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JennGM
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I admit I follow the old school. We're learning printing first, then transitioning to cursive in the 2nd grade.
I'm trying to decide on what would be best to use to teach cursive. Handwriting Without Tear is OUT!
I used Sound Beginnings and my son had a great transition from not being able to hold a pencil to writing very nicely formed printed letters.
Either Palmer or Zaner-Bloser style is the look I want.
I'm thinking both a book and educational font software. Feedback for Startwrite or Educational Fontware? Do you use it enough to warrant cost?
For books, it doesn't have to be a Catholic book. We would just use it to nail down the basic formation, and then copywork on our own.
What kind of paper do you use? Notebooks?
Thanks for any help!
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Jennifer G. Miller
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Mackfam
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I frittered for so long over the cost/was it worth it factor for Startwrite and finally purchased it last year. I am so, so pleased with it!!!
You really don't ever need to buy another stale handwriting book again if you own Startwrite (edited to say that stale was our experience...there are probably some very nice handwriting books out there). Choose copywork from your favorite sources, type it in to Startwrite in the font and size font of your choice and print. Voila! Beautiful and lovely copywork and handwriting all wrapped up in one.
I can use it with my little fella who is printing his letters and just starting to really write, and I can use it for my bigger fella that still needs help with cursive letter formation. And...it will be ready and waiting when my next little one is ready to write. Very, very, very useful to have and use!
My *only* complaint is that you are limited to one page only worth of text. If your text goes beyond one page, you have to create a totally new page to work on. It can be worked around, but it does annoy me.
Here's what is SO great about Startwrite - no longer are handwriting and copywork disconnected, they are merged into one. And, no longer is your child writing from something disconnected from the rest of his learning - he can copy hymns from the liturgical year, Newton's 3 laws, his latest poem, the tricky dictation lesson from last week, a passage from his history or literature reading - anything! But, his penmanship is now connected to his learning, to his days. It made a big difference here, and it's a cornerstone of our language arts program now! 
JennGM wrote:
| What kind of paper do you use? Notebooks? |
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I'm picky about using a nice paper for our all-in-one printer. I like a high brightness and a smooth surface. Probably no one else in the world is picky about their copier paper.  I like HP and Xerox (which I can get from Costco) because they print well, don't smudge, and have a nice writing surface after they're printed.
The kids each have their own copywork notebooks for containing their work. If their work pertains to a particular subject and they have a notebook for that, they'll file their work in that notebook.
 My own very passionate 2 cents about Startwrite.
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Jen Mackintosh
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Maryan
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Not cursive, but CHC's 2nd grade handwriting has great copywork for First Communion. We really liked it. The lessons/copywork were really short.
Later they do more Zaner-Bloser simplified for cursive starting in level 3.... with jokes!
I did Seton's handwriting for 3rd grade because it was similar to a style that I learned, so I thought it would be easier for me to teach. Howver, my oldest who finds writing a chore probably would have preferred CHC. We're going back to it next year. The spiral alone is a huge help compared to Seton's binded book.
Just my observations. 
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Maryan
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SuzanneG
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| Posted: June 09 2010 at 3:30pm | IP Logged
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Jenn~
If you don't want to invest the money initially, you could start out by trying the CONCEPT of Startwrite to see if it fits your planning, time, and focus........there is this free Cursive Worksheet Works...which is similar to Startwrite. Startwrite has many more options, of course.
I have Startwrite and like it a lot. I just printed out some summer poems for light copywork for summertime.
Mackfam wrote:
| My *only* complaint is that you are limited to one page only worth of text. If your text goes beyond one page, you have to create a totally new page to work on. It can be worked around, but it does annoy me. |
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That totally bugs me too. I almost came back here last week and asked if I was just missing something and it was actually possible. But, of course, forgot.
I, personally, don't really care what style we use, because I think (personal opinion) kids/teens/adults develop their own style anyway, so it's not something I care about at all.
About a year ago, when we started cursive, I asked them what cursive style they liked the best (the options in Startwrite) and we just use that one. I think it's "Modern Cursive."
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Suzanne in ID
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Becky Parker
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Mackfam wrote:
I can use it with my little fella who is printing his letters and just starting to really write, and I can use it for my bigger fella that still needs help with cursive letter formation. And...it will be ready and waiting when my next little one is ready to write. Very, very, very useful to have and use!
Here's what is SO great about Startwrite - no longer are handwriting and copywork disconnected, they are merged into one. And, no longer is your child writing from something disconnected from the rest of his learning - he can copy hymns from the liturgical year, Newton's 3 laws, his latest poem, the tricky dictation lesson from last week, a passage from his history or literature reading - anything! But, his penmanship is now connected to his learning, to his days. It made a big difference here, and it's a cornerstone of our language arts program now!
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I don't have mine yet so I really shouldn't even be commenting, but I have to say the two reasons above are worth it to me! I hesitated because my one ds struggles mightily with handwriting and HWOT is the only font he's had success with. Then I found out that HWOT is one of the fonts on the StartWrite program. Woo-hoo! I'm sold! I can't wait to start printing copywork for my kids for next year.
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Becky
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CatholicMommy
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What we found that we like is the OLVS handwriting books. They are very basic, no frills, but cover all the necessities. They are inexpensive and have lots of pages.
You could easily start with the 1st or 2nd grade book (they introduce cursive in the second half of kindergarten, but there is enough review in the 1st grade book for an older child to just catch on).
www.olvs.org
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pmeilaen
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CatholicMommy wrote:
What we found that we like is the OLVS handwriting books. They are very basic, no frills, but cover all the necessities. They are inexpensive and have lots of pages.
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Do you know what handwriting method/style they are using? Zaner-Bloser?
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Eva
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CatholicMommy
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I'm not sure the name of the font, actually. Here is the link to the image of the cover of the 1st grade book. I can scan a copy of one page to send you if you like, but the cursive on the cover shows the basic idea.
OLVS Handwriting 1B
Also, I just learned about the handwriting books from Memoria Press - they have three print copybooks, then one in cursive, followed by another book to use for transitioning to regular paper.
Memoria Press Copybookshttp://www.memoriapress.com/descriptions/Copy-Books.html
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CatholicMommy
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Oops. Then I found this set one on Memoria Press's website too.
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pmeilaen
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CatholicMommy wrote:
I'm not sure the name of the font, actually. Here is the link to the image of the cover of the 1st grade book. I can scan a copy of one page to send you if you like, but the cursive on the cover shows the basic idea.
OLVS Handwriting 1B
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That would be great! Do you also happen to have the manuscript books from the? I'm interested in how they form the capital "A."
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Eva
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cvbmom
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CatholicMommy wrote:
I'm not sure the name of the font, actually. Here is the link to the image of the cover of the 1st grade book. I can scan a copy of one page to send you if you like, but the cursive on the cover shows the basic idea.
OLVS Handwriting 1B
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I'd like to see a sample of a page, it's tough to buy sight unseen on handwriting like that. We tend to prefer a style that all lower case letters start on the baseline. I can't tell that from the cover.
God bless,
Christine
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CatholicMommy
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Ugh. My scanner is being cranky. I'll see if I can get it going later this afternoon.
(with OLVS - not all the lower case start at the baseline; there are benefits and drawbacks - I like this style for my son because he would get confused about how to start the vowels in words such as "bat" - going from the b to the a is easier for him this way, then thinking that he always has to start at the baseline. Not all children will have that hang-up - mine does! )
In the meantime, the OLVS cursive is very similar to this one:
http://www.homeeducationresources.com/FREEhandwriting.htm
OLVS is a bit smoother on a few (like the lower case n), has a little notch on the top of the lower case c, and a couple of the other tiny things. But the differences are very minor.
I'll see what I can do about the scanner later today. Sorry!
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CatholicMommy
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pmeilaen wrote:
CatholicMommy wrote:
I'm not sure the name of the font, actually. Here is the link to the image of the cover of the 1st grade book. I can scan a copy of one page to send you if you like, but the cursive on the cover shows the basic idea.
OLVS Handwriting 1B
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That would be great! Do you also happen to have the manuscript books from the? I'm interested in how they form the capital "A." |
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I do not have the manuscript one, because it was just one semester's worth and my son could already print (he taught himself, then he went to a part-time preschool). Since at home, we are mostly Montessori, I only ordered the cursive ones.
The cursive A is the same for capital and lowercase - just varies in size.
Does that help?
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JennGM
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SuzanneG wrote:
Jenn~
If you don't want to invest the money initially, you could start out by trying the CONCEPT of Startwrite to see if it fits your planning, time, and focus........there is this free Cursive Worksheet Works...which is similar to Startwrite. Startwrite has many more options, of course.
I have Startwrite and like it a lot. I just printed out some summer poems for light copywork for summertime.
Mackfam wrote:
| My *only* complaint is that you are limited to one page only worth of text. If your text goes beyond one page, you have to create a totally new page to work on. It can be worked around, but it does annoy me. |
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That totally bugs me too. I almost came back here last week and asked if I was just missing something and it was actually possible. But, of course, forgot.
I, personally, don't really care what style we use, because I think (personal opinion) kids/teens/adults develop their own style anyway, so it's not something I care about at all.
About a year ago, when we started cursive, I asked them what cursive style they liked the best (the options in Startwrite) and we just use that one. I think it's "Modern Cursive." |
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Well, I just ordered my StartWrite. I didn't have to do much outlay for books this year because so many I already have, which was nice.
I just thought I would mention I called in my order instead of placing it online. When I mentioned I was a homeschooler, she said they give us a little discount. So that was a nice treat!
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to & ds1 '03 & ds2 '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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mamasue
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I know it's late but rainbow resource has it for $31 or $32
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KC in TX
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Maryan wrote:
Not cursive, but CHC's 2nd grade handwriting has great copywork for First Communion. We really liked it. The lessons/copywork were really short.
Later they do more Zaner-Bloser simplified for cursive starting in level 3.... with jokes!
I did Seton's handwriting for 3rd grade because it was similar to a style that I learned, so I thought it would be easier for me to teach. Howver, my oldest who finds writing a chore probably would have preferred CHC. We're going back to it next year. The spiral alone is a huge help compared to Seton's binded book.
Just my observations. |
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My son prefers the CHC cursive to the Seton. We did the same thing as Maryan. I own both the EFI and Startwrite. I prefer the Startwrite although having to create a new page annoys me as well.
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4Real Forums : Language Arts Come Alive
Topic: Cursive Handwriting
