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Okay, teachers out there - how do you know if your child is ready for cursive? My second daughter will be starting Bigger in June and will be 7 that month. Should I have her do Cheerful Cursive? This is what her handwriting is like now (this was 2 days worth of copy work):

I think I would start her with Cheerful Cursive when you start Bigger. Her printing looks nice to me, much better than my dc before they started cursive.

I don't know about your question, but I love her print. Those "t's" are too cute!

I would give her another year of printing. In my opinion, she should be able to print well on wide-ruled notebook paper first before switching to cursive. I also suggest stretching Bigger over two years, since she is so young. There is quite a bit of notebooking in it, which may be challenging for a just-turned 7yo, especially one who still prints with big letters.

lucsch wrote:I would give her another year of printing. In my opinion, she should be able to print well on wide-ruled notebook paper first before switching to cursive. I also suggest stretching Bigger over two years, since she is so young. There is quite a bit of notebooking in it, which may be challenging for a just-turned 7yo, especially one who still prints with big letters.

I agree.

Thanks for your replies. Maybe we will wait until 3rd grade for her cursive... I am hoping she will be able to do Bigger by the fall, though. She is combined with an older sister, and I would really like to keep them together. They enjoy being combined, and I like it that way too. I'd be willing to stretch out Bigger a little for her, but not over two years unless I separate them.

I am thinking of trying to have her write on wide-ruled paper - I know when my older daughter made the switch writing became easier for her.

I agree, your daughter's handwriting is pretty nice. My DD is 8 and she does still write big, and I agree, the notebooking in Bigger is much more difficult because of how big she writes. I did start her in cursive (Cheerful Cursive) and she is doing well with it, she is at least motivated to try and write neatly and is writing more neatly in cursive than she does in print.

It looks like your daughter though is advanced in writing, but maybe that's because mine is behind.

Her handwriting looks nice. But I agree, until she is writing on notebook paper, I wouldn't focus on cursive. Or rather, I'd probably have her finish out Beyond on notebook paper and then go ahead and start cursive.

I agree that she needs to be able to write smaller. On wide ruled notebook paper, she needs to be able to write a word with a capital letter and lowercase letters...like a name or a proper noun, and you should be able to see a difference between the capitals and the lowercase letters. I would especially want to see a difference in capitals and lower case letters that look the same...like "C" and "c"..."S" and "s".

I would continue copywork, but switch to wide ruled loose leaf notebook paper. Have her skip lines in between. Work on bringing down the size of those letters while still making it look neat. Then focus on making a difference between capitals and lowercase letters.

Be a model for her. Write a word for her on a line talking over how you are forming each letter...what height you are making it, etc. Then have her go below your printed word and make the same word following your model. You can give her the same verbal cues you used when you were forming your letters.

It helps to be able to write upside down when you're the teacher. : )
I sit across from my kids. So, the paper is facing them. I write the word. Upside down to me. But I form the letters as they should so it all looks right to them. I talk aloud..."I am going to start my lowercase c here below the line"etc. Then I am across from them as they copy my model below mine. I can stop them and gently correct them if they are about to make a mistake.

Hope that helps!