Why the change from Reason for Handwriting...

susie in ms · Post by **susie in ms** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 8:53 am

to Cheerful Cursive? Carrie you have pleased me time and again with how everything you plane always has a good reason for it. I am considering what I will use for handwriting as Hannah is doing pre-writting skills now. So can you tell me why you decided to switch over to CC after beginning with RFH?
Thanks muchly!!

Post by **Carrie** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 11:29 am

Susie,

We found the transition book for "A Reason for Writing" didn't give enough transitional time going from letters to words. It also required a large amount of writing on each page, which was very frustrating to my boys. It moved too quickly overall, which didn't allow for a feeling of confidence. It also gave only a little direction of where to start the letters (only a starting dot was given) or how to form the letters (strokes were numbered).

Cheerful cursive does a wonderful job of using shadow letters to have the kiddos trace within to practice writing each letter. It also teaches them to read cursive and shows them the many variations of cursive letters and writing. It provides just enough repetition without being too much. Also, the kiddos can do it VERY independently and can actually write in cursive once they finish.

For my oldest son, we've used Handwriting Without Tears, BJU, and A Reason for Writing, yet he still can't write well in cursive. With my second son, we've only used Cheerful Cursive, and he's already writing in cursive.

I know kiddos vary, but I do think my oldest son would have done better with Cheerful Cursive too! Maybe some other ladies will pop-in to let you know their thoughts about it!

Blessings,
Carrie

inHistiming · Post by **inHistiming** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 11:36 am

So far, we love ARFH! However, my daughter is currently using the transition book, so I guess we'll see how she does. If she struggles, we may have to think about making the switch.

Kathleen · Post by **Kathleen** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 12:53 pm

Susie,

I asked this same question a couple of months ago. My ds has been using A Reason for Handwriting and we really like it! I think the way that they practice writing to copy a Bible verse is great. My ds has used the K, A, and B books...he's still printing. Carrie's answer made total sense to me and we will be using Cheerful Cursive along with Bigger soon. In looking through a copy of the Transition book (from ARFW), I can see how more practice with forming the letters would be better before writing words and passages...especially for boys.

Here is my first attempt to post a link...we'll see how it goes.

http://www.heartofdakota.com/board/view ... highlight=

I hope this makes sense. I lost my first post when I tried to get the link in here.

HTH!

Kathleen

netpea · Post by **netpea** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 2:18 pm

We are doing Beyond this year, but my son asked to learn cursive so we continued A Reason for Handwriting. We are using the Transition book. We skipped all the practice pages and went straight to the lesson pages. We do the Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3 as written. However we do not do a practice verse on Day 4, instead I split the verse in half and he copies half of it on Day 4 and half on Day 5. It is working well for us at this point.

susie in ms · Post by **susie in ms** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 2:27 pm

Thanks, everyone, for the wonderful answers!! I guess it really amounts to how much transitional practice a child needs. This makes total since!!

Carrie, My very good friend has 2 sons. Both used italics. One has BEAUTIFUL handwriting (he is courting my oldest dd

) and her other son has barely legible handwriting. He as always had fine motor skills and vision problems though.

mamamia · Post by **mamamia** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 10:27 am

When does it change to Cheerful Cursive? Do you mean the current volumes of LHFHG etc have changed or does it change as you go up in years(preparing etc)?
Also, when people talk about future volumes...does it mean new volumes after Preparing?

Thanks!

netpea · Post by **netpea** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 11:04 am

mamamia wrote:When does it change to Cheerful Cursive? Do you mean the current volumes of LHFHG etc have changed or does it change as you go up in years(preparing etc)?
Also, when people talk about future volumes...does it mean new volumes after Preparing?

Thanks!

I believe Cheerful Cursive starts in the Preparing manual. And yes when people say future volumes, they are referring to the higher grade levels which will come out after preparing.

Although their are a few updates to the existing manuals due to new versions of history spines coming out or due to devotionals going out of print, the manuals themselves have not changed. You can see the updates here:

http://www.heartofdakota.com/updates.php

HTH

Post by **Carrie** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 1:06 pm

Great discussion ladies! I do think girls transition easier to cursive overall, so they may not need the step-by-step instruction in Cheerful Cursive. I spent years in public school teaching cursive writing to hundreds of 3rd graders and some kiddos will get it easily no matter what. Others will have a tougher time, no matter what.

So, we were excited to find Cheerful Cursive because of it's unique approach. It makes so much sense and will work for those who struggle and for those who don't! If you have success with what you're using that's great! But, it doesn't hurt to have a back-up plan with "Cheerful Cursive" either!

Blessings,
Carrie

wdworkman · Post by **wdworkman** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 6:10 pm

If we've been practicing Zaner-Bloser style cursive this year, would Cheerful Cursive be very different?

netpea · Post by **netpea** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 8:17 pm

One thing that has helped tremendously is this dry erase placemat of Cursive letters we bought at the beginning of the year at Target. My ds prefers to go over the letters with his marker rather than working on paper. So at the beginnning of the year, I just had him do both Upper and Lower on the placemat each day.

busybee4 · Post by **busybee4** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 12:29 am

Carrie,

I was wondering if you knew anything about Happy Handwriting. (I believe that's the name). I saw it on the web while I was looking for a pen. program for my kids.

A Reason for Handwriting looks GREAT and all of the reviews I've seen are glowing, however we are looking for something else for our kiddos for a couple of reasons.

Anyway, I believe that Happy is written by the same people that wrote Cheerfully Cursive. I liked Happy but when I realized it was by the same people I was even more encouraged because I knew that you recommened Cherrfully for your cursive option.

I'm just curious to know what you think about Happy...if anything.

Melanie · Post by **Melanie** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 7:25 am

Hi Krissy! I just wanted to encourage you to use whatever handwriting program works for your family.

ARFH is used only in Little Hearts and Cheerful Cursive is used only in Bigger. Copywork is used for the handwriting practice in Beyond and I don't know about Preparing, but I'm guessing copywork will be used for that year as well. (Someone correct this if I'm mistaken.)

I had already bought Handwriting without Tears, and we used that this year with Little Hearts and it was fine. Once kiddos learn the actual formation and spacing, copywork becomes your primary mode of practice.

Use what works for you!

busybee4 · Post by **busybee4** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 10:53 am

Melanie wrote: Copywork is used for the handwriting practice in Beyond and I don't know about Preparing, but I'm guessing copywork will be used for that year as well. (Someone correct this if I'm mistaken.)
Use what works for you!

Yes, I am searching for what will work for our kiddos. Happy seemed pretty good for my 2nd dd.

Does the copywork in Beyond replace the need for a writing book? We have done some copywork this year on our own and my oldest has done well but I was kinda thinking that she might need a little more practice in the individual letter formations because she likes to start a lot of them from the bottom when she prints. She's improved greatly but I can still see the tendency to do it in her.

I'm not sure that's even important but it's something that I noticed and have worked to correct.

Post by **Carrie** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 1:25 pm

I'll pop in and answer a few questions!

Zaner-Bloser it is the same style used in "Cheerful Cursive".

We looked at Happy Handwriting for LHFHG and did like the looks of it. However, overall we liked "A Reason for Handwriting" better, with the goal of copying Bible verses at the end of each week.

We only moved to "Cheerful Cursive" in "Bigger..." due to cursive being a harder type of writing to learn and feeling the need to find a strong program ALL types of writers could be successful with (so it wouldn't take years of practice and instruction to teach kiddos to write in cursive)!

Once you get through an introduction to printing or cursive, our guides head back to copywork to cement those skills. So, we don't use a program beyond that.

Each of you knows your own kiddos best, and there are many good handwriting options that you can use instead. We just try to recommend what we've found works well (to help narrow your search)!

Blessings,
Carrie