How do you decide what style of handwriting?

[MidnightCafe]

How do I decide whether to teach printing, italics, or cursive? Are there other websites that lay out pros & cons? Where did others of you find out about these things?

Mane prints right now, as she's still a beginning reader/writer, but as we begin to move toward actual writing practice, I'm wondering if I should teach printing or something else.

[christineka]

Here's the abridged rational for teaching cursive first (from Cursive First) http://www.swrtraining.com/id29.html That really sold me on teaching cursive.

[Lady Grey]

I am curious about this also, though we aren't at that stage yet.

[MidnightCafe]

Here's the abridged rational for teaching cursive first (from Cursive First) http://www.swrtraining.com/id29.html That really sold me on teaching cursive.


I read this, and I'm not convinced. :think I honestly don't see how cursive writing is related to literacy. The author points to correlation, but correlation does not equal causation.

I *can* see how cursive writing might aid children in seeing how words flow together, but that only works when they're writing or reading cursive, not when they're reading a printed book.

I also understand the potential problems with teaching printing first & then introducing cursive later (and how there's no real point in teaching writing twice). However, it's awfully difficult to teach cursive first when your child copies things down out of picture books all the time. Mane does this without direction from me. She has some difficulty reading, but she has loved to write since she was about 2.5. I'm wondering if the cursive approach isn't appropriate for her simply because she's very independent and would rather copy letters from books than learn a whole different method.

I agree that writing as a skill is important, but I don't know if cursive as a particular style is important. I personally write a mix of both. I learned cursive in 3rd grade, as was the standard procedure when I was a kid.

Disclaimer: I'm not arguing with you. I'm just trying to work this out for myself. I'm hoping that by putting my thoughts out there I can get some responses. I'm open to thoughts on both sides. I'm just thinking this through. So, please don't think of it as a criticism or attack.

[tazmom]

I started with looking at samples of the different styles. http://www.drawyourworld.com/handstyle.html is a good place to start. Then I decided that I preferred to teach the letters as a continuous stroke, instead of ball-and-stick, because that's how most people eventually write. Then I looked at the different programs and picked what I thought would work for my DD.

I didn't understand teaching cursive first either. My own writing is 90% print and everything they read is print, so I know my DD wouldn't want to learn to write another way. No offense to anyone who is teaching cursive first. :) And I really didn't like the way italics looks. I don't know anyone IRL who writes that way.

[saturnfire16]

I don't see any reason to teach cursive at all. Other than signing my name, I never use and don't even remember how to write in cursive. It's harder to read, even when people write it neatly, which they usually don't. I guess they need to be familiar enough with it to read it, but that can come in time as they get older and are reading and writing well.

[christineka]

I don't write in cursive either, so I am doing the worksheets along with the kids. I hope to convert myself along with the kids. I do think cursive is nice. I also find that it is easier for my son to write in cursive because he prefers to start his letters at the bottom of the line anyway.

I also use McGuffey's readers and Ray's mathematics. I'm an old fashioned person at heart.

[MidnightCafe]

I really like the draw your world website. Thanks! :rockon Mane is really attracted to Zaner-Bloser cursive. But I, personally, am stuck on what saturnfire16 said about how cursive is hard to read. No books are printed in cursive. So, it doesn't seem very useful to write in cursive. I agree with christineka that cursive is attractive, and I'm a little old-fashioned myself sometimes. But I also don't want to create difficulty where there doesn't need to be any. Why teach Mane to write in a way that is so different from what she reads? ANyone else have thoughts?

[ArmsOfLove]

this is why I am teaching Italics. I find it more "real world" and my children's handwriting is beautiful. There are less differences between the printing and cursive forms and they can see and understand "connecting" the letters :yes

[MidnightCafe]

Yeah, Mango has me leaning toward italics...or maybe some hybrid of italics & cursive. I need to take a closer look at how the letters connect in italics.

[christineka]

I teach reading before writing, so there is no hangup between the difference in cursive writing and print in books.

[Codi]

:popcorn

[MidnightCafe]

I teach reading before writing, so there is no hangup between the difference in cursive writing and print in books.


:think Well, it seems like there would still be hang-ups. They'd just be with writing rather than reading. Mane really does copy words out of books all the time. She writes letters for the sheer joy of it. She struggles with reading, but she loves the idea that she's creating something someone else can read when she writes letters. Books are always in standard print. At this point, I'd be teaching her this whole new code if I were to teach cursive, and I'm wondering what sense that makes.

[MidnightCafe]

Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm still undecided...but coming closer to some decision-making. ;)

[Bonnie]

I went with Italic in part because of the simplicity, and in part because it's very similar to my own brand of cursivy-manuscript. :giggle The theory is that it was developed many moons ago specifically for ease of writing and being able to maintain legibility with speed. In short, it's the most efficient while still being attractive.

[ArmsOfLove]

:yes What Bonnie said completely :)

[LadyofReason]

I went with Italic for the same reason. I've been learning along with the kids and my handwriting has improved immensely. My oldest likes the idea that the cursive italic is an easy transition from print italic.

[doubleblessings]

We are currently doing HWT because I like the manipulative parts of it (make the letters in playdough, using a magnedoodle with magnet letter pieces and the wood pieces (I made foam ones)). DD is itching to learn to write, but DS doesn't really have the fine motor yet, so this program lets both of them progress. This year we are just doing uppercase. I like the simplicity of just 4 letter pieces (for almost all of the uppercase letters). I don't know that we will continue with this method, but for now it is good for us.

DH is pretty against teaching cursive. He is ok with exposing them to it so that they can read it and if they want to learn calligraphy as a skill later, but not as a required method of writting. He just doesn't see it as a skill needed in today's world.

From the chart I think I learned Palmer, but my cursive is terrible. This is part of why I am not thrilled about teaching it.