again … 5 min a day of her best effort in learning cursive. Moving onto her copywork of sentences in cursive. This takes from about grades K-2. Then in 3rd I expect all work in cursive (ala Hymns in Prose Cursive Copybook) and I introduce typing in year 4. Prepared dictation begins in Year 3 for us, in cursive. I print and laminate the cursive letters (from the HiP copybook) for her to use as a reference if necessary during dictation or or other writing. I find that focusing on one skill at a time … letters, words, sentences in print, then letters, words, sentences in cursive, is a rhythmic and intentional way to approach the art of handwriting.