Willow learned to print at her Montessori school, and I didn't pay a lick of attention to the process--neither did anyone else, apparently, because even after years of practice her handwriting is still pretty miserable, with several letters constructed non-traditionally. My stubborn girl would never let me re-train her to print correctly now, but fortunately cursive is a fresh start for all of us:
In the school system, Will would have learned cursive last year, as a third grader, but I really, really hoped that an extra year of practice would give her tidy and lovely print handwriting. Haven given up that dream, however, we're starting off this year with the cursive lessons from our
Startwrite software program for both kids--
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| Syd, a second grader, has lovely print handwriting, and is ready to learn cursive, too. |
--focusing just as much on reading cursive as writing it, but now that we've gotten a few letters done, I can use the program to create copy pages for them, too.
I have to admit, it's giving me hope that Willow could have tidy and lovely cursive handwriting, at least!
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I recently read in a homeschooling magazine (don't remember which one, it was at the library), that it makes more sense to start kids on cursive, rather than print. It had some good points in the article. I'll have to track it down.
ReplyDeleteThat article got me thinking about give cursive a try with Emma. She likes to "sign" her name, of course with just those four letters, it's pretty easy.
Thanks for the resource. I'm going to need a refresher myself!
I'd be VERY interested to read that article! I can see how learning cursive is easier now than learning print was, but their fine motor skills are just better now, too.
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of it, with Willow, had to do with the fact that she didn't have really good structure for learning to print, so she didn't have ingrained the exact, perfect way to form each letter, so the method that she's internalized for forming each letter now isn't the easiest method for forming a perfectly-formed letter. I'm leaving it alone, now, because I know it is possible to develop great handwriting even if you come after it in a wonky manner, but believe me--I am paying a LOT more attention to how she learns cursive!
This may be the article, but I would have to stop by the library this week to double check. Looks about right though.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.home-school.com/Articles/the-benefits-of-cursive-writing.php
That's a fascinating article! I'm still not sure that I ever would have taught cursive first--I think it would have made copying from books and signs, which we do a lot of, much more difficult when they were little, but perhaps I wouldn't have waited so long to start cursive. I'm still hoping that, with more fine motor development, Will's printing will get nicer.
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