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JSchaaf
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| Posted: Sept 04 2008 at 9:47am | IP Logged
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Can someone tell me it's ok to put cursive writing on the back burner for awhile?? My dd will be nine next week, so she's somewhere in the 3rd/4th grade age range. She has no trouble printing, it's very neat and she enjoys writing. But cursive is like pulling out her toenails. I just want to set the whole thing aside but need to know it's "OK" from the experts (that's you guys!).
Jennifer
PS She can read cursive with a little help thanks to the American Girl books!
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: Sept 04 2008 at 10:22am | IP Logged
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Well I don't see any necessity in learning cursive if you can read it.. teach her typing instead 
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Jodie, wife to Dave
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KC in TX
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| Posted: Sept 04 2008 at 10:23am | IP Logged
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I think it's okay to put off cursive. We didn't start cursive with my oldest until this year. He's doing fabulously. I know that if we had started earlier, it would've been headache and heartache for us.
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KC,
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The Cabbage Patch
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RamFam
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| Posted: Sept 04 2008 at 11:43am | IP Logged
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In today's day and age is cursive necessary? Or is it something other than the actual cursive that they are learning, such as fine motor skills? Just curious.
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Leah
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Tom ^i^, Kyle (my Marine), Adeline '00, Wyatt '05, Isaac '07 Philip '08,Michael '10, and John Xavier Feb '13
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ALmom
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| Posted: Sept 04 2008 at 12:35pm | IP Logged
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Ok, I'll put in my 2 cents and take it for what it is worth. It certainly is not an expert opinion. While cursive writing is not necessarily going to break their backs and they can do all papers and formal work typed on the computer, still there are reasons for doing cursive.
One of them is the fact that it is flowing and efficient and it is a high fine motor skill. If they just cannot get cursive, I'd look to find out what the block is. I'm not saying you cannot delay learning cursive. We had one child who has beautiful cursive now, and didn't learn until after the age of 10. We also have a child who learned cursive and it is beautiful but never flowed and she never used it for anything. I wish I'd made her use it till it was flowing and comfortable or found at why early enough to form the correct habits. Some of our problem that in my inexperience I didn't detect with this child were pencil grip, finger tension, vision issues, not starting out big enough with our first experiences of cursive. If you use the books with the tiny, tiny lines and that is what they learn on - they will learn to write cursive with tension and never see it as a tool for speed for them in anything.
It hasn't been a huge stumbling block for my child who doesn't like to write in cursive, but there are times when it would be handy to be more quick and natural with cursive. She types faster than most professionals and certainly types most of her assignments. Notetaking and a few other things might be quicker and more efficient with a flowing handwriting. Also, I think she would have enjoyed a beautiful script for expressing herself artistically and in correspondence that requires handwritten contact.
I do believe the biggest benefit of cursive handwriting is learning to allow your hand to flow smoothly without thinking so that you can concentrate on what you are trying to express and these are all developing not only fine motor but also as some kind of processing in the brain. I'm not sure what it is, but I've seen certain patterns within my own children with cursive becoming natural along with some of the development of crossing the midline. My children whose eye-brain connections were such that they would flip eyes on and off as they crossed the midline, are the same ones that don't like cursive. As we work on this issue, we notice more and more ease with cursive. I do think the two reinforce each other and there must be something to having a certain level of maturity in certain skills before being ready for cursive - so that delaying for readiness makes sense. The other side is that at some point the cursive reinforces this ability and makes it more automatic (without thinking/consciously doing it) and you don't want to not get the benefit of that reinforcement.
If you are delaying cursive, then I would look at ways to develop the cross patterning and continue with things that develop hand/finger muscles. Jumping jacks, throwing balls across the the body, stencils, writing that you are already doing. When you start cursive, start it on the chalkboard or somewhere where they can form the letters in a size that is comfortable and free of finger/hand tension.
Well, that is just my 2Cents from experience doing all kinds of different things with different folks. Oh, and we are probably going to start cursive with my 9 year old sometime in the middle of this year. He is showing interest, is looking ahead - but I am waiting a little until we have a bit more of the vision issues behind us. We will write large at first and let him gradually reduce his size of writing. We did the same with print and he started out at least 2 - 3 X as large as other folks and the space permitted even in the bigger spaced handwriting books. He is now printing about the same size as the 2nd grade book for printing. I'm sure his cursvie will be larger in the beginning.
Hope this helps, but ignore it if it seems irrelevant.
Janet
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guitarnan
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| Posted: Sept 04 2008 at 12:46pm | IP Logged
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Janet has a lot of good points.
Might I add one thought - reading cursive is an important skill. Perhaps you could work on that, plus motor skill development?
If our children can't read cursive, they will never be able to do things like genealogy research...
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Nancy in MD. Mom of ds (24) & dd (18); 31-year Navy wife, move coordinator and keeper of home fires. Writer and dance mom.
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: Sept 04 2008 at 1:06pm | IP Logged
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oh one other thing since Janet brought up some wonderful points about how they're doing it.. I've also read that overgripping the pen/pencil is a problem for kids who are ADD. and when you do that you HATE to have to write.. it's exhausting and painful. I know.. because I do it. And it takes an incredible amount of concentration to not do it. Whether it's something that's learned and can be unlearned or something you have to work around I don't know. I mostly work around it. Because the second my attention is taken from how I'm holding the pen.. it comes right back.. and well.. as a busy mom you know I don't have that much time to devote full attention to something that would need to happen frequently if it's possible to unlearn.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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4Real Forums : Language Arts Come Alive
Topic: Permission to delay cursive, please??
