AmandaA
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,502 
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Post by AmandaA on Apr 14, 2017 18:02:49 GMT
Do any of you have any recommendations for a program or method to use? I made the mistake of googling and there was a lot out there.... and LOTS of opinions. My six and a half year old is expressing an interest in learning to read and write cursive, so I thought it might be a fun summer project. I know there are lots of free printables and such on the web, but would prefer a workbook that is a start to finish process. He has an inexplicable love for doing workbooks; and I think that would help keep us moving along and him engaged. Thanks!
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Post by stephgg on Apr 14, 2017 18:10:55 GMT
I'm not a teacher, but at my daughters' school they use Handwriting Without Tears.
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ginacivey
Pearl Clutcher
refupea #2 in southeast missouri
Posts: 4,685
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Post by ginacivey on Apr 14, 2017 18:33:21 GMT
Cursive is actually easier than printing
and it engages a completely different part of the brain - have fun with it!!
be warned - teachers can get pissy if a child is writing in cursive before they've taught it
good luck
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Post by myshelly on Apr 14, 2017 18:40:51 GMT
Does he like Star Wars?
My boys all learned to read and write cursive with a Star Wars workbook/curriculum I bought at Barnes and Noble.
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Post by smannes on Apr 14, 2017 18:41:34 GMT
Cursive is actually easier than printing and it engages a completely different part of the brain - have fun with it!! be warned - teachers can get pissy if a child is writing in cursive before they've taught it good luck I teach third and would be ecstatic if all of my students came in knowing how to write cursive. Handwriting without Tears is a good suggestion but I also like the one from Zaner-Bloser. |
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PaperAngel
Prolific Pea
Posts: 8,843
Jun 27, 2014 23:04:06 GMT
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Post by PaperAngel on Apr 14, 2017 19:26:29 GMT
Not a teacher, but our child's school used the D'Nealian style. They introduced the print alphabet in Kindergarten. Since only 13 characters change from print to cursive, they easily & quickly added cursive at the start of second grade.
If your son has already learned to print, I suggest continuing with the same style for cursive. Ask his teacher, or the school where he'll attend next year, which style is used. Barnes & Noble & teacher supply stores carry (or have available online) workbooks in the popular handwriting style curricula.
Best wishes!
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milocat
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,900
Location: 55 degrees north in Alberta, Canada
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Post by milocat on Apr 14, 2017 19:31:31 GMT
Cursive is actually easier than printing and it engages a completely different part of the brain - have fun with it!! be warned - teachers can get pissy if a child is writing in cursive before they've taught it good luck They might not be pissy if they aren't taught it. Neither of my kids were taught cursive. They are 16 & 14. |
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Post by monklady123 on Apr 14, 2017 20:03:51 GMT
Cursive is actually easier than printing and it engages a completely different part of the brain - have fun with it!! be warned - teachers can get pissy if a child is writing in cursive before they've taught it good luck As a substitute teacher I will say that the only reason I've seen teachers get "pissy" about a kid trying to write in cursive is if they don't have printing down yet. At the school where I sub we often have 1st graders trying to do cursive because "my brother taught me" or "my sister showed me how" (because brother and sister are learning it in the upper grades). The teachers discourage this for several reasons. One, brother or sister might not have shown them properly. Two, even if they did show them the proper way the 1st grader is likely making "adaptations" to what the were taught. And three, so many 1st graders are still learning to get their "b" and "d" and "p" and "q" reliable, never mind adding how to do it in cursive. lol. |
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Post by 950nancy on Apr 14, 2017 20:07:20 GMT
Find out what kind of cursive the school teaches (if any) and teach that. There are several types.
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Post by nepean on Apr 14, 2017 21:18:50 GMT
My kids all used the one from Zaner-Bloser. It was pretty straight forward with just a page or two a day.
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katybee
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,610
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Post by katybee on Apr 14, 2017 21:41:14 GMT
Cursive is actually easier than printing and it engages a completely different part of the brain - have fun with it!! be warned - teachers can get pissy if a child is writing in cursive before they've taught it good luck That's a pretty generalized statement. OP: I know a lot of teachers. I do not know any teachers that would get "pissy" if their kids used cursive before they were taught it. |
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Post by anniefb on Apr 14, 2017 21:46:01 GMT
Maybe I should get a book too. My cursive is terrible!
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katybee
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,610
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Post by katybee on Apr 14, 2017 21:50:21 GMT
Maybe I should get a book too. My cursive is terrible! I am obsessed with hand lettering and have been watching endless videos on YouTube and practicing. I dare you to go look....it's addictive! |
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likescarrots
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,879
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Post by likescarrots on Apr 14, 2017 21:50:56 GMT
I don't know about curriculum but if you live in an area with any rare book libraries or big archives you might check with them, I know our rare book room offers a short summer course for kids on how to read cursive. It's actually really important to be able to read cursive in order to decipher and disseminate historical documents!
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Post by iteach3rdgrade on Apr 14, 2017 23:11:16 GMT
I use Zaner-Bloser. Most of the books I have now don't have all the curls and loops that the more tradition cursive has. I'd love if they learned it before third.
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Peamac
Pearl Clutcher
Refupea # 418
Posts: 4,240
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Post by Peamac on Apr 14, 2017 23:20:57 GMT
Find out what kind of cursive the school teaches (if any) and teach that. There are several types.  Find out what he'll be learning in the future and teach him that type of cursive. There are alot of resources out there, with so many people homeschooling so it should be easy to find. |
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ginacivey
Pearl Clutcher
refupea #2 in southeast missouri
Posts: 4,685
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Post by ginacivey on Apr 14, 2017 23:23:42 GMT
Cursive is actually easier than printing and it engages a completely different part of the brain - have fun with it!! be warned - teachers can get pissy if a child is writing in cursive before they've taught it good luck That's a pretty generalized statement. OP: I know a lot of teachers. I do not know any teachers that would get "pissy" if their kids used cursive before they were taught it. Oh good grief.. it was tongue in cheek. We've had threads before ... parent upset because kid wrote I cursive and got in trouble. |
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Post by 950nancy on Apr 14, 2017 23:36:57 GMT
I didn't care what kids knew before I taught cursive. Honestly, if a kid's writing was legible in print or cursive, I was a happy camper.
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AmandaA
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,502
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Post by AmandaA on Apr 15, 2017 0:09:11 GMT
Guess I should have prefaced my question with we are undecided about which school he will attend in the fall. If he goes to our public school, he will learn keyboarding instead. And if we keep him at his current private school, we don't know the answer yet. It has always been a 2yr thru kindergarten academic preschool, but he has the opportunity to be part of the first class to stay on as first graders and continue as they build up to a full elementary & middle. I suppose they could include cursive next year, but I have not heard that for certain. And to be honest, he has some of the best handwriting in the kindergarten class so I don't know that enough of them would be ready to dive into that next year despite them being pretty rigorous.
I appreciate all of the suggestions! I thought it would be a fun activity for the summer to keep him somewhat in a routine with schoolwork and work on fine motor skills that can be a challenge for boys his age. It just hadn't been on my radar to research before now because who really expects their six year old son to be asking to learn cursive... figured I had better strike while the iron is hot!
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Post by beachbum on Apr 15, 2017 0:14:34 GMT
Find out what kind of cursive the school teaches (if any) and teach that. There are several types. This retired teacher says  . Once they learn how to write a letter in one style it's harder to relearn it another way. A teacher may even have a left over workbook s/he might sneak you under the table (shhh, don't tell, but I may have done that once or twice in my day) SaveSave |
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Post by redhead32 on Apr 15, 2017 0:16:16 GMT
Cursive is actually easier than printing and it engages a completely different part of the brain - have fun with it!! be warned - teachers can get pissy if a child is writing in cursive before they've taught it good luck This. My daughter was told NOT to write in cursive by her teacher. She taught herself, and the teacher refused to let her do it in school until she learned the method the teacher wanted her to use. |
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Aug 18, 2025 21:40:30 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2017 2:42:29 GMT
Handwriting Without Tears curriculum is the best. It takes very basic letter shapes in K-2 then moves into the most simple cursive form from grades in 3-4. By the end of grade 4 your kids will be writing in cursive if you stick with the program. HWT was developed by an occupational therapist that worked with children who had sensory input issues. The program can be used with any child who is willing to learn and was a god-send for my oldest child. My youngest learned cursive from HWT because our district no longer includes cursive handwriting in the elementary school curriculum. We started her in grade 3 and continued through grade 5. She has beautiful handwriting as a middler schooler and is one of the few who can write in cursive.  |
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. Once they learn how to write a letter in one style it's harder to relearn it another way. A teacher may even have a left over workbook s/he might sneak you under the table (shhh, don't tell, but I may have done that once or twice in my day)