Homeschool World Forum

[kennys_mommy]

We're in A Beka 2nd grade and working on cursive writing. He's really doing well, but I fear he's never going to be neat as a pin with it. His brother can't, at 16 read nor write cursive writing and his father just barely can, as well as his grandmother (paternal) is just barely able to write/read it. When I leave notes for any of them it has to be in printing or they can't get it all.

OK as always I digress, but should I be working on him really hard? Is cursive handwriting a dying art form? Does anyone use it in their workplace anymore, or is everything typewritten.
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"I don't know how old the devil was when he rejected God's authority, but my guess it would be 15"
- Parent of a 15 year old son -

[ncmom]

I am teaching it. I make my kids us it for their work too. I don't care what they write in outside of school but in school it must be cursive and it must be neat or they write it again. As far as it being a dying art form...well in the schools where I am they don't even teach it anymore. I know a lot of parents who weren't aware of this and were actually very upset when they realized it.

When I say neat though I don't in any way think that it will be perfect, but it should be legible and the letters formed properly.

[elliemaejune]

I wrote in cursive every day when I worked.

Your dc will not always have access to a computer. He needs to be able to write fluently.
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Married to Mr. Ellie for over 30 years
Mother to 2 dds and 2 dsil
Grandmother to 1 sweet boy
Caretaker of 2 dear kitties, 1 French bulldog, 1 dachsund, and 3 budgies

[Theodore]

Typing skills are infinitely more useful in today's world of computers, and anything you can't type, you can print. I don't think I've ever used cursive in real life outside of signing my name, there's just not much point to voluntarily making my writing less legible.

My view - push typing practice instead, forget cursive.
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The board game has sold over 350,000 copies worldwide, garnered many awards, is used by over 2,000 schools, and is used extensively by homeschoolers.

[Jill]

I taught cursive, but didn't dwell on it. They can do it, but rarely do.
I don't focus on handwriting much anyway. If they want to write neatly they do, I'm more concerned with the content.
Best wishes.
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Jill
http://www.homeschool-by-design.com
Where love and learning go hand in hand.

[Minniewannabe]

I'm glad you brought up this topic. It's my understanding that cursive writing is no longer taught in the p.s. in our county. Nonetheless, A beka does use cursive quite a bit including the spelling word lists. Therefore, I taught it to our DD and she readily wrote much faster than printing. She's certainly not neat, but I can decipher it. I believe most people who know cursive prefer it because of its speed even if used only for notes.

Your child may like "Typing Tutor for Kids", a CD ROM which is appropriate for a 2nd - 5th grader. Then your child will know both cursive and keyboarding.

[kennys_mommy]

Well, I'm trying to go along with the DVD and book really closely, but he's just not getting the slant they want him to get and I don't think he ever is, even with the slant guide. He has pretty nice handwriting for a 7 year old, so I'm not going to push it on him much harder or longer.

He's been on a computer for 4 years already, he types about as well as I do at this point.

Kids these days...
_________________
"I don't know how old the devil was when he rejected God's authority, but my guess it would be 15"
- Parent of a 15 year old son -

[mamaholly]

Interesting topic! I've gone back and forth on this. But it goes back to the fact that I don't really use cursive handwriting much in my life and typing is way more important. I know many people who are at a great disadvantage because they aren't able to touch type. So I'm working on it with my DS (9yo) But, reading cursive can be important. I've run across it in a few books showing handwritten letters and so on. DS receives cards from grandparents occasionally that are written in cursive. So I'm going to show him the letters. I'll also Teach him to read it and to sign his name. But not to much more effort than that.

When my DH started engineering school, the first thing he learned was to PRINT. LOL They had a special block print that was required. Everything else was typewritten and that was 16 years ago.

I had to pass a few tests in college (special education degree) that involved handwritten answers to essays... but they were looking for grammar, not handwriting.
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Mom to John (8yo) and Hanna (19mo)

[elliemaejune]

[Theodore]

Heh. According to that argument, we shouldn't be using phones, computers, or the Internet. Our forefathers didn't need them, why should we?

Yes, you do still need to be able to write by hand, but generally just to take notes during lectures, and printing works just fine for that. Why learn cursive, of which there are many different styles, rather than focusing entirely on printing and typing? Cursive was an art form necessary only when long-range communication was conducted almost entirely through the mail, those days are definitely well-past. Before the end of our lifetimes we may even see voice recognition software capable of transcribing our words in any foreign language we want.
_________________
The Farming Game - Software Edition for PC, Mac, Linux
The board game has sold over 350,000 copies worldwide, garnered many awards, is used by over 2,000 schools, and is used extensively by homeschoolers.

[roo]

I'm teaching cursive, even though Aric and Allie are 9 and 10 and pass the normal cursive learning age I think it is important.....Aric's teacher told him before we took him out of ps that his cursive was horrid...how can you tell a kid that....anyways we are practicing it every day as part of our ELA and I also have them do a great typing program called spongebob typing....they love it and are learning great typing skills too...

[JoeSwimmer]

I teach cursive daily. They need to learn it. 50 years from now, who knows.