You know truth be told, I don’t write proper cursive. I have never really. I remember learning it in middle school, but it just didn’t stay with me.
So recently when I got the chance to review, Rhythm of Handwriting, by Logic of English I decided it was a good time to teach my youngest. With my oldest, I never really spent a great deal of time on learning cursive. I figured it wasn’t really widely used anymore, does he really need to learn it?! (Yes, bad parent that I am)
Truly though, how many of you still use cursive writing?
Me, I only use it when I am signing a document, and even then it is half cursive, half printing.
What was included in my review:
- Logic of English Cursive Workbook
- Laminated Tri-fold Cursive Chart
About Rhythm of Handwriting:
Out of the 174 page book the first 10 pages of the book are like a “teacher’s guide”. Gives you steps to teaching handwriting, then handwriting tips, suggested schedules, and ideas for practice.
I have to tell you, I never really thought about this before but the book suggests to teach your child cursive first. It lists 6 reasons, but the first one being “It is less fine-motor skill intensive”. That certainly makes sense to me! Another thing that I did backwards with my oldest, was teaching him the capital letters first. They suggest learning with the lowercase.
The suggested schedule depends on the age. My Monkey was over 6, so the recommendation is to do 2 letters per day, or 4 letters per day, starting with the lowercase. We chose not to overwhelm her, and start with 2 letters per day.
If your child is younger than six, they suggest only doing one letter per day, but going a bit more in depth with the lesson. Such as sounds, and how to write it, and practicing letters previously learned.
While we didn’t do the 6 and younger suggestion, I did do the practicing of previously learned letters, to help her remember them.
How we used it:
This was put into Little Monkey’s daily school lessons, and she had to complete two letters per day, plus practice the previous days letters in a notebook. We only did this 4 days a week, because we take Friday’s off. She really did well with this, and only got frustrated a few times. I think it was easier for her to learn this, than with her printing. Many of those letters she would always get backwards.
With each letter you write, they give you a small, medium, large and extra large space to practice. At first I let her choose the line she wanted to use, and then I challenged her to use the next line down to see if she could do better.
She really seemed to excel with this. We also used a few of their handwriting practice ideas. She really enjoyed Blind writing, and sandpaper letters.
The laminated tri-fold chart came in very handy too. If she was struggling with a letter she was practicing, she could refer to the chart to tell her how to do it. It gave very good instructions on how to start the letter and follow through.
My thoughts:
While this program does not stand out above others with looks. It is a pretty general run of the mill book. No pictures, cartoons, or extras, it really drills the point home.
I was especially happy when Little Monkey didn’t make it an ordeal each day we had to do it. It keeps her interest, and she really enjoys it.
She is anxious to finish it now!
Price:
The Rhythm of Handwriting Cursive Workbook is $15 for the printed or PDF book.
The Cursive Handwriting Quick Reference chart is $10.
Now be sure to swing by the TOS Crew to see what the rest of them are saying. You can also read about a few out products by Logic of English.
