Writing--D'Nealian?

[AttachedMamma]

My 5yo DD (turned 5 in Oct) has really taken off into writing letters galore and I feel I didn't prepare well enough for this. :O I don't have a curriculum--we've been going by the seat of our pants the last few years. We have a hodgepodge of alphabet books from the store (Trend books, Scholastic), printables from on-line and some Rod and Staff materials. One of the things I love about homeschooling (and I'm sure you do too!) is that you don't have to be with any set curriculum (one for math, one for english, etc.). However, I'm wondering if by mixing materials within one subject, I could end up confusing her. More specifically, I don't have a clue as to what is the standard style of writing that she should be doing. And then there's the topic of when to introduce cursive writing. Should I find out what is standard within our school district? (BTW, We haven't filed our letter of intent yet since she's not technically eligible for K until next fall; also in our state we could wait until age 8.)

Thank you for your help!

cindi

[allisonintx]

As a student subjected to D'Nealian I can only say that I hate the kind of handwriting it promotes. It creates (for lack of a better adjective) Bubble handwriting, that loopy writing that so many women in their 30's now have, which I find juvenile and difficult to read...sigh.

We are liking Handwriting Without Tears. My 5yo love love loves handwriting and will do five or ten pages each day if I let her go at it. She went through the entire K year of A Reason for Handwriting in about six weeks. I bought several of the HWT books and she is enjoying them (but not going through them quite as fast, PTL)

I really like the Palmer Method and the beautiful script it encourages (like my Grandmother wrote!)