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There was a great question posted in the Holy Spirit-led Homeschooling Facebook community about teaching cursive. I know that not all of my readers are on Facebook, so this is a great way to expand the conversation. Join in and give us your thoughts, or just find helpful tips below. 🙂
Reader Question: Does everyone teach or plan on teaching their kids cursive? My husband thinks it’s not necessary as one rarely really needs to use it, colleges don’t allow it on papers, etc. thoughts?
Kim said: Yes, we are teaching it. My 3rd grader couldn’t wait to learn “fancy” writing. We used Handwriting without tears. His cursive writing is much neater than his print! And I hadn’t heard that colleges don’t allow it on papers, that’s crazy!
Shannon said: My husband wants our kids to know it. I don’t really care. I want them to have legible writing. I, myself, don’t write in cursive all the time but a mixture of manuscript and cursive.
Rachel said: I’m teaching it; our third-grade son ABHORS writing, but is doing very well with cursive. I think he needs to know how to read it, and he actually likes writing with cursive more than print. We’re using Handwriting without Tears. We’re also teaching typing.
Tricia said: I teach cursive. I think it’s a good discipline for them to learn. My daughter’s cursive is more legible than her print. There are many times they have to be able to read it. I want them to be able to sign their name. I don’t require them to write in cursive on every assignment.
Brandy said: I think it is necessary. Too many children do not know how to write properly anymore, it is a lost art. I am holding off with mine until they reach a 5th or 6th grade level though, at 6 and 7 they are still working on correct print penmanship.
Kassy said: We are. My 2nd grader is using Handwriting Without Tears and loves it. He couldn’t wait to learn cursive like his big brother. Also, a friend of his is writing him letters (real letters by postal mail) that are in cursive and he couldn’t read them on his own. I don’t know how widely it is used now days but I do think it should be taught.
Diana said: We do a little. Signature definitely. I spend more time on keyboarding than cursive/writing for sure. I use this free tool to make my own worksheets: Free Handwriting Practice Worksheet Maker
Diana said: I will let my children decide. My daughter will likely want to be taught. She loves fancy and artistic things like that and I think it would benefit her. I am not going to force my boys. For my oldest son, it would be an unnecessary hardship and the other one is too young to tell. For me, it is not an important skill that MUST be taught. It is one of those things that I will customize to each child.
Kathy said: It would be a good skill to have. You need to know how to sign your name, which is usually in cursive. Plus, it helps when you have to read something in cursive, since many of the letters don’t resemble the corresponding letter in print. Christian Liberty Press has a good cursive program. Plus it’s not expensive.
Jenny said: Cursive writing greatly improved my daughters print writing. A friend of mine suggested it bc she was sloppy with her print. It helped her son as well. She still writes her cursive neater, but print has greatly improved. And it was fun for her!
Sara said: My oldest (6) wants to learn because it’s pretty. I think she should learn so she can read it, so she has the ability to write nicely, and it’s a good fine-motor skill. When she is writing on her own, she will be free to write how she chooses. We will likely start learning cursive in the fall. I currently intend to use handwriting worksheets from the internet; we don’t use many textbooks or formal curriculum.
Val said: I can’t believe schools don’t teach cursive! I’ve already started my 2nd grader learning the motions of it and how to put the letters together. My fifth grader has it down, but just needs to practice and make it more fluent. I think it teaches artistry in handwriting and taking pride in your work. I can’t imagine not teaching it to my kids.
Kathleen said: The whole point of cursive is to make writing easier and faster. When you use cursive you do not have to keep lifting your pen/pencil and placing it down again. It speeds up the handwriting process. I think it is especially valuable when it comes to note taking. I taught my youngest daughter italic using Getty-Dubay and she had a lot of trouble initially being able to read letters from her friends written in classic cursive, so I ended up teaching her that too.
Amy said: I think it is important for them to be able to read cursive (because they need to be able to read a letter by their grandparents) and also sign their name. So therefore, I still think it is a good thing to teach but I wouldn’t put too much stress on perfection of it. Handwriting Without Tears is a good one to choose.
Christin said: Yes, I plan on teaching my children cursive. My 10 year old already writes it. I do not like to rely on technology nor will children always use technology for everything. College is only a small part of the equation. Doesn’t mean they’ll never use it. How embarrassing would it be to have a child who grows up not knowing how to write in cursive? Writing isn’t just about the method of how to get something down on paper (or screen). It teaches patience and accuracy (because it takes more work to erase and rewrite). Typing allows us to be lazy.
Connie said: Its created a generational gap, I still write in cursive and always have to translate what I write for kids… I say yes learn cursive.. And yes I had to teach my youngest.. Because we all have to be able to sign our names to documents.
Lisa said: I want my kids to be able to read the constitution of the United States.
Kara said: We taught our children cursive in Kindergarten and they all have beautiful writing….AND they taught themselves print. I only helped “correct” some of the letters. All of our history was written in cursive, sad to think a generation will never be able to read the original declaration of independence. By the end of Kindergarten they could read and write in both print and cursive!!
What about you? Are you teaching cursive? What has worked for your family?
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Yes, we plan on teaching our children to write in cursive. It was shocking to me to find out that it isn’t being taught anymore. How will children be able to read things that their parents and grandparents have written? And I think of so many historical documents written in beautiful Spencerian penmanship- how will they read those?
Aside from the fact that our children will be learning this, my oldest daughter (1st grade) is super excited about learning “that fancy handwriting” because, she says, “it is so beautiful and Grammy writes that way, too!!”
His,
Mrs. U
We are teaching my 2nd grader now (who is doing an AMAZING job) and I’ll teach my Kindergartner next year (in 1st grade). I have two little boys who hate to write. Handwriting Without Tears didn’t eliminate the tears for us. Cursive did. My 2nd grader LOVES it, and my little guy feels an excitement about writing next year. To me, that makes it worth the effort 🙂
Yes, absolutely teach cursive! I also think cursive should be taught first. During kindergarten last year, my daughter struggled with handwriting. She knew all the letters of the alphabet, but didn’t form them properly and refused any instruction in letter formation. She was obstinate that she “knew that already!” We tried many things, including Handwriting without tears, but nothing worked to help her. This year, at age 6.5, we started fresh with learning cursive with the Logic of English Foundations program. I had many doubts, but she took to cursive quickly and now writes more legibly than my husband does. I can see the work on cursive has rubbed off on her forming print letters better too. Logic of English has a great explanation of the differences between manuscript and cursive here:
http://www.logicofenglish.com/blog/item/238-why-teach-cursive-first
We are teaching our kids cursive. I personally think it is very necessary…. My daughter now in 4th grade learned cursive in Kindergarten and she picked it up so quickly and it is beautiful. I don’t know about the public schools around here but I know the Christian school we were going to is still teaching it. Kids need to be able to sign their names and I love the thought of being able to read the original Declaration of Independence – I had not thought about it that way!!
As most seem to agree, yes, I think students must be taught cursive. I know our local public schools don’t, but then again they don’t really do much at our local school district.
Too funny! My homeschooling post today is a lot about cursive! Thanks for hosting the link-up.
I’m surprised that every comment here is a “yes”. My answer is a “sort of”. My son hates writing. We are teaching him cursive anyway, but with no pressure because I don’t really care if he is ever great at it. I want him to recognize the letters so he can read it ( but for the record almost none of his grandparents write pure cursive anyway. Nor do I for that matter, like most people I have developed a mix of print and cursive that works well for me and is my distinctive “writing”). As for signatures… especially where men are concerned, how many are actually cursive? I worked at a bank and I can tell you, just about none. We all come to a signature that is ours but is rarely technically perfect cursive. Be honest, most signatures are a first initial followed by a squiggle of some sort. It’s only important that it is the same every time, not that it’s technically cursive. You can develop a signature completely without cursive. Important forms? all say “Please Print”. The speed? It’s a myth. Studies show that children, at the peak of their printing ability can write just as fast as with using cursive anyway. And if left alone, without being taught cursive will print as fast as their cursive using peers anyway. Read important historical documents? How many of us can read the calligraphy and differing vocabulary of old English documents? I think it’s more important to know what it says, and the freedoms it grants us, to actually understand the implications of them. I can think the Magna Carta is beautiful, and understand it’s importance without using it’s printing style in my everyday life right? Most things are typed today anyway, at least things of major importance. I am choosing to relax about the writing. I want my children to be able to express themselves clearly, so I don’t care if it’s on paper in cursive, or a blend of printing and cursive or printing. Legibility is what counts. Yes, I want them to be able to read it, and use it if they want, but I don’t have a deadline for this, so there is no pressure. We also teach typing.
If we fail to teach cursive, there will come a day in this country when NO ONE will be capable of reading the US Constitution! We will continue to teach cursive.
Yes I am big on this! It is very fundamental for writing. I know kids do lots of computer stuff these days but sometimes you have to hand write things. Plus most of the work kids do is still handwritten.
I think it should be taught very casually when your child seems ready, maybe alongside other reading and writing lessons so that it’s not the main focus. The more experiences we help our children have and hopefully ENJOY, the better they’ll be off later. We shouldn’t go overboard with this, but the more skills our children have the more useful they can be for the kingdom.