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Cursive – self taught method
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I’m horrible with handwriting, if a curriculum has a teacher’s guide for handwriting, I don’t want it. (Because I NEVER use them) My second child is wanting to learn cursive and I’m looking for a self-teaching type course. I don’t want to spend tons of money and I really, really don’t want to be involved. I want her to be able to pick up the book, read the instructions, come to me with questions or to review her work, but I want her to be able to learn it on her own (Can you tell I’m expecting my fifth child at the beginning of the school year?) I’d love to know what works for you!
Blessings,
Rebekah
Either pencil Pete software (ds9 used it to self teach at age 6) or if you don’t mind the style HWT workbooks.
I used the Christian Liberty Press cursive workbook, Writing with Prayer, because it was simple. I don’t require all the practice it includes and it’s only about $8. Both my girls did well with very little guidance.
I made a template (you can probably find one online, but I just made mine). I wrote in cursive all the letters of the alphabet on a piece of notebook paper. I laminated it, then gave it to my daughter and showed her how they were formed. I gave her a wet erase marker (vis a vis type pen) and let her trace them. I had her do that for awhile, and every now and then she would check in with me if she forgot which direction to go, etc. Then I bought her some simple cursive copywork books (Pentime, sold through Rainbow Resource) and I started in book 3 I think. That gave her a little more instruction, but basically it was practice. She did books 3 and 4 and then decided she didn’t need those anymore and she could just write. So she essentially did it on her own.
I’m planning on following a similar course of action with my other two.
HTH
Backing up what Tanya said… if you want to do your own copywork pages I’d suggest trying Zaner-Bloser’s cursive handwriting practice tool ZB Fonts Online. I forget where I found it (my online bank of homeschooling resources is just miles long!) but there’s a discount code to try the Plus version! I love it so much; it’s so handy because you can customize everything. The code is “ZBFOP” at checkout. You could even try the free version (it’s at the bottom of the page I linked to) first and then if you like it use that handy discount 😉
I use their program for handwriting and it’s great because even though they have the teacher’s edition, the student handbook is perfect on its own. It’s perfect for a child to complete by themselves through following easy instructions. I’m not sure what age your daughter is, but here’s a sample of the “Review of Manuscript Handwriting and Introduction to Cursive Handwriting” for what would be grade 3: https://www.zaner-bloser.com/media/zb/zaner-bloser/HW_Student3.pdf. There are also “Practice Master” worksheets for additional practice that she could do on her own.
These are just a few options for you to look into!
I used Cheerful Cursive with my oldest and thought it was wonderful. DS is currently using SCM’s Print to Cursive Proverbs and so far is doing well with it (he’s only a few lessons in though). Both are pretty independent…I do like to watch them write a new letter and make sure they have it down…before they write it 20 times!
I may have to take a peak at the Print to Cursive proverbs as we love all of SCM’s products. I did get pencil pete though to show them the actual motion for making letters (my cursive is atrocious) – so now what? I decided to follow the order that HWWOT uses just because I found it online. But how long should I have them work on each letter… I mean, I know a few minutes of their best work, but how many days, when can they move on. I’m so pregnant, I can’t decide anything for myself, I really should have just let my fifth grader do all the planning for this year.
Rebekkah – My dd6 usually takes 2 days to practice a letter before moving on. She spends 5-6 minutes each day tops. I have her practice all learned letters every few days. Right now she can write in cursive beautifully – acdegilo qu tu and E and we have been horribly inconsistent with practice. I expect that by the end of September she will be ready to copy some simple words or sentences.
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