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Handwriting Curriculum
Handwriting Curriculum Index
by Harriet Yoder
When I talk to customers about handwriting, I generally recommend a
handwriting book for the time they are learning to print and then again when it
is time to learn cursive. See
Recommendations for
Beginning Handwriting below. If you have an older student, then see
Recommendations
for Handwriting for the Older Student.
Teaching handwriting in the homeschool setting is different from
the typical classroom setting, We have more time to watch handwriting as
it occurs and provide instant feedback. Our students don't need busywork. Once they learn basic printing, they don't need to review it every year. We don't need to use a handwriting book every year.
Why not? You teach handwriting every time you notice that a letter is
made incorrectly and you say, "Let's make that letter like this!" You show the child how to do it the better way. I always ask the child to
write a couple for practice--not a whole line or page, no, just a couple
of the letters. Then I put a little heart or star on the best one. If the child makes a fantastic/perfect letter or word, I question them (it's a
joke!), "Did I make this letter or did you?" They always think that's
hilarious and TRY even harder to make nicely shaped letters in order to fool me.
Ready for Cursive Handwriting?
I have two simple guidelines to determine when to start teaching
cursive handwriting. The first is that the child has demonstrated skill in
printing Tall letters are tall; short letters are short; the printing is
reasonably neat; and it flows. If that's evident and the child
expresses a desire to learn cursive, then I ask him to print all the letters of
the alphabet in lower and upper case from memory.
There are two aspects to learning cursive: the new shapes and the
connections. Learning the new shapes is the less difficult for most
children. Making the connections usually causes the problem. If you have used a
cursive book and the student isn't getting it, I would recommend making a
special notebook with 26 pages. Fold each page in half lengthwise to make
two columns.
On
page 1 in the first column write (in cursive) aa
on line 1, ab on line 2, ac on line 3, ad on
line 4, etc. The student will copy each "connection" about two or
three times. SAVE the second column of each page for later. On page
2 you will write the b connections (ba,
bb, bc,
bd, be, etc.),
and on page 3, you will do the c connections and so on until you get to page 26
for the z connections!
Maybe you have guessed what the second column is for! The upper case
letters and their connections. Some upper case cursive letters stand alone
and some connect but you have to practice! So repeat from page 1: Aa, Ab,
Ac, Ad,
etc. to page 26 Za, Zb, Zc, Zd, etc. OK, some of the connections aren't "Englishly"
possible, but there are other languages, and children create unusual words when
they do creative writing. And so do I!
For the secondary student who wants to improve his handwriting I
would like to add the following thoughts.
If you want a beautiful cursive handwriting, the
Spencerian style is the
old fashioned style that was used in the late 1800's. It has more ruffles and
flourishes than modern handwriting styles, but the workbooks offer more practice
in doing the different strokes than typical handwriting curriculum. You don't
have to add all the extra curlicues to your cursive writing. When you do the
exercises, your handwriting should improve considerably at a very reasonable
price.
On the other hand, if your older student is extremely
handwriting challenged (preferring to print as some successful adults do), then
you might want to look at the Getty Dubay Italic Cursive (also called Portland
Italic). It is basically a printing style that is connected to resemble
cursive--nice and easy to master. The book I would recommend, in that case, is
the
Write Now! book.
I'd like to recommend the
BJUP Handwriting
1 Worktext for homeschool student who is beginning to print in earnest. This could range from an advanced 4 or 5 year old to a late blooming third
grader who is ready to catch up. The key here is to have a student who
wants to practice his penmanship with some excellent work pages.
After completing this book, your student should be ready for
cursive. I would recommend
Reason
for Handwriting Transitions. Again, it's great for the homeschool situation
because it has lots of lessons, lots of practice, and can be done independently.
Revised
04/24/08 |
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