Learning Cursive the Easy Peasy Way ~ A New TOS Review!

My son has recently shown interest in learning cursive. I was not sure what I was going to use or how to even start. My older children used italic handwriting programs. So we were so happy when we were chosen for the visual handwriting workbook from Channie's Visual Handwriting & Math Workbooks.

When we received the Easy Peasy Cursive workbook, my son was so excited. So much so he wanted to open it up and start right away even though it was almost bedtime! Funny how school can happen any time especially when they are really wanting to do that subject.

The 80 page workbook includes 3 pages per letter and at the end one back and front page with 10 words to practice putting the single letters into words. Then there are 2 pages worth of tracing for each letter followed by one page of blank so the student could write the letter on his own. There are 7 letters on each line and 5 lines per page, so 35 per page.

The lines include green shading so that the student knows where the lowercase letters should primarily remain. The lines are also slightly slanted to help the student keep their letters all consistent in width and height.

My son thought  he would like learning cursive, but it's a bit harder then he anticipated. Handwriting is really one of his weaknesses so I knew we'd have to work a bit longer than some.  Here are some of his thoughts:

The book pages rip out too easily.  I don't like that. I wish they were not perforated. But since they are we are going to rip them out and hole punch them and put them into a binder. I can usually do one to two lines before my hand starts to hurt. So I split up the page throughout my morning work and do it in between other work. Doing 3 full pages on one letter at a sitting was way too much for me. That's how many pages there are for each letter.  When you first start writing the letter you are working on you will see little arrows on the first page that tell you which way to go. Then on the second page you should not need them. Sometimes I still forget. On the last page of your letter (page 3) there are no tracing dots ... you have to do it all yourself! It doesn't even tell you where you should start. I mess the letters up some on this part. I think it is going well and I hope that with time and practice and lots and lots of tracing, I'll be able to write my letters in cursive!

I do also want to point out the lack of review of letters throughout the workbook.  The 10 words at the end of book, for me, is not enough practice of putting the letters together. So what we have done is taken a day a week, usually on Fridays, to just review all the letters we've learned and worked on writing them on his own on our smaller whiteboards.

He seems to like that a lot better. It also helps me see how he translates the form of the letter from a small, confined space to a larger space allowing him to fully form the letters the way he should. Sometimes the confined space of the guided areas makes it harder for him to concentrate on the correct form of the letter.

Channie's Visual Handwriting & Math Workbooks has many other workbooks other then Easy Peasy Cursive workbook like Easy Peasy Alphabet workbook, and One Page a Day: Double Digit Math Problem Workbook. To find out about these others and more check out the link below from our other Crew members! You can also find Channie's on Facebook.