Handwriting

It’s often the little things that make a resource stand out from the myriad of great products out there. Maybe it’s color pictures instead of black and white; or maybe it’s the typeface used; or maybe it’s the weight of the paper.

There are many reasons why I like the Catholic Heritage Handwriting series more than the many other options available for practicing writing, spelling, even grammar and punctuation. For this review, I’ll be referring to Level 2 (about a 6 or 7 year old level – basically 2nd grade).

Recently revised by the Seton staff, this 5th grade handwriting worktext has already become a favorite in our homeschool. The book begins with a review of both capital and lower-case letters in a traditional cursive font, then continues with a state-by-state journey across America. Using a copywork style of presentation, the text includes a blend of American history, US geography, and the study of famous Americans and holy persons and places. Each model line of text is immediately followed by a blank line on which the text is to be written.

I noticed pretty early on that my boys did not have the same facility with writing as I myself had had as a child. All of them have learned to read long before they could write anything legible. And even when they learned to write, their handwriting left much to be desired. I tried various programs, and even made extra worksheets on the computer, but nothing really seemed to help much. Friends advised me – some said to make them practice more; others said to just wait for them get older. But as they got older, their writing got faster – but worse.

System Requirements: 16 MB Ram, 20 MB Hard Disk

This is an elegantly simple computer program that resides on your hard drive just like an ordinary word processor. It allows parents and teachers to print out handwriting pages in a variety of handwriting styles, sizes and fonts. Some of your options include:

We reviewed Little Folks' Letter Practice. We found this to be very simple. For our child this was too easy for K level. It is basically for the Pre-K level. It has pages that are of coloring book quality. We photo copied the pages to make them easier to write on with a pencil. The letters of the alphabet are one to a page with a trace and write page following each letter. The pictures with each letter try to complement our faith. The introduction offers creative advice for the use of the book. The last 5 pages of the book encourage the child to sound out words.

This booklet provides thirty-three pages of lined paper with beautiful Catholic pen and ink illustrations. The pages are intended for handwriting practice and may be photocopied for use within your own family. Following the lined pages are approximately forty pages of beautiful religious quotes - printed in both script and cursive - for practicing handwriting. Quotes are organized according to themes such as Adoration, Conscience, Eucharist and Obedience.

Cursive Connections is a very simple and straightforward program for beginning cursive writing. The author considers the text appropriate for a mature 2nd grader or a 3rd grader. Permission is given for photocopying the materials for use within your own family.

Memoria Press' new copybooks provide a brilliantly simple combination of handwriting practice and memory work (simple Bible verses and classic poems from authors such as Robert Louis Stevenson). The child first practices simple letters before getting into Bible passages and poetry. These lessons also include space for illustrating the verse (great for reading comprehension!). Bible passages are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Callirobics will significantly and quickly improve your child's penmanship, even though he'll never form a single letter while using it. If your child has difficulty with consistency in formation, slant, and spacing, thinks he "just can't do it", has a bad attitude toward penmanship, or simply benefits from auditory and kinesthetic modes of learning, this may help.