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For those of you doing Preparing, do you make your child do all their writing in cursive or just that specified for the Common Place Book. I'm wondering specifically about the written narrations, dictation, the science notebooking/experiments/questions and so on. My ds finished Cheerful Cursive last year in Bigger, but he is asking me continually print or cursive. I think the idea of writing everything in cursive overwhelms him. But I'm just wondering what others have done. Thanks so much!

I only had them write in cursive when the Preparing guide specifically stated it. My understanding is that if cursive is not specifically stated the child can do either.

I also only had my son do cursive when the manual specifically said to use cursive. That ends up being only about 1 cursive passage a day, at the most 2. That works out well to not overwhelm them. I would especially not do it with dictation because you want them to focus on the spelling and sentence structure rather than worry about the cursive letter formation.

I also only had my ds write the things that specifically were assigned to be written in cursive in PHFHG. This is the way Carrie intended it to be done, though she realizes a "cursive-loving" child may want to do it all in cursive, and if so, that's fine as well. Last year in CTC, we still only had my ds write the things that were assigned to be written in cursive in cursive. I liked him remembering how to print and how to write in cursive, and having to do some of each for a few years. Now in RTR, the Introduction suggests letting dc choose their preference between the two. I like that idea as well, as it is about this age they know both and can choose what fits them best. My ds will choose printing, but his cursive looks fine. Cursive is really something adults need to only know how to write their name in, so being proficient at either printing or cursive is sufficient to be very successful in life! It shouldn't hold them back in the least, as most of us can attest since none of us probably has picture-perfect cursive (or printing) on a daily basis. The goal is for dc to be able to convey their ideas in written form well, in a neat enough manner (whether in cursive or print) so we can actually read and understand their ideas. Good question - HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

Thanks for this useful post. I'll be starting Preparing as soon as I order.