How important is Handwriting?

[MelInKansas]

I thought I would just start a discussion here, and get some of your input. I see it as an important part of school, obviously it's difficult to do much of the work without being able to write, but considering that by the time they are adults all our children will probably use handwriting for is signing their name... it seems like maybe not such a big deal?

I'm very curious what some of you think. Thanks for your input.

[sharonb]

I think it's important, but not to the point that you neglect other subjects because of spending so much time on it. It's funny, my oldest (9) has had lots of handwriting practice, starting when she was 3 and was doing preschool workbooks. No matter how many times I showed her the correct way to form her letters, there are certain ones that she always writes differently from the "right way", and yet they are completely legible. Her handwriting is great. So far her cursive pretty much follows the rules, but I'm sure she will change it at some point to be her own style. How many adults do you know who write exactly like the books teach? Everyone eventually develops their own personal handwriting style. As long as it is neat and legible, I don't think it's something to worry about. Now my ds (almost 8 ) still writes like a Kindergartener when he's in a hurry. Yet I haven't required a handwriting program this year. He knows how to form his letters. All he needs is a reminder to slow down, and suddenly his writing looks better. My 6yo ds has had some handwriting instruction, and my 4yo has had none, yet the two of them write more neatly than my almost-8yo!

Anyway, I like the way HOD is setup- use ARFH in Kindergarten to learn how to write the letters properly. Then after that they get plenty of practice writing in their other schoolwork, and then they learn cursive in 2nd or 3rd grade. As long as it is neat, I'm not going to stand over them and critique exactly how they form the letters.

I don't want to assume that by the time they are adults they won't need to write. I'm sure there will still be situations that require writing, even with all the technological advances, so I want my dc to have legible handwriting!

[my3sons]

I think it's important for dc to go through at least 1 year of a formal handwriting program to learn how to properly form the letters. I too, like pp, like the way HOD plans for this. After that, I think it is important that handwriting is legible, spaced well, and fairly neat. It's actually more important to me that words have spaces between them, and letters are about at the same height, etc. than it is that dc write "perfect" letters. You can see what I'm talking about at this post I did a few years back...

Pics of hi-lighting Riley’s lines for HW:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4618&p=34014

I also think it's important for dc to go through at least 1 year of a formal cursive handwriting program, again to learn how to properly form and also connect the letters. I like the way HOD plans for this too. I think it is good not to expect dc to write everything in cursive after the year of learning it. Keeping up their manuscript, as well as practicing their cursive, will help them know which is more their natural bent. HOD plans for this as well. Then, after a few years of practicing some of both, dc are really old enough to be able to choose which is their preference. At this point, they know which they do better with, and so do we. Boys especially, will not often choose cursive. Do you know many adult men who write in cursive? I don't. However, it is actually more important IMO that they are able to read cursive writing, and lots of varieties of cursive writing, as no one writes perfectly or the same. That is why I love HOD's "Cheerful Cursive". It has dc reading many different styles of cursive writing (once they've learned the "proper" way). It also has them look at manuscript, and write underneath it in cursive, and vice versa. This is an important skill to learn, as dc will be asked to do this for copywork (books are written in manuscript, yet dc will have to do some copywork, notebooking, etc. from them in cursive from time to time).

I think we have to be careful not to get hung up on perfect handwriting. It can begin to frustrate dc so that instead of them thinking about the ideas they want share in their writing, they're thinking about how they can write the shortest possible amount so they can make a perfect "P" or whatever letters they are writing. We can miss their ideas by expecting perfection in handwriting. However, on the flip side, we will totally miss their ideas (and everyone else will too ), if we can't read their writing at all. I do think that it's important not to allow a joining of the 2, so dc are within one sentence, writing some letters/words in print, and some in cursive. This just is kind of a confusing mess to try to read. Pick one or the other, and stick with it for an assignment. Then, the next assignment if they want to pick another, that's just fine, but mish-mashing the two, IMO is a no-no. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

[LynnH]

Having a child who is dysgraphic and really struggles to write legibly I have asked myself this question many times. What I have come up with is that it is more important than I really want to admit. There are many things that come up that he struggles with because they will require some writing and it isn't a situation where he can type easily. For example he is going to church camp and they get prizes for taking good notes during the teaching sessions. This is going to be a real struggle for him. Thankfully one of the ladies who helps run the camp was his 4th grade teacher before I brought him home and she is already thinking about Noah and brainstorming how to make this work for him so he can still win prizes. He will take notes, but she will most likely be the only one that can read them. In church he wants to take notes of the sermon, but ends up usually drawing illustrations of the sermon instead because he can't write fast or neat enough. We are in a co-op and I have to be very selective in which classes I enroll him in. If it is anything that requires note taking it just isn't practical for him. I think about the writing portion of the SAT or the ACT in his future and have no idea how he will do that. Even when he just wants to write a thank you note it is a challenge for him to write it legibly. These are just some examples I can think of right off the top of my head. We will eventually buy him his own laptop, but I don't know that he will be able to type fast enough to say take notes in college. I am with Julie though that the most important thing is being able to space you words correctly and have them the correct size. That really helps writing be more legible.

[MommaK5]

IMHO learning cursive is important for a couple of reasons. I agree with Julie that:

...it is actually more important IMO that they are able to read cursive writing, and lots of varieties of cursive writing, as no one writes perfectly or the same.

Most or all of the original American history documents are written in cursive. I realize we have computers now and that you can probably get the information online in print but what if you didn't have that available or wanted to read the original copies for yourself?
Old letters and family history documents come to mind also as well as speed in note taking that others have mentioned.
There seems to be a brain-hand-eye "flow" with cursive that affects your brain in the same way that drawing does. One of my (now grown up) children's reading skills jumped remarkably when she mastered cursive as a child. It sort of connected mental dot's so to speak if that makes sense. Maybe it was just her but I remember at the time feeling like there was definitely a connection.

I agree it shouldn't be the end-all of worry or something that causes the child enormous stress but I do think that a good working ability to read and write in cursive is important.
I want to give a personal hat-tip to the Cheerful Cursive program. It has been far superior to what we used the first time around!

Blessings,
Kathy

[MelInKansas]

Those are some good thoughts about the importance of handwriting. Yes, even in our highly technological world, we can't escape using handwriting for some things. Though DH and I both take notes electronically, I in my phone and he in his IPad. This is where I say we are very technological people and I'm sure our children will be too. My DH is very good at finding solutions to things with technology... well this is part of his job after all!

When do you start typing? I went to a seminar at a Homeschool Conference this April where she suggested starting typing with K or 1st grade. Especially with children for whom handwriting is a struggle. I haven't started with my soon-to-be 1st grader yet. I actually would consider having her learn a different keyboard than the QWERTY keyboard (that's just how geeky we are, and I want to retrain on a different keyboard).

[MelInKansas]

Thank you Julie and others who have said that it's not so important making each letter perfectly correctly. If you read through the HWT materials you start to feel that it IS above all else, working on proper grip and formation of letters. Whereas, again, most of us (at least DH and I) hardly use handwriting at all anymore. It's so amazing to me how technology has grown from the time I was a child until now, I just wonder what kinds of things will be available to our children, even when they are teenagers.