- Abeka
- A Reason for Handwriting
- Handwriting Without Tears
- BJU Press
- Other
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We use Handwriting without Tears and do copywork which I find online
I’m wondering if I need a handwriting curriculum for my 5 year old? She knows how to write all of her letters and numbers and so quickly became bored with the handwriting book I bought for kindergarten this year, which had her writing the same letter over and over for 5 straight days. Should I have her practice for the sake of practice, or should I assume our language arts will be enough practice, or should we do some copywork from favorite books, prayers, poems etc?
If she writes all of her letters and numbers well, I’d move on to a later level of the handwriting program that starts having the child write words. I like “A Reason for Handwriting,” because the child practices writing the words they’ll need for a Bible verse, then they trace and finally write the Bible verse, and they write it on a nice paper with a picture at the sides, which they can color. This makes a really nice presentation that they can give to somebody or hang up on the wall, so it seems to give a “purpose” for handwriting.
I think that even if you can write the letter, handwriting is about learning to write neatly and fluently, so it’s worth practicing for at least the first few years of elementary until the child is writing very comfortably and neatly in both manuscript and handwriting. However, it can admittedly be a fairly boring process. So I give a small treat (an M&M or a piece of candy corn) for a completed handwriting assignment, and sometimes a bonus piece if the handwriting is particularly well done a certain day. The treat is fairly small and isn’t going to be significantly unhealthy, but that tiny little treat is just enough to make my kids look forward to handwriting because they want to enjoy their M&M.
3 Likes
I like Evan Moor daily handwriting practice. (I like many of the different Evan Moor books!)
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My oldest - 8 year old boy - loves Christian Liberty Press Penmanship series. He is on the second book which is
Handwriting “Writing With Prayer”. It starts with printing review and then into cursive which is a modified Palmer method style. His penmanship in cursive has just taken off. He writes everything in cursive. I have noticed a big improvement in his spelling since he has started cursive.
We have been using BJU and so far it’s okay but I plan on trying something different next year. I look forward to reading others comments on other curriculum.