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crazymamapajama
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Hi everyone,
I'm new here with lots of questions. The first one has to do with penmanship. Does anyone have suggestions for a handwriting program to use with a 6 year old beginning writer and an 11 year old who has had no experience with cursive? Has anyone used Smithhand? How about the Spencerian method?
Thank you,
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alicegunther
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Welcome, Jodye! I haven't used the programs you mentioned, but this year, I am planning to try some of the penmanship materials from Catholic Heritage Curricula. In the past, I have used the Writing Road to Reading, although I think it is a bit arduous for a six year old and doesn't really focus on cursive for your eleven year old. I also like to assign copywork from anything interesting we are reading. For cursive, I copy it out in my best handwriting and have them copy it. It's nice to be able to customize the material.
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Love, Alice
mother of seven!
      
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Brew yourself a cup of tea, and come for a visit!
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momwise
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We used a couple of these Writing Can Help books last year and I was pleased with them. I ordered the 8th gr. book and the writing is *really* small. I think it will be too small for my 13 yo ds. I'll probably use this same series, just a lower grade level. The Calligraphy book is fun too, for a child that likes to practice that sort of thing.
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Gwen...wife for 30 years, mom of 7, grandma of 3.....
"If you want equal justice for all and true freedom and lasting peace, then America, defend life." JPII
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alicegunther
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momwise wrote:
| We used a couple of these Writing Can Help books last year and I was pleased with them. I ordered the 8th gr. book and the writing is *really* small. |
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I like the look of the CHC books and look forward to using them this year, but it *is* surprising how small the writing is, even at the 5th and 6th grade levels. I can only imagine how small it must be by 8th grade! Still, miniscule cursive is a skill that will come in handy if the girls ever need to write the Gettysburg Address on a butterfly's wing!
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Love, Alice
mother of seven!
Cottage Blessings
Brew yourself a cup of tea, and come for a visit!
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Becky Parker
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I am using the CHC books this year for my children as well. My dd (1st grade) really likes it. The 5th grade book that I got for my ds (11 yo - hates to write and it shows!!!)is much too small though. I went to doing as you mentioned above Alice, which is writing it out and having him copy. That helped, but he still really struggles with writing neatly. He picked up some very bad habits while in school (until 3rd grade) and it has been almost impossible for me to get him to write correctly, and neatly. I'm thinking about changing styles - he learned D'Nealian at school. I'm not sure if that will help at this late time though.
Becky
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momwise
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alicegunther wrote:
| Still, miniscule cursive is a skill that will come in handy if the girls ever need to write the Gettysburg Address on a butterfly's wing! |
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Gee Alice, is that *your* idea of fun or has it been done somewhere? Can we see it on the web?
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Gwen...wife for 30 years, mom of 7, grandma of 3.....
"If you want equal justice for all and true freedom and lasting peace, then America, defend life." JPII
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MEBarrett
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Welcome Jodye! It is always nice to "hear" a new voice
I second the CHC suggestions and have another. I just received (yesterday)copybooks that I ordered from Memoria Press and they look wonderful. I bought Book II and Book III for my six and eight year olds. My ten year old has such lovely penmanship that I just keep him in practice with copy work from whatever history or religion we are working on.
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Mary Ellen
Mom to seven beautiful kids
Tales from the Bonny Blue House
O Night Divine
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alicegunther
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momwise wrote:
| Gee Alice, is that *your* idea of fun or has it been done somewhere? Can we see it on the web? |
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No, that's just me being silly (with apologies to the excellent folks at CHC--I really do like their materials!). Still, I wouldn't be surprised if you could find it somewhere!
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Love, Alice
mother of seven!
Cottage Blessings
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MacBeth
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alicegunther wrote:
| Still, miniscule cursive is a skill that will come in handy if the girls ever need to write the Gettysburg Address on a butterfly's wing! |
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I knew a girl in elementary school who wrote the smallest letters. I still remember the teacher asking her to write so she could see it!
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God Bless!
MacBeth in NY
Don's wife since '88; "Mom" to the Fab 4
Nature Study
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JennGM
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Paper & Ink Arts is a terrific source for calligraphy and script writing tools and books. Order a catalog and you'll just drool! It's not listed on the site, but there are several handwriting and script books, videos and tools they offer, including for children.
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to  & ds1  '03 & ds2  '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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Karen T
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Becky Parker wrote:
I am using the CHC books this year for my children as well. My dd (1st grade) really likes it. The 5th grade book that I got for my ds (11 yo - hates to write and it shows!!!)is much too small though. I went to doing as you mentioned above Alice, which is writing it out and having him copy. That helped, but he still really struggles with writing neatly. He picked up some very bad habits while in school (until 3rd grade) and it has been almost impossible for me to get him to write correctly, and neatly. I'm thinking about changing styles - he learned D'Nealian at school. I'm not sure if that will help at this late time though.
Becky |
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(note, one of *y keys is not working, so the * is for the letter before n)
Yes, I think it will. I pulled *y ds out of public school after 5th grade, and his handwriting (also D/Nealian) was horrible. First thing, I got a good positioning grip to put on his pencil; if their grip is incorrect it *akes writing harder and painful, too. I used the Getty-Dubay Italic series - we started with a review of the *anuscript in italic, since it was new to hi*, then *oved on to cursive. You can choose the book for whatever grade you have, and it will still review the *anuscript first, so the kids aren't stuck going back and using a first grade book or anything. After just a few *onths, ds's writing i*proved dra*atically and now a year later it is still great, with only the usual writing in the course of regular work.
Karen T
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kristina
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I did not feel that our second grade son was ready for cursive, so I used the D’Nealian printouts at this handy little website for the 2nd half of the past school year. Also, I have assigned separate copywork (sometimes our son writes his own name incorrectly in manuscript  ), and it was perfect that I could type in whatever words I wished him to write and have them printout with the special lines in my choice of manuscript, cursive or D'Nealian.
Our son was pleased with his progress this way and not overwhelmed with the challenge of cursive writing. Since it is free, it was a nice reprieve that I did not have to order an additional program to accomodate him as we already have the manuscript and first cursive Writing Can Help books from CHC.
I cannot remember how I was directed to this site.. I am so thankful for it, though!
Happy Handwriting!
Blessings,
kristina
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Mary G
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kristina wrote:
so I used the D’Nealian printouts at this handy little website
Happy Handwriting!
Blessings,
kristina |
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Kristina:
Thanks for this site! This is exactly what I was looking for with my little ones. I especially like (aside from the "free" part, of course ) that I can choose dots, dashes or bubble letters for the tracing -- sometimes the dots "hit" in the wrong part of the letter and my kids have trouble remembering "where" they're supposed to go  !
Blessings!
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MaryG
3 boys (22, 12, 8)2 girls (20, 11)
my website that combines my schooling, hand-knits work, writing and everything else in one spot!
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Martha
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We've used Handwriting Without Tears and have CHC's Writing Can Help grade 4 and 5 books. The HWT's books are very simple and only bare minimum of copy work, so kids who are having a hard time or just plain hate penmanship/writing don't mind doing HWT. The CHC books are nice for those kids with an artistic bent, but may be too much for kids who just want to get the work done.
Martha
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Martha
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Yes, they're all ours!
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Taffy
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I've also been using Handwriting Without Tears successfully with my two oldest. My middle child who hates to use a pen/pencil/crayon to do anything doesn't complain about it - especially when I tell him that if the letter is done "perfect" he doesn't have to write anymore!
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Susan
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Susan's Soliloquy
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momwise
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jenngm67 wrote:
| Paper & Ink Arts is a terrific source for calligraphy and script writing tools and books. |
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Jenn,
Have you used a lot of the art supplies? Do you or anyone else know about the metallic crayons?They're from Caran D'ache. Has anyone used them? IF so, what for? They look really useful  ......for something.
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Gwen...wife for 30 years, mom of 7, grandma of 3.....
"If you want equal justice for all and true freedom and lasting peace, then America, defend life." JPII
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Kerry
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I don't have any info about metallic crayons, but I am interested in hearing from any of you regarding children who were "slow" or less than eager writers. My 6 yo ds had no interest in anything to do with writing or even coloring for that matter until only this past summer. (He just turned 6 in August). I have tried not to push him thus far just trying to offer lots of opportunities to "try" it through coloring with him etc. But, I sometimes worry if this is the correct thing? Will he (when he is developmentally ready) just naturally begin or desire to write, or should there be a certain amount on my part of requiring him (in a gentle way of course) to at least try to form his letters etc. He can write his name barely, but gets quickly frustrated by his inabilty to form other letters and numbers. Any suggestions on how much to push , or at what point if ever do I "push"? Or, perhaps I just give it time and wait and see? He does (much like me) seem to lack a certain perseverance about tackling challenging things which I would like to work on as well(both in me and him . Any suggestions? Thanks!
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Kerry
married to DH John 8/8/98,
mommy to Daniel 8/6/99, Isaiah 7/10/01, Gianna 3/28/03, Samuel 10/11/04
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Karen E.
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Kerry wrote:
| Any suggestions on how much to push , or at what point if ever do I "push"? Or, perhaps I just give it time and wait and see? |
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Have you tried some pre-writing activities/fine motor things with him? Like drawing with a finger in a tray of salt, or using shaving cream on a picnic table, or just playing with Play-dough? If he's frustrated with not forming things perfectly, these activities can relieve that frustration while zeroing in on the thing that will help him down the road -- fine motor skills.
I wish I had done a lot more finger-strengthening things with my oldest, because she's always struggled some in that area, and I didn't realize until quite a bit later that there was more I could have been doing ....
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Karen E.
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Visit my blog, with its shockingly clever title, "Karen Edmisten."
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momwise
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Karen E. wrote:
| Like drawing with a finger in a tray of salt, or using shaving cream on a picnic table, or just playing with Play-dough? |
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Karen,
I want to follow up on more of this when I return from vacation. Where did you get these ideas? Of course we've done play-doh and salt dough as well as cutting and gluing but these other ideas sound like something my dss would love. Do you have a website or book? thanks!
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Gwen...wife for 30 years, mom of 7, grandma of 3.....
"If you want equal justice for all and true freedom and lasting peace, then America, defend life." JPII
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Karen E.
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momwise wrote:
Karen E. wrote:
| Like drawing with a finger in a tray of salt, or using shaving cream on a picnic table, or just playing with Play-dough? |
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Where did you get these ideas? Of course we've done play-doh and salt dough as well as cutting and gluing but these other ideas sound like something my dss would love. Do you have a website or book? thanks! |
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No, I don't have a book -- just ideas that I've read about over the years that have stuck with me. However, I just googled for a website and found this one:
http://www.sau21.k12.nh.us/marston/new_page_22.htm
and it's loaded with ideas!
(Someone, help me ... how do I do hyperlinks? I always bungle them ....)
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God bless,
Karen E.
mom to three on earth, and several souls in God's care
Visit my blog, with its shockingly clever title, "Karen Edmisten."
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4Real Forums : Language Arts Come Alive
Topic: Handwriting
