Cheerful Cursive vs. Italic D Handwriting books

[Katie]

Hi!
I need some help! I am going to be using Bigger next year, and I am wondering what the differences are between the Cheerful Cursive, and the Italic book? What do you all use, and why? I am trying to figure out which one to choose - and I am clueless!!

Thanks!
Katie

[Carrie]

Katie,

Welcome to the HOD Boards! We're glad to have you here.

I'll just move this post over to the main board, so more moms will see it. All new posts begin on the main board.

Blessings,
Carrie

[Katie]

Thanks for the welcome, and for moving me to the right spot!!

[my3sons]

Hi Katie! We used Cheerful Cursive last year and loved it. It was easy to use, had a fun way of approaching cursive, had tracing on top of letters, tracing within letters, and just the right of independent practice of letters. I also liked that it taught my ds to write cursive sentences looking at a cursive model. It also had my ds write manuscript sentences looking at a cursive model, and it had him write cursive looking at a manuscript model. This taught him how to read in cursive, and switch from manuscript to cursive and vice versa very easily. I liked that manuscript (which is what he already knew well) was woven into the learning of the new skill - cursive, so he felt right away that he could do it. There were also simple skills included, like alphabetizing, etc. Always nice to touch on those again in a short way. Finally, there was a small box on each letter page that showed different wants the letter could be written. This helped my ds recognize that "Q" for instance, could be written in many different ways and still be a "Q" - pretty important since the chances of even your cursive "Q" and my cursive "Q" looking the same - even though we are both adults - are pretty slim. I have not used Italic, so I won't comment on that - I just really enjoyed Cheerful Cursive, and so did my ds. He also only needed the one year with Cheerful Cursive, and that was enough for him to write neatly in cursive this year without any additional teaching. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

[Tree House Academy]

What age is cheerful cursive geared toward? I have a child that will be 6 in Sept that is just itching to start cursive. We will be doing Beyond in the fall with him.

[Katie]

Thank you so much Julie, that is very helpful!!! I think that is what I am leaning towards!

I wonder if anyone out there has used the Italic....I am curious what that is like too. I am probably going to use the cursive, but I thought it was interesting that the Italic was offered, and am curious why that is.

[moedertje]

Julie,

Your post confirmed even more to me to use Cheerful Cursive. I am very excited about it! I used Italic for manuscript, but do not care for their cursive. My ds who will be 7 in the fall is doing pretty good with his manuscript, confusing the d and b on occassion when he writes. He catches it himself now 80% of the time. He wants to learn cursive and I have been going back and forth wether to start him in the fall when we start Bigger or wait till the next year when we do Preparing. Knowing that they even have them copy from manuscript is great. That way he still gets to see it written correctly. I will have to ponder this and once I actually see the book in a few weeks that will help me out greatly!

[Mom2Monkeys]

I really like the italic books and like they're cursive as well. I think the font is just more appealing to me in a world where cursive seems so unused...but, after trying it with my dd who did not learn italic print, I've had to change. It you don't start in Italic, it could be quite difficult to switch to it since the cursive is so similar to the print style and the lessons just build on the knowledge of the print. I otherwise really liked it and started it with my almost K'er as well. He does that some on his own now for fun, but we've started a "cursive first" philosophy and moved to New American Cursive (StartWriteCD). I'm considering trying Cheerful Cursive with my oldest though who needs to unlearn some self-taught cursive habits. I have heard so many rave reviews about it! I emailed them and I'm waiting to hear back-- I'm hoping they'll send me some sample pages. If you are interested in it, you could email them for sample pages as well.

[Katie]

Thanks Tamara! That is all very helpful!! That helps me to have a better understanding of what the differences are!

[moedertje]

I have samples of cheerful cursive that they e-mailed me, if you PM me I can forward them to you. It's only two pages.

[mariaw]

Is Cheerful Cursive a workbook? Is it laid out lesson by lesson? I'm curious about the format.

[mariaw]

Is Cheerful Cursive a workbook? Is it laid out lesson by lesson? I'm curious about the format.

[Patience]

I have had good results from Italic Manuscript in 1st and 2nd grade before transitioning to cursive. Though I liked the Italics style cursive, I realized pretty quickly that it would take a lot more of my time to learn and teach a style of writing that was so different from what I learned. So, we ditched that idea and I'm really glad we went with traditional cursive. I haven't used Cheerful Cursive but it seems like a lot of mom's like it!

[my3sons]

Is Cheerful Cursive a workbook? Is it laid out lesson by lesson? I'm curious about the format.

Yes, it is a workbook. You do about a page a day. I do think cursive handwriting can be done well with either italic or Cheerful Cursive. It's just a matter of personal preference, so either one would work just fine.

In Christ,
Julie

[Kathleen]

Another vote for Cheerful Cursive from our house. My ds who is not very fond of writing has actually really enjoyed learning cursive...and his writing looks great! We have had a great year with it! (But I've also never looked at the Italic books.)

Kathleen