What have you guys found to be the best way to teach cursive writing?  My son has the worst handwriting in the world but he is at the age where he should be learning Cursive... I almost want to teach him print again since his is so bad LOL!  ANyway, right now we have printed the sheets from Learning Page.com just to get him familiar but I wondered what others do.

I have also added a few workbooks to my reminders and tagged them Kelli's Wishes .... I feel like just practicing daily is the best way to make him comfortable.  OK, I think I have rambled enough, it has been a LONG day so I can't get my thoughts in order.  Hopefully someone can follow this LOL

Kelli

Handwriting without Tears was the only thing that ended up working for my son.

http://www.hwtears.com/

I second the HWT suggestion.  We've used it 6 years.

I looked into that and it looks great and isn't very expensive.  I am adding it to my actual wish list in my homeschool tracker program for the beginning of the year :-)

We use a Reason for Handwriting.  There is a book called "transition" in the series that has half the book printing (ball and stick) and then transitions into cursive.   We like it.

There is also a font available from the handwriting pages at donnayoung.org that allows you to make cursive pages from anything you want to type.

I am using it and the George Washington's Rules of Civil Behaviour from the same site for my dysgraphic son. She tells you how to set it up to print the letters where they look hollow, so the outline of the letters are there, but the hand learns the motion as they fill in the rest of each letter.

It seems to be working for us where NOTHING else has. Being able to choose the topic of the sentance makes it more meaningful for my son, who is older than the average child learning cursive. He is a history buff, and we are studying American History right now, so this seemed like a good fit.

Enjoy!

If this topic interested you and you haven't taught handwriting yet... I thought I would share what we are using that automatically transistions painlessly into cursive.  Check it out...it's quite fun and beautiful. 

You can order the teaching instructions here on PBS.

http://www.paperbackswap.com/book/details/9780876780992-Italic+Handwriting+Series+Instruction+Manual

Some kids (especially those who struggle with directionality of letters) thrive in cursive. He might find that cursive flows better and feels more natural.

Then again, he might a kid who will type everything he every writes in his life. But I hope not!

We also use HWT for my second grade dd.  She loves it!  Of course, that's a girl for you because my son HATES to write!  Anyway, HWT is great for learning individual cursive letters and then using the letters they've learned in words on the corresponding workbook page.  I LOVE HWT!

Dear Kelli,

My advice is based on my experience with my son, now 10 (4th grade).  His printing was quite neat but he reversed several letters and hated handwriting still in 3rd grade.  I decided not to push the issue of cursive until he was more mature.  That turned out to be a wonderful decision.  By the end of 3rd grade his attitude about handwriting had improved greatly and he rarely reversed letters.   However, he complained that all his public school friends were learning cursive so I taught him how to write his name in cursive so he could sign in at Cub Scout meetings just like the other boys (his friends' handwriting, by the way, was atrocious -- many third graders have not developed the fine motor skills necessary for cursive).  Come fourth grade he was emotionally ready to cooperate and learn cursive, plus he had the fine motor skills necessary to suceed with it.  It took him just three months to master cursive.  Now he gets many compliments on his lovely cusive handwriting.  I'm so glad that I waited until he was ready.  We used Handwriting Without Tears.  So, use HWT, practice daily and move ahead at your son's pace.

Blessings!

A Reason for Handwriting worked best for us.

We use Cursive First with the Spell to Write and Read program.  LOVE LOVE LOVE Cursive First.  :) 

Another idea was posed to me from a teacher:  If you have a student that is struggling with manuscript and really isn't interested in learning cursive, don't make them.  They need to be able to read cursive, but they do not necessarily need to be able to write it.  The sooner your kids can learn good typing skills the better.  

I thought it was interesting because I am usually not the kind of person that wants to skip over anything, but if you have a student (usually boys) that just hates cursive, just spend that time on manuscript.  It's more important that they have something that is legible than to stress cursive before they have manuscript mastered.

We also use HWT with my 8 yr old 3rd grade son.  He just started on cursive and he..... doesn't hate it.  He won't say he likes it, but he doesn't complain about it.  I think he prefers cursive over printing and his cursive is very readable!  I can't wait until he knows the whole alphabet!

Edie

I used Handwriting without tears too but I didn't really start  cursive till my son was in 6th grade. He is left handed and I know it is hard for left handed people to get the whole cursive thing. I am left handed too. I didn't push him at all and he ended up learning all of it in a week when he was ready. That is the nice thing about home schooling.... we can go at the pace that is best for our children!!! Michele