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My dd will be starting Cheerful Cursive next year. She is 7 (will be 8 in October) and has some minor focusing issues that, hopefully, was corrected when she got glass at the beginning of this school year. I think, since she has had problems seeing, it has had an impact on keeping her letters on the lines and proper letter size. She writes letters like s and e half on-half off the base line and letters g and y with the tail sitting on the base line instead of below the base line. She has been writing her letters like this since she was 4, even though I constantly correct her writing. I have taught an italic style of letter formation and original was going to teach italic cursive, but have decided to use Cheerful Cursive in hopes that a big change in the handwriting style will help break the bad habits.

Anyone have a dc who had some minor handwriting issues that were resolved by traditional learning cursive?

I am hoping that learning to write a new way will correct these issues.

Any experience?

The main benefit I have seen in my dc's handwriting with cursive is they slow down and concentrate. As a result, each child has a much nicer cursive hand than print hand. The other observance is that in the older HOD guides the children do a great deal more writing and their handwriting appears to improve from maturity and simply practicing more.

Usually dc (and adults ) prefer one or the other. Some prefer manuscript, and others cursive. I love that HOD trains dc to do both and then lets them decide which they prefer in the upper guides. Remember - few adults have perfect manuscript or cursive. Legibility becomes the goal as dc age, and more important always than the way a child's writing looks is the meaning in their writing - can they convey their thoughts in a clear way? We found "Cheerful Cursive" to be a delightful way to teach cursive. My dc's cursive has been lovely with it. Will they choose cursive as their preferred method of writing? I am not sure yet. My oldest ds in RTR writes his Common Place entries and most quotes in cursive, as he views these as "special", and I guess he must view cursive as "special". But the rest of his work is done in manuscript. Both are legible and fairly neat, but neither are close to perfect. His ideas though - they are golden. I hope something here helps as you look ahead to your journey through handwriting - I think she will enjoy "Cheerful Cursive".

In Christ,
Julie