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pixilated_momma
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| Posted: Feb 21 2008 at 10:35am | IP Logged
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Does a child's printing have to be good in order to get them to do cursive?
My DD7 will start third grade soon, and all the books are about "reviewing" cursive. Well, she hasn't even begun to learn cursive, for I've been having her practice her printing. Rather than atrocious, the handwriting is now only mildly terrible. 
Do I encourage the kid to keep practicing her print? Or just move on to cursive, which I heard is totally different skill-wise anyhow?
I'm not set on cursive or print. I just should, you know, make a choice now and get a handwriting/cursive book ... (I asked DH about it. His response: "It's a computer-literate world out there. Who even uses handwriting anymore?" LOL  My reply: "She might try to decipher some manuscripts when she's a historian. She'll have to know how to read cursive at least. And write a check." And he said: "Checks are dead. It's all debit cards now." Yes, he's tech man.)
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Theresa
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| Posted: Feb 21 2008 at 11:14am | IP Logged
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I haven't started cursive with my 3rd grader yet. He still struggles with his printing.
As for my 6th grader we do some review in the beginning of each year but I don't require him to use it. He does however need to know it so that he can read it.
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folklaur
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| Posted: Feb 21 2008 at 12:00pm | IP Logged
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I have a 9yo son (so technically 3rd grade) and we haven't started cursive yet. Not even close. Still struggling with printing here, too. And he WANTS to learn cursive, but I had him try and there was just no way, he isn't close to ready yet. But he is learning to read it.
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MichelleW
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| Posted: Feb 22 2008 at 6:13pm | IP Logged
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I went to a Special Ed for Homeschoolers conference last month. The speaker advocated STARTING with cursive. He said that the goal is to get them writing quickly and legibly as soon as possible. He did not think that mastery of printing was even desirable before starting them on cursive. A lot of the reasons he gave made sense to me, so I came home and started teaching everyone cursive immediately (without a book, I mean immediately, like "Ok, I just got home from a conference everyone get a piece of paper and come here. We are starting cursive NOW.")
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Ouiz
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| Posted: Feb 26 2008 at 10:44pm | IP Logged
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Not sure if we're doing it "right," but I had my oldest kids learn printing first, and then introduced them to cursive in 2nd grade. (4 letters a day, plus a quick review of the others)
I can't say any of them had printing completely mastered before we went on to cursive... I mean, they knew their letters and how to form them, but having consistency in terms of how "neat" it was just wasn't there yet.
I have them do most assignments in printing. For the oldest 2 (3rd and 4th grade) I give them copywork to do in cursive, as well as their spelling lists.
I don't have any fun fonts downloaded or any workbooks... I just sit down the night before and write out the copywork on ruled paper, so they can refer to it if need be (and my goodness, it's HARD to write cursive letters "correctly"! I keep telling them they need to get this down, and then they will develop their own style fairly quickly..)
I'm eager to hear what others are doing in this area!
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Martha
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| Posted: Feb 27 2008 at 7:55am | IP Logged
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no, ini fact I have seen kids with horrid printing who have MUCH better cursive from the get go.
on a side note, the frustration of dealing with the transition from print ot cursive with my older ones is the reason I skip print and go straight to cursive now.
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pixilated_momma
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| Posted: Feb 28 2008 at 2:35pm | IP Logged
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Essie's handwriting is so atrocious ...  but I've been inspired by ya'll mentioning how much better cursive can be.
When we start up third grade, we'll start cursive. It has to be better that her printing. I can't imagine it worse!
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CatholicMommy
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| Posted: March 08 2008 at 3:13pm | IP Logged
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We do cursive first in our household (of one child! but I still get some tutoring in on the side) - the transition to print seems to be quick and smooth without a hassle. I've heard of instances where there is a bit of a catch, but only perhaps 3 times and not in my own experience.
I would suggest just writing out a handwriting chart, with the lower case letters in cursive, framing it and displaying it on the table while your child practices writing words that mean something to her. You can then add a second chart that has both the capital and lowercase. Much cheaper than purchasing books or materials - and she can develop her own style from the get-go.
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Isa in Michigan
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| Posted: May 27 2008 at 2:23pm | IP Logged
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I've started my three oldest on cursive first after seeing that all the men in my husband's family print instead of use cursive.
There are several advantages to cursive when it comes to writing. First of all, it's easier to control the spacing between letters since everything is connected. This leads to better and faster writing. Also, for children who have a hard time distinguishing similar looking letters like a b and d, you can't confuse them with cursive since different strokes are used to form them.
I would encourage moving on to cursive.
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Sparrow
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| Posted: May 27 2008 at 5:24pm | IP Logged
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I'm so glad you brought this up, this is something I've been wondering about. Dd1 will be starting first grade and her printing is average I would say. She's expressed a desire to learn cursive and I wondered if it was too early. I think we'll go ahead and start it :)
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ctrivette
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| Posted: May 27 2008 at 5:50pm | IP Logged
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There are so many 'styles'; what do you use if you start with printing? With cursive? I have always taught D'Nealian, and have yet to teach the almost 3rd grader cursive, but there is Zaner-Bloser, Handwriting without Tears, an Italic that I love the look of and will have my cursive proficient almost 5th grader start learning soon and several others. I need to look into the differences for my soon to be K boy, he needs to learn to make letters that are not just in our names :)
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4Real Forums : Language Arts Come Alive
Topic: print? cursive? arrrrghhh
