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My daughter has completed her initial cursive instruction. At what point do you stop having handwriting practice as part of the curriculum? I know HOD basically stops it as a subject after Bigger with cursive taught then. Do any of you continue handwriting practice beyond this level? If so do you use a formal book or just do copywork type practice?

She has done very well with cursive but still has trouble remembering how to form certain letters or attach certain letters. She is beginning to write portions of her assignments in cursive and does alright considering this is new, but could still use some more practice with lines as well.

Thanks in advance for your insights!

With my dd we stopped it after the first book, and just continued our practice with copywork. She was able to do just fine. I'm about ready to begin cursive instruction with my son, and I'm not real sure he's going to grasp it as well as his sister did. We've already had to spend one extra year with just print practice...so, I think that if she's having trouble making the letters, or connecting them it might be a good idea to have some more practice. Are there things you can print online that would give her more practice with seeing how the letters connect?

Another thing you could do would be for you to write things out in cursive for her to copy down. That way she can see how the letters connect. She may not need the drill of a whole new book on handwriting, as much as she needs to practice it in everyday life.

That's a good idea. Where does copywork fit in with Preparing and above? I looked in the sample pages but I didn't see it written in.

Well, they do a lot of copy work with Draw and Write Through History, especially toward the beginning of the guide. The selections are written in cursive in the text book, and they copy sections at a time in their notebooks. They also copy down passages of scripture each week-that would be an area that you could write in cursive on a whiteboard, or on paper, and have her copy so she could see how the letters connect. You could also do this with her History Narrations. At the beginning of the guide you'll be writing down all her narrations for her to copy, anyway. Later they transition into writing it themselves. There are also sections to copy in the science texts sometimes, or in other books from the Independent History Box. I think the Draw and Write Through History, though, would probably give her a really good step up with it, and you might be able to tell from that if you think she needs more formal instruction (another handwriting book).

Oh wow! That's a lot Thanks for taking time to give me the details. That should be plenty since she does do well if I write things out for her. I guess it is just something they eventually learn to do on their own. Thanks so much!

In the Preparing guide, it specifically tells the students when to use cursive. My son uses cursive when he is required to (copying Bible verses into Common Place book and copying out of the Draw and Write book), but not at other times (notebooking). They should not use cursive for dictation because the passage they are studying is in print.

To help my children learn Bible passages I have them copy in cursive a certain passage each day for a week. If they can say the passage to me by heart on day 4 they do not have to write it out. It works for handwriting and memorizing.

I just wanted to mention that Preparing has daily cursive writing practice scheduled in the guide through copywork. The copywork varies from day to day as far as the subject in which it occurs, however there is daily practice assigned in the guide.

It can take time for kiddos to make the transition to copying in cursive, however once they have learned how to form the letters then it's time to transition to copying in cursive. You can easily write the passage in cursive for the child at first, allowing room under your writing for the child to copy what you wrote.

There are a few other tips in this past thread that may be of help to you too! Link: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=13023&p=93664

Blessings,
Carrie

I want to chime in because the thread Carrie referenced is one which I started. Her counsel has proven sound in a very short time. My 8yo DS is working in Preparing with his older brother and while I thought he'd need more explicit workbook practice the daily cursive practice within Preparing is quickly improving his cursive writing skill. His confidence is growing, his endurance is lengthening, and the legibility is improving. In fact, we are just in Unit 2 and he is now doing more cursive writing than required as the daily use of cursive has quickly built his confidence. I did make a reference sheet for my boys because they occasionally forget how to form a letter. I wrote out the cursive alphabet in lower case and capitals, based upon the Cheerful Cursive font, and laminated the sheet. It is proving helpful to both of them as they use it daily right now. Capitals are used infrequently so they often need to check those for their cursive writing. Once in a while my younger son forgets how to connect a couple of letters and we simply practice on a whiteboard.

Thanks so much for all this help! I feel so lost with handwriting sometimes. I thought this would be one of the easiest parts of homeschooling and boy was I wrong!