Cursive

When we were done with Hymns in Prose, I moved to cursive transcription.  (Actually, I’m not sure if it really qualified as transcription because my son was turning printed material into cursive.)  Anyways, I photocopied the page from Hymns in Prose with each sample letter (caps and lowercase) done in cursive, then put it in a page protector for reference.  I required my son to choose a poem to work on in cursive in a journal every day (about 5 minutes).  He loves Shel Silverstien, so almost every poem he has written over the years has been by him.  (Plus, I let him spend a couple days sketching the fun drawings instead of writing when he is done with the poems.)  At first, he only had to write one line a day – now in 8th grade he writes about four lines a day.  The first year he used his “cheat sheet” daily, by the second year he was only referencing the capital letters, by the third year he only asked for it when he encountered an uncommon capital letter.  Since the middle of 8th grade he has never asked to look at the “cheat sheet.”   Daily practice, even just a few words at a time, add up over time, and his cursive is finally nice to read 🙂