Marvelous Monday- HANDWRITING and SPELLING
Monday, April 27, 2009 at 1:04AM Just in case you're joining us for Marvelous Mondays for the first time, you can see our previous posts here:
Math- Cheryl's Review
Math- Kendra's Review
History- Cheryl's Review
History- Kendra's Review
Literature- Cheryl's Review
Literature- Kendra's Review
English and Grammar- Cheryl's Review
English and Grammar- Kendra's Review
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One of the best pieces of advice I received early on was to teach my kiddos to write their names with a capital letter first, followed by lower-case letters. Most of us teach our little ones to write their names in all caps, only to have to re-teach them the correct way later. Good idea, isn't it?
We begin with Ready Writer, which has been around since before we were homeschooling. Fun little exercises like "cutting brownies" (making horizontal and vertical lines through rectangular "pans") and "cutting" zig zags with "saws". Four to five-year-olds will get basic handwriting stroke practice, which is essential for legible handwriting. The workbook pages can be photocopied; we've had the same copy since 1995. Ready Writer isn't a complete program, but it's a fun way to develop fine motor skills.
After Ready Writer we move to Handwriting Without Tears. It is what it says- we've never had tears over handwriting practice. Plus, we all now sing the little ditty, "Where do you start your letters? At the top!" Handwriting Without Tears is straight-forward and laid out in a manner that is extremely homeschool-mom-friendly. The consumable workbooks can be handed right to the child and with a sentence or two of instruction, they are on their way.
The Draw Write Now series is a classic on homeschool shelves. These fun books which teach children to draw so many different subjects (people, animals, vehicles, etc.) are also teaching them basic handwriting strokes and then giving them sentences to copy which tell something about the drawing itself. Children don't even know they're doing schoolwork. Pretty tricky!
I have been reading about "cursive first", the philosophy that says children who learn cursive before manuscript have an easier time altogether learning to write. I have a friend whose four children seem to prove this philosophy, as all of them have beautiful handwriting, even at young ages.
Last September I decided to try cursive first as taught by Memoria Press's New American Cursive with my second grader, hoping that she would develop beautiful cursive. Perhaps we started too late because we haven't seen a huge difference between her handwriting and the handwriting of her siblings who learned manuscript first. Is it just us? I'd love to have testimonials from others who subscribe to the cursive first philosophy because I'm not sure which direction to go with my up-and-coming kindergartner/first grader. The New American Cursive book retails for 22.95, which I find pricey for a consumable workbook at this grade level.
With my others who've done manuscript first, we used Classically Cursive. If we're going to have them writing and copying as part of their education, should they not be writing and copying text with some worth to their souls and minds? The texts used for teaching cursive in Classically Cursive are Scripture (including the Ten Commandments), the Westminster Shorter Catechism, and the Attributes of God.
Along similar lines are copywork books which provide useful sentences or paragraphs to copy. We adore the Happy Scribe books, and each year I pair up the historical copywork with our history studies for our youngest students. Happy Scribe covers a whole lot of subjects- really, there seems to be a Happy Scribe copybook for ever interest- and because you have the ability to download and save the books to your computer, the pages are a snap to print out.
Similarly, we have loved the Wisdom Kids ebooks, particularly the Thanksgiving copywork book. It is a perfect example of giving kids good things to copy, which helps to shape their worldview and thinking early on. Who of us doesn't want to raise thankful children?
Last fall our eighth-grader came to me and said, "My handwriting is terrible. Can you get me a handwriting book?" And I ask you, who of us is going to turn down that request from a teenage son? I did a little investigating, thinking that simpler would be better, particularly since we knew for certain that we didn't want something overtly childish. We landed on Getty Dubay Italic, and I've been very happy with the improvement in his handwriting, as has he.
We'll leave the world of handwriting now and move on to spelling, which brings to the surface yet another philosophy I hold to. Ready? Spelling tests are dumb. Do we really think that memorizing a list of twenty words for a test at the end of the week is going to assure that our child will remember that "weird" is spelled with an e before an i? I mean, really. I firmly believe that good spelling comes from word usage. Over and over and over again, until the common words become familiar. One of the best ways to insure familiarity? Copywork.
And then there was my fourth child, whom we call a "math-head", but who cannot spell to save her life, despite the copious amount of copywork she's done over the past five years. Knowing I did not want to go the memorize-then-forget route, I took the plunge into Sequential Spelling and found something that made sense.
With Sequential Spelling, the child studies nothing. Instead, she remembers patterns used to spell words- even after the test. I read the word, the child writes it down and then self-corrects it immediately. The word lists are sequential and emphasize the patterns of spelling. I see our daughter stopping to think through words that stump her; even if she must do so as an adult, she'll have the advantage of remembering patterns taught through all seven levels of Sequential Spelling. It's been a winner of a curriculum in our home.
Don't forget to stop by and see Cheryl's Marvelous Monday list here!
Reader Comments (28)
Kendra,
Thank you for this post. I enjoyed it more than all the other MM posts - which I have enjoyed. I was just thinking that I would like a pre fab copywork book so I don't have to make it all up. I can't wait to order from Happy Scribe. I also am interested in the spelling you use for your daughter. My oldest is 8 and can't spell at all. I have done little formal spelling. Actually I did a bit last year and stopped as I saw no learning after writing words. Had thought of Spelling Power, but really want to check out Sequential Spelling. What a blessing for you and Cheryl to share what has worked in your house. Thank you.
Kendra,I have home schooled for the last 13 years and am loving marvelous mondays.I have a questionabout reading.I have 5 children my youngest four are all realy close in age and I am wondering what you used with beginer readers?I know you have already covered reading.With my oldest we just read a lot and he could read before we started any kind of formal education.We have used A Beka with him for all thes years but know I am realy ready to move on to somthing else.I would realy like to teach the middle 3 all at the same time if possable they are G4,B5,and a B6 .I have been told How To Read In 100 Easy Lesson is the best way to go.What do you do?
Kendra,
I am LOVING your Marvelous Monday series- I look forward to it every week! I'm glad to hear such a good review of Sequential Spelling- It's been on my list to look at and possibly purchase at the upcoming Homeschool Convention.
Kelly
Thanks for the info Kendra! I tried to email you Friday. I was a little confused about your address. If you haven't gotten an email from me... would you try again?
Thanks!
Oh yay, I just got Sequential Spelling on another's recommendation; I'm glad to hear it confirmed. :)
I am using Getty-Dubay, but I bought StartWrite 5.0 and can type up and print out copywork sheets myself. It's $40, but it'll last all through school with all kids. It has the font for all styles of handwriting, even Handwriting Without Tears.
Re:
"“Where do you start your letters? At the top!”
Does the program that uses that song actually start "d" and "e" at the top, too?
Thank you, Kendra. I'm so loving these posts.
I just placed an order for the Ready Writer. It should be perfect for Isaac right now. Probably Isaias, too. And you can't go wrong if you can photocopy the pages! So practical, too. :)
I was happy to discover your Preschoolers and Peace blog today. I was unable to find a contact link in your blog. I hope it's OK that I'm contacting you through a public comment. I've developed an educational program for Windows called SpellQuizzer that helps children learn their spelling and vocabulary words without the battle that parents often have getting them to sit down and write them out while the parents dictate to them. The parent enters the child's spelling words into the software making a sound recording of each word. Then the software helps the child practice his or her words. It really helped my children with their weekly spelling lists.
I would appreciate your reviewing SpellQuizzer in Preschoolers and Peace. You can learn more about the program at http://www.SpellQuizzer.com. There's a video demo you can watch at http://www.spellquizzer.com/SpellQuizzer-Demo.htm. I'd be happy to send you a complimentary license for the software. Please let me know if you are interested.
Thank you very much!
Dan Hite
TedCo Software
Dan@SpellQuizzer.com
I taught my second son to write in cursive first, using "Cursive First," and I taught it separate from the phonics. His penmanship was better than that of many of my husband's fifth grade students. What was the most interesting was to compare his cursive and printing side by side. The printing looked like a kindergartner and the cursive looked like a fifth grader. Granted, he wasn't formally taught printing. Nevertheless, the cursive was so much under control and with no reversals too.
I'm still considering what to do with my soon to be kindergartner as it's a little tough to go against the flow when so many workbooks have fill ins that cursive will not fit.
Although he already learned to print on his own, he was formally taught it in second grade. The cursive is still much better than the printing.
Love Sequential Spelling. I just wish my ds would take the time to use the tools he has learned from it when he does he work. ugh...but LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Sequential Spelling!!!
I did not teach cursive first, but have had good success with my second grader learning cursive. She kept asking to learn it so we just jumped right in this year. We have always used A Reason for Handwriting for manuscript and then we used it to start my daughter on cursive and she has done very well. She just started this week to write all her spelling words in cursive. And we also are using Sequential Spelling for the first time this year and I think it's gone very well. From my perspective I think my dd's cursive handwriting is very good--maybe not perfect, but good.
Kendra- In your home is there an age that you stop doing formal spelling? Thank you! Laura
Laura- Not sure yet :)
I'm not sure whether to cry (tears of joy!!) or do a back flip!?! My son is a TOTAL "math-head." He *gets* math & science, but really (and I mean REALLY) stinks at spelling. I've read many times that we're either good spellers or we're not, practicing does not help. But then what to do?? I've heard about Sequential Spelling, checked it out, but was still slightly apprehensive about it (do we try another spelling curriculum, or throw out spelling as a whole). **THANK YOU!!!** We will be getting Sequential Spelling.
First off, I enjoy popping in every now and then. I am soon to leave the world of preschoolers, for the time being. I just learned about the Draw, Write Now series and they will be used in my home once I buy them. I also looked into Sequential Spelling and instead of buying it, I am doing my own lists for my daughter. She is like me, spelling is not on top of the list. I personally love my spell cheker :)
Thank you, Kendra -- always food for thought here -- you keep me chewing good, good things.
We're using All About Spelling and I'm very pleased... the tangible tiles to manipulate are very helpful for a child not yet feeling comfortable for long periods of time with a pencil... and the learning scaffolds, one rung to the next. The hardback readers that accompany the program are truly stellar.
As always, I learn so much here... Can I humbly thank you for the time you invest in these posts?
Much love, friend...
All's grace,
Ann
Just thought I would let you know I went to the Happy Scribe website and they are offering a download of all their books - 35 of them for $8. I got all of them last night and printed off two for my kids. Just thought some might be interested as the price is great. I think they will be great copy work for times like summer and new baby when I don't have to come up with copywork. Of course I think the history ones will be great for school.
Thanks again.
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