Is cursive writing being taught in your school? Do you need to teach cursive handwriting at home?
In a lot of schools, including ours, cursive is being dropped from the curriculum.
At first I was apathetic and didn’t really care because I barely write in cursive anymore. I thought “Well, everything is going to be typed on computers anyways.”. Then I changed my mind when my boys couldn’t read a card my Grandmother had written to me. I do want my boys to be able to read cursive handwriting so I researched 5 fun ways to teach it at home.
I found this lawsuit really interesting when I read this article on the Time Magazines website. A school district removed cursive from the curriculum but a few years later high school teachers were writing notes and homework assignments in cursive. Well, as you can imagine, the students could not read it.
If the states remove cursive handwriting from being taught in school then they must require that all teachers only write in print. This whole circle of if they don’t teach it then they can’t write it starts to seem completely ridiculous. I am going to make sure my kids never have this problem so I am going to teach cursive to my boys this summer.
Researching the options of cursive curriculum online gets overwhelming. Who knew there were so many options to teach and learn it?
I found that there are 2 methods to teach cursive. My kids love their iPads so I could purchase an app and they could use their stylus on the iPad, they would probably be more willing to try to learn with this method. However, I know that I learn better when I actually put pencil to paper. So I am leaning towards going ‘old school’.
Fun Ways to Teach Cursive
Workbooks
- Ready-Set-Learn: Cursive Writing Practice Grd 2-3 – this is the best seller on Amazon. It has some great reviews. It is a shorter workbook so if you are homeschooling and want a lot of pages you may want a second book. But, that may be a good thing to supplement it with option 3, Jokes and Riddles in Cursive.
- Handwriting Without Tears – Cursive Handwriting – our pre-school used this Handwriting Without Tears curriculum to teach the boys to write their letters so this is a familiar to style for a lot of kids.
- Cursive Writing Practice: Jokes & Riddles – If I am going to make them practice, this is a fun option. Why not make it as fun as possible? They would rather learn jokes than just writing the same words over and over. My only issue is that the lines to write in are a little small but it probably makes them have to get better at holding their pencil and writing the letters in a smaller font size.
Online Options
- Cursive Writing – Horizon Business, Inc – a free app
- Zaner – Bloser Handwriting – Zaner – Bloser, Inc $1.99
The workbooks are great. I really like having my boys use a real pencil and paper to learn. For some reason I don’t get the real feel of how to form cursive letters when using a stylus on an IPad.
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We totally need the cursive handwriting in the school curriculum. Thanks for sharing these wonderful ways on teaching this important skills to our children.
I can’t believe handwriting isn’t on the curriculum any more. We’ve been writing in cursive for centuries, why would we stop just because computers have come along? How are we to differentiate between people’s handwriting without it?
Exactly. The article I linked to made a great point that if we aren’t teaching it to the kids then we need to require that teachers cannot write in cursive. The example was used of a high school teacher writing assignments in cursive handwriting which most of the kids were never taught to read. So this made me think that I am going to teach the kids myself so they don’t run into that problem. Also, lots of state forms say Print Your Name Here and then another line for Signature so how can the state ask for that if they don’t teach it. Weird!
Nikki-ann — Professionals who spend their lives on distinguishing between handwritings (forgery detection experts, etc.) tell me that the easiest ones to differentiate — and the hardest to forge — are the plainest ones: including the printed ones.
For most of the centuries that our handwriting existed, it was not what we, okay, call “cursive.” (Roman Empire cursive,for instance, was completely unjoined and based on rapidly written versions of what we’d call “print capitals.” However, forgery detection experts were as accurate and successful than as they are now.) The writing that we, today, call “cursive” did not begin to exist until the Baroque Era, as a deviation from an earlier form of rapid, practical writing which is what had been used in the first-ever published textbooks on handwriting and how to teach it. That earlier form of our handwriting (Renaissance era)was called “cursive” (as well as other names, such as “italic”) at the time, but it’s more like a semi-joined streamlined upgrade of “print-writing.” (In other words, it’s very much like the way that the fastest and most legible handwriters wrote today, regardless of how they have been taught. Letters are rapidly made though print-like in shape, and joins are made only where they can actually be formed at high speed without changing the basic print-like shape of the letter. This is similar to the handwriting textbook standards used in the twentieth and twenty-first century by many regions and nations in Europe, as well as by most of the English-speaking nations [regionally or nationally] outside North America. People in the UK and in much of Europe, for instance, generally find textbook-perfect North American cursive incomprehensible.)
Never forget that the children, teens, and adults who can’t read cursive even include an unknown number who actually learned to _write_ cursive.
They worked diligently through page after page of a workbook, without a clue about how to read what they were copying.
For the survivors of such non-teaching (and others who were shortchanged), there’s a free resource called READ CURSIVE, which takes an hour or less to teach anyone who can read print how to read cursive too. READ CURSIVE has five stars at AppCrawlr.com
For more info: http://appcrawlr.com/ios/read-cursive
Please, never forget that the children, teens, and adults who can’t read cursive even include an unknown number who actually learned to _write_ cursive.
They worked diligently through page after page of a workbook, without a clue about how to read what they were copying.
For the survivors of such non-teaching (and others who were shortchanged), there’s a free resource called READ CURSIVE, which takes an hour or less to teach anyone who can read print how to read cursive too. READ CURSIVE has five stars at AppCrawlr.com
For more info: http://appcrawlr.com/ios/read-cursive
Yes, the whole reason I decided to teach it to them was so they can read it. I really don’t care if they can write it (although I’ll teach both writing it and reading it) so I’ll also look into that course too. I need all the help I can get as I am not a patient teacher. 🙂
If it helps, the READ CURSIVE course is an iPad app.
I always thought they needed to read it, until I got remarried this year and the preacher said he has had to teach young people how to write their names in cursive to sign their marriage certificates!!
I just made my boys try to write their first name in cursive just to practice for things like that.
The preacher believes a common, and baseless, myth about legal signatures. If he cares for the facts, he and you can visit “signatures” question on the FAQ page of the handwriting information site HandwritingThatWorks.com
No jurisdiction rejects a marriage certificate for being signed in some way that isn’t cursive. I have checked.
Yes, you are right Kate. It is just hard mentally to accept that my boys do not write in cursive. I have been practicing with them but they aren’t required to write cursive at school (they aren’t taught it) so I know they will never write anything in cursive unless I make them. They will always print their name whenever it says Signature Needed and I will just need to accept it. It is still weird to me but that is my own issue. 🙂
Well, it does take time to get used to things changing. I could tell you stories from my own life, about how hard it was for me (and, even more so, for some of my family members who are older than I am) to actually believe that there was such a thing as e-mail!
And I suspect that, if we could go back in time to the days of ancient Egypt, we would see people (who had grown up with those beautiful hieroglyphs) sitting around and complaining that the younger generation wasn’t interested in thousands of lovely traditional symbols anymore because they’d abandoned all those pretty pictures for a new-fangled handful of squiggles and scratches that they called by some weird name that sounded like “alphabet” …
Very true about the hieroglyphs…things are always evolving. Makes me feel old. 🙂
Thankfully my kids learn how to write cursive in school, but this is awesome for homeschooling parents 🙂
As a public school elementary teacher, I cannot understand the decision to stop teaching cursive writing. It. Makes. Zero. Sense. I know it is tedious and takes time, but my students were always excited to learn it!
Handwriting matters — does cursive? Research shows that legible cursive writing averages no faster than printed handwriting of equal or greater legibility. (Sources for all research are available on request.)
Further research shows that the fastest, clearest handwriters avoid cursive. They join only the most easily joined letter-combinations, leaving others unjoined, using print-like shapes for letters whose printed and cursive shapes disagree. Teaching material for such practical handwriting abounds — especially in the UK and Europe, where this is taught at least as often as the accident-prone cursive that too many North American educators venerate. (Again, sources are available on request.)
Reading cursive — which still matters — is much easier and quicker to master than writing cursive. Reading cursive can be mastered in just 30 to 60 minutes, even by kids who print.
There’s even a free iPad app teaching how: called “Read Cursive.” Given the importance of reading cursive, why not teach it explicitly and quickly, for free, instead of leaving this vital skill to depend upon learning to write in cursive?
Educated adults increasingly quit cursive. In 2012, handwriting teachers were surveyed at a conference hosted by cursive textbook publisher Zaner-Bloser.. Only 37% wrote in cursive; another 8% printed. Most — 55% — wrote with some elements resembling print-writing, others resembling cursive.
When even most handwriting teachers do not follow cursive, why glorify it?
Cursive’s cheerleaders allege that cursive has benefits justifying absolutely anything said or done to promote it. Cheerleaders for cursive repeatedly allege research support — repeatedly citing studies that were misquoted or otherwise misrepresented by the claimant or by some other, earlier misrepresenter whom the claimant innocently trusts.
What about cursive and signatures? Brace yourself: in state and federal law, cursive signatures have no special legal validity over any other kind. (Hard to believe? Ask any attorney!)
Questioned document examiners (specialists in the identification of signatures, verification of documents, etc.) find that the least forgeable signatures are plainest. Most cursive signatures are loose scrawls: the rest, if following cursive’s rules at all, are fairly complicated: easing forgery.
All handwriting, not just cursive, is individual. That is how any first-grade teacher immediately discerns (from print-writing on unsigned work) which child produced it.
Mandating cursive to save handwriting resembles mandating stovepipe hats and crinolines to save clothing.
Kate Gladstone
DIRECTOR, the World Handwriting Contest
CEO, Handwriting Repair/Handwriting That Works
Wow! I love this! I think I agree with you that most people drop cursive writing as they get older. I also have the difficulty of being left handed which just further increases the difficulty of writing in cursive so it is much easier to print. Also, both my boys are left handed so I totally agree with you that I think it is ok to not teach it but unfortunately they do need to be able to read it in case people write something in cursive that they have to know what it says ie. a teacher. I am definitely going to look at that app!
It makes me so sad that handwriting isn’t in the curriculum anymore – it was without a doubt my favorite part of school! I’m now a writer and I agree with some of the posters above – it makes me wonder how future generations will identify our culture.
Guess what? I am purchasing some of the books you mentioned! It’s awesome! Thanks for the resource. I will definitely use it for my child!
Great. We can compare notes. My books arrive tomorrow so I can’t wait to start. My kids may feel otherwise. Ha!
It bugs me that cursive writing is a lost art. everyone is so digital that handwriting is becoming rare.
It can be so hard for little ones. THese are some great ways to teach kiddos and make it fun.
I can still remember the teacher’s meeting we had when our principal told us we wouldn’t be teaching cursive any more…made me so sad! I’m glad you’ve found ways to work on it at home
When my daughter was little, they had a teacher that wouldn’t accept anything that wasn’t written in cursive. Everything for the entire year had to be written in cursive or she would throw it away. Now, her teachers have told her that it is no longer being taught in our school system.
I couldn’t stand learning to write cursive when I was in school. I think it was because my teacher made fun of “how bad” my writing was. So, one summer I took it upon myself to practice my handwriting, every day. Not the sexiest way to spend a summer, but, I”m happy with my cursive writing now. Workbooks definitely helped me 🙂
Glad to know that workbooks can help.
Cursive hasn’t been taught in the schools in such a long time. I never really thought much about it until I read some of the comments above.
I love this! I remember when i learned to write in cursive, and my handwriting improved, it made me want to write all the time, and put everything down on paper.
Cursive is still an important life skill, in my opinion, and I’m grateful our schools tend to teach it towards the end of the school years in 2nd-4th grade. It’s a great filler activity after the majority of the req’d. materials have been taught throughout the school year…I don’t really see the downside to doing it in this way.
That’s a great idea. I can tell my kids aren’t really doing much in school right now.
I actually understand kinda why they took it out of school but I do think kids should have access to it. Cursive is like a second language lol Although I dont write in cursive.
I taught my boys to read cursive writing without taking the time to teach them to write it. I’d love for them to know but I had a hard enough time teaching them to print since my writing is terrible.
I started reading and writing in cursive when I was 5. My kids are about to enter Kindergarten and I am so sad they are not teaching cursive in school.
I was so upset to learn that some school took cursive out! We will get whatever but our kids must learn cursive!
I’m thankful that all of my kids learned cursive. It’s a skill that shouldn’t be taken out of the curriculum! I’m glad that families are taking the time to teach it at home. Good for you.
We use Handwriting Without Tears for our handwriting curriculum in our homeschool. My daughter just started cursive a couple months ago, and is so excited to learn to write “fancy.”
I think my daughter when she gets old enough will be a lot more interested than my boys. 🙂 I always wished I had an i in my name so I could dot it with a heart. LOL
I have terrible cursive handwriting and i never use it. my mom always makes fun of me when i sign checks. i needed this.
I don’t think I ever had a cursive writing class ever here in the USA and I was born here, my mom was the one that taught me what I know about cursive writing because that’s how kids write In Dominican Republic in every class they go to even math. I love to write even though things are so digital now I still write on a paper planner and I still write doddle notes and on journals. I have tons of pens and I actually enjoy writing on paper. So I think that although they don’t teach in schools parents should take the initiative and teach their kids I will when I have kids.
I remember learning how to do cursive in school with the paper and the grid lines on it–that was always the way I learned my handwriting. But I can’t remember the last time I used cursive other than when I sign something!
I don’t think cursive should be deleted from school curriculum. It is important for future generation to learn cursive, even though the world is now dominated by technology and kids do almost everything, if not everything, on computers, writing in cursive should still be taught. It is way more elegant to cursive, and it is the way people should write hand written letters. I remember I got taught how to write in cursive since kindergarten up to 6th grade. I love writing in cursive for thank you notes and special invitations. It makes the note more special.
This is perfect for homeschooling parents. There’s also an app to help more. Kids are having fun learning this so why stop it? I don’t really get what’s on their mind.
My boys did learn cursive at school but they didn’t spend the time on it like we did. They can sign their names but they can’t read it. I will use your plan to improve their skills!
My 11 year old daughter started middle school, 6th grade, this year and one of the first things her teacher required was that each student sign a behavior and performance contract. Every single student printed their name, because they had never been taught. The teacher was livid and demanded they “sign” their names. When they reiterated that they didn’t know how she informed them that cursive was a requirement of her class and they had better learn how quickly. There was no one to teach them and no work was sent home so we were on our own. Thank goodness for Pinterest or I’d have been lost. My daughter is in a Magnet program and does 95% of hr work on a school issued laptop and her teacher still required cursive. That tells me all I need to know and I’ll be teaching my third grader cursive this summer.
So glad it helps. That is my fear…we will get to the higher grades and it will be required.
I saw that article too. I think they might have reran it because it was fairly recently that I saw it. The other thing that bothers me is that, at least in my district, they do not teach spelling after 4th grade. Is that the case in your district too?
Now that you mentioned it my boys are in 5th grade and haven’t had any spelling words so far. Hmm…I need to look into that.
I am 86 years old and can still write perfect cursive as I learned years ago in the Palmer method. We learned to write with steel nib pens dipped in ink bottles, I taught elementary education, mostly fifth grade for thirty years and taught hundreds of kids cursive.They always loved handwriting practice.
That’s amazing. I’m sure so many kids had great cursive after being in your class. I also can’t imagine all those kids and how many ink spills there were. 🙂
One important reason for learning to read and write in cursive is to be able to read historical writings. By not teaching cursive, we are condemning our children to ignorance of the past.