Homeschool 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.
Teaching handwriting in the homeschool setting is very
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 repetitive 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 those
letters that were incorrectly written. 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 beautiful letter or did you?" They always think
that's hilarious and TRY even harder to make nicely shaped letters in order to
"fool" me.
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 three sets of
lessons (basic, transition, and cursive), lots of practice, and can be done
independently.
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. If he misses a few, then you can focus on
teaching those until the child is ready to learn cursive.
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! 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!
 The
New American Cursive Penmanship
program from Memoria Press is now available. Their reasoning is that children in
first grade should be taught cursive handwriting with a simplified cursive. It
follows the recommendation of the Penmanship Council of America about teaching
cursive writing in the first grade.
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 your student does the exercises, his
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.
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