I have been tossing back and forth if I want to start teaching it now or wait and see if they show an interest in it. I want them to be able to read it of course but I dont know if I want to push writting it. I took it but as I got older my handwritting has just become this mix of block and cursive. I just wonder if it is just going to add another thing that we really don't need. What are you doing?
I am sure that I will teach my youngest two to write cursive. DH has "horrible" crusive writing but beautiful print. It really bothers him that he cann't write well at all in cursive so over the last year he practices it a lot. I would like to say that it is getting better but, I much rather he just print. Anyway, he really wants me to teach it to our youngest two when they get old enough.
In general, cursive is faster than printing. In this case, I do think it is important. Ems started cursive in K and prefers to only write in cursive. I think the different styles are somewhat silly because as you shared, over time we adopt a style of our own. As long as it is legible, I do not care what style Ems uses or what changes she make to the style she uses.
I feel that a fine cursive hand is a beautiful thing and ought to be encouraged. It's also faster. That said, I do recognize that not everyone is going to have a beautiful cursive, no matter how hard/often they practice. To my mind, there's something "neurological" about the thinking/writing connection, such that good cursive and better reading/spelling go together - but I doubt seriously that there is any actual research that proves it! LOL! Clear printing is important too, for filling out forms and such on paper. But in truth, there's something special about a hand-written letter or card that is just missing from other mechanical/electronic forms of communication.
I just want my son to print well. He's had issues in the past with printing legibly so I'll be happy with clear printing. My dd learned and I will teach my other dd when the time comes. Cursive is just faster.
I think because cursive is another way to communicate our language and many write in cursive a child should know how to do it. However, that does not mean the child must use it on all assignments. So with my kids...they know it...I give them practice but I could care if they use it in their narrations, copywork or whatever.
:lol: Me too! We did learn cursive and he can read it but has NO interest in writing it. In fact, he's the one who asked to learn it. Maybe he thought it was some sort of secret code or something? When I first learned that they were phasing out cursive I was appalled, but hoenstly - it is really not necessary these days.
This is something we went back and forth on as well. I didn't see the point of it. But since my daughter has been asking to learn it, we'll be starting soon. She's so excited! She's 10 and has had some major issues with her handwriting so I wanted to make sure she could print legibly first. We focused on her handwriting last year and had to retrain her on holding her pencil but now She has beautiful handwriting and is very proud of it. Just a side note, for those who have dyslexic children , Cursive is supposed to help with letter reversals since the letters are all connected together and the pencil isn't picked up as much. This tidbit of information comes from the public school that my daughter attended. They had her in a dyslexia training class due to her reversals and handwriting issues. But I found that just watching her pencil grip and how she formed her letters stopped the reversals. Anyhow, I thought I would throw that bit of info out to anyone with a dyslexic child who is contemplating cursive instruction.
I don't really care if my ds learns cursive. He wanted to learn it this year so I bought an inexpensive workbook for him. Before I let him start though, I had him improve his printing. He has done 3 pages (6 letters) and is bored with it. I think he will finish it later on. I am more concerned with him learning keyboarding, which will hopefully make "writing" and revision easier for him.
My dd9 wanted to learn cursive because she said the letters look "happy". So far she has just her name mastered and she loves to make it fancy and add alot of curlies to it. other than that, we don't work on it much. I may teach it just so they can read it.
I hated cursive while I was being homeschooled and I don't use it now as an adult. But I now appreciate being exposed to it. Also, I'm a college professor that reads a lot of student's papers. You can clearly see the students that have been to some type of handwriting disciplines. It is helpful and it commends the students.
Your post brings up an interesting thought. I wonder how many colleges require papers to be written in cursive if they are not typed. I can honestly say that all my college teachers expected papers submitted to be in cursive if they were not typed.
Thats funny because none of mine have ever had any requirements regarding cursive or print. Although I will say all of my final papers thus far have had to be typed.
There is something that you might need to consider. Are their muscle developed enough for them to write cursive? For children with low muscle tone, muscular developmental delays or poor fine motor control cursive writing can be a nightmare. It is very different to write with a pencil than with a pen because the drag of the pencil lead makes it easier to write with. I say that because if your child can't control a pen to draw loop-the-loops they may not be ready to write in cursive. If none of these things are an issue, then I'd wait to see if they're interested. Marty
