Strengths:
A Reason For Handwriting is a scripture based curriculum for grades K through 6 with books for mastering both manuscript and cursive writing while memorizing scripture verses and biblical values.  All of the books are presented in a fun and colorful manner, making handwriting enjoyable for students.  Students do one lesson a day, five days a week, with each lesson only taking ten to fifteen minutes to complete.

The A Reason For Handwriting Transition book is meant for students that are ready to transition from manuscript writing to cursive writing.  It is recommended that this book be used for second or third grade in place of A Reason For Handwriting B or C.  Mastery of manuscript writing and development … Read the rest of this post…

1)  Students must and should continue daily handwriting practice through at least eighth grade.  This is not a widely-accepted idea of teaching handwriting, and the effects are obvious:  most adults and high school students have terrible handwriting.  The remedy is continued practice several years beyond when it normally ends (fifth or sixth grade).

2)  Spend some time each day on basic exercises and some on producing beautiful copywork.  Teaching handwriting at this age is not so much simple mechanics of how to do it, but the more advanced nuances of how to do it well – and the simple encouragement to continue practicing.  Good basic exercises are things like connected loops (l’s or e’s) or i-strokes (connected lowercase i’s … Read the rest of this post…

1)  Be very patient.  Teaching handwriting to elementary kids is a process that takes several years of daily practice.  Start with pre-handwriting skills and work up to manuscript, then after students are printing reliably, introduce cursive.

2)  Early pre-handwriting exercises develop motor control.  Finger painting is excellent.  So is lacing on cards or stringing beads.  Building with blocks helps motor control as well.

3)  Teach handwriting in its earliest stages with whole-arm motions (always using the correct stroke pattern for letter formation).  For instance, have children use a two inch wide paintbrush to print two foot tall letters on a giant sheet of paper on the wall.  Or use their whole hand to carve out similar huge letters in wet … Read the rest of this post…

Handwriting methods for children should take into consideration not only how easy it is to learn from, but how well it will serve later on.  Teaching children handwriting is preparing them for writing the rest of their adult lives, so it’s important to think about when and why adults write.  Adults most frequently write little notes and labels on a day to day basis, where neatness, swiftness, and clarity matter more than beauty.  Adults also write more formal communications where beauty as well as clarity counts.

Traditionally, simple ball and stick manuscript printing has been taught to children first, followed by more formal and elegant cursive writing. The transition is dramatic, with children learning new looping strokes and an entirely … Read the rest of this post…

Handwriting practice is one of those little talked about and often neglected skills that rounds out the complete education of a student.  Good, clear handwriting is an unobtrusive skill that makes life easier and more beautiful without calling attention to itself.  On the other hand, the lack of good handwriting is a noticeable too-common embarrassment of adults.  To teach good, clear handwriting to children gives a skill that will last throughout their life.  There are a number of different handwriting activities for various age levels that can make practice more fun and palatable, but the main thing is to assign it and expect success!

For little folks just learning, give them choices in how they practice their letters.  Allow them … Read the rest of this post…

What is D’nealian handwriting? D’nealian is an alternative to the traditional style of manuscript handwriting. It is more like cursive than traditional manuscript. It combines some elements from traditional manuscript and some from cursive resulting in a new style which is somewhere in between the two.

This new handwriting style was created by an elementary school teacher named Donald Neal Thurber. The name comes from his first initial combined with his middle name. While it has rapidly gained supporters, D’nealian school and home school curriculum materials can be somewhat difficult to find because they are published exclusively by Pearson Education. Pearson offers D’nealian curriculum books for both manuscript and cursive for grades K-8.

Copyright Learningthings.com. This content may … Read the rest of this post…

According to some schools or homeschoolers, it is not necessary to teach handwriting much at all these days.  Aside from learning the rudiments of print and cursive in first and second grade, little in the way of additional focused practice is needed.  But there are so many benefits to continued focused penmanship training, the most important being the cultivation of an attitude of excellence.

Teach handwriting – really good handwriting – really beautiful handwriting and you teach students that yes, even the seemingly small things in life matter.  It is not enough for words simply to be legible.  They should be striving for beautifully correct and fluid formation of every letter and syllable.  This attitude, cultivated through seemingly inconsequential … Read the rest of this post…