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Bookswithtea
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| Posted: March 21 2007 at 9:28pm | IP Logged
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I can't tell from the web site if one can change the width of the practice lines? Also, is it possible to provide a sheet with the lines but no writing?
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mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and  due 9/10
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Elizabeth
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Yes. and Yes. I think I have an older version but I can do both those things. Lines without print. Lines of many different widths. Lines with red lines in the middle and without. Font that is dotted. Font that is gray. Font that is solid. The only thing mine doesn't have that I wish it did is Handwriting Without Tears font. I'll be interested to hear if yours does. Oh, and I would buy the CD. That computer will crash one day, guaranteed. I've loaded this prgram into three computers now.
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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Bookswithtea
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| Posted: March 22 2007 at 7:34am | IP Logged
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Oh good! I'm really excited about this. I'm thinking I can take copywork from Catholic Mosaic and other picture books and type them up on this. Much better than the many dumb sentences used for practice in handwriting books.
The web site shows all the fonts available. There's a ball and stick and modern manuscript (looks like Italic), a traditional and a modern cursive. The ball and stick looks similar to HWT, but I don't know if you could print it out that way with the type of lines HWT uses.
I think HWT's cursive is probably more different than their manuscript.
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Blessings,
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mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and due 9/10
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KC in TX
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I use Educational Fontware which has many different fonts including HWT. I love it and it's very easy to use. It's been a huge help for my son when he does copy work. As for the lines, I don't think it does that. I'll have to check.
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KC,
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eschuetter
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| Posted: March 23 2007 at 10:51am | IP Logged
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Funny - i just did a search for this topic and found a current thread 
I think I may jump in and try
(I also noticed that one of their "Specialty" fonts is a fingerspelling alphabet for ASL (my guys LOVE signing - maybe I could sneak in spelling practice with the signing!)
As for "blank sheets" - I have made my own in MS Word - just measured the distance between the lines and made a "table" to give me what I wanted. I've never posted a file before - if someone can help me out I'd be happy to share my K-level (wide-space) practice sheet files.
Erica (who finally added a signature to her profile, hopefully it will show-up!)
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KC in TX
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I bought the supplemental with the ASL and it's wonderful. I use it for my bulletin board and it's helped my younger dds. They love sign language thanks to the Signing Time DVDs.
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KC,
wife to Ben (10/94),
Mama to LB ('98)
Michaela ('01)
Emma ('03)
Jordan ('05)
And, my 2 angels, Rose ('08) and Mark ('09)
The Cabbage Patch
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Natalia
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I have Starwrite and I don't find it easy to use. I don't have the CD but a computer download and we have a MAC so I don't know if the problems I have are related to the Mac version. Do anybody else have had any problems using it?
Natallia
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Karen T
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I have Startwrite version 5.0 (build 146).
It does have Handwriting Without Tears, both manuscript and cursive, although we use Getty-Dubay. Besides writing fonts it also has some with clocks and money.
The only thing I have found that I don't like about SW, is the way the text boxes work. For example, I might want to type one line in solid black, and the next one in dotted, and then a third one with just a starting red dot - for my youngers to practice writing. but if you just enter at the end of a line, it must stay the same form for each line. In order to have different types on one page, you have to create a new text box for each one. Also, every time you start a new document, it defaults to manuscript, 48 pt, dotted. I use SW for my oldest ds's poetry copywork - each week he works on a new 4 or 6 lines of the present poem (Paul Revere's Ride right now). It's easiest for me to copy a section of poem from a Wordperfect doc I have and paste it into SW, but for each new section I have to re-set the font, etc.
To get blank lines, or even blank pages, you just hit return enough times while you're in whatever size you want.
I do like the program.
Karen T
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Elizabeth
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| Posted: March 25 2007 at 4:46pm | IP Logged
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My Startwrite is 4.1, so that explains why I don't have the font selection Karen does.
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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cfa83
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[QUOTE=KC in TX] I use Educational Fontware which has many different fonts including HWT. I love it and it's very easy to use. It's been a huge help for my son when he does copy work.
Have you used the ornamental fonts with the program?
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Eleanor
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Okay, I have a question for anyone who has Startwrite, Educational Fontware, or a similar product:
For the more "traditional-looking" cursive fonts, if you just type a single lower-case letter, not joined up to anything, does it show the ascending and descending strokes? What about if the letter is at the beginning of a word?
I've downloaded the Zaner-Bloser demo, but it's missing the ascenders on the a, c, d, g, q, and maybe some others. We'd like to teach our children to start every letter from the baseline, which is the way I was taught, and (from what I've heard) is also recommended in "Cursive First." It would make my life a whole lot easier if I could find a font that supports this. 
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Paula in MN
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Eleanor, I have StartWrite 5.0, build 157.
Yes, mine has numbers and arrows showing how to form each letter, as long as that is the option chosen.
I can send you a sample of what it looks like - just pm me with your email address.
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Karen T
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| Posted: Aug 09 2007 at 10:30pm | IP Logged
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Eleanor wrote:
I've downloaded the Zaner-Bloser demo, but it's missing the ascenders on the a, c, d, g, q, and maybe some others. We'd like to teach our children to start every letter from the baseline, which is the way I was taught, and (from what I've heard) is also recommended in "Cursive First." It would make my life a whole lot easier if I could find a font that supports this.
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Eleanor, if I understand your question correctly, yes. I have Startwrite and just checked. The Palmer cursive, which is what I thought would probably be closest to what you (or at least I ) were taught as children, does not have the ascenders before the letters but does show them at the end of each, where they would connect with the next letter. However, something they call "modern cursive" does show the ascenders before those letters, even if typed singly. I am not sure which font the Zaner bloser is, was that from Educational fontware? Anyway, you can download a sample sheet of each font that Startwrite has from their site, and the modern cursive does show the ascenders.
hth,
karen T
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Eleanor
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| Posted: Aug 12 2007 at 8:27am | IP Logged
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Thanks; it looks like there are a few fonts that match what we're looking for. One of them is Frank Schaffer Contemporary Cursive, and our local teachers' supply store sells some materials in that style, so I guess we'll go with it. (Although I keep getting the name mixed up with Francis Schaeffer, the noted evangelical philosopher and theologian. )
I don't know what script we were taught as children, but it wasn't Palmer. This was in Canada, which probably makes a difference. My husband is American, and he did learn Palmer... he never uses it now, but has memories of those tall "p's."
I just found this sample from an old New Brunswick copybook, which seems to confirm my recollection about the ascenders. I don't think it's quite the same as the style we learned -- I don't remember the "l's" being taller than the "t's"! -- but it's close enough to bring back a lot of memories. Can't say they're good ones, though... our third-grade teacher was very strict, and penmanship was the bane of my existence. 
Speaking of which, I have absolutely no fond attachment to the ascenders , and the children will certainly be free to stop using them when they're older. It's just that we're starting so young (with cursive first, using Montessori sandpaper letters), and I'd like them to be able to get a sense of the overall movements, without having to remember where each letter begins.
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4Real Forums : Language Arts Come Alive
Topic: Startwrite handwriting download question
