views on cursive writing

[horationelson]

ds 5 years is struggling with cursive writing and is reluctant to even try. He scored a 5 in his end of school report (just finished reception) which is below national average. He is an excellent reader (teacher's words not mine).

I noticed from a couple of his friends who are at different schools that they seem to print rarther than do cursive writing and they have lovely writing. He doesn't really ever see "joined up writing" and I wonder whether he is confused.

Is there anything I can do with him before he starts year 1 in September.

Thanks.

I think cursive writing is, as mrz has said a useful tool in terms of learning to write fluently - but let's be honest, how many of us adults still write in a correct cursive style? I learned cursive writing the proper way, but from about Yr5 onwards my writing changed and I found a script that was fast and fluent but by no means beautiful - now at age 43 my writing is still very fast (I take minutes regularly) and legible, but no more than that.

My DD1 is very dogmatic about writing cursive, and her writing is really quite scrawly - she has to really slow down to be neat, though she is always legible. My DD2's writing is semi-joined up, very fast, correct and very easy to read even at speed. Both my DDs are high academic achievers.

I think cursive has to be seen as a means, not an end in itself, and we shouldn't be dogmatic about it.

There are so many different cursive styles from very fancy to very functional.

As a side issue, just wondering when they start typing work assignments at school - what stage of secondary?

Someone has mentioned touch typing - do they not routinely learn to touch type, if/once the majority of work is submitted on computer? (Or does any old two-fingered method suffice?)

Or do they still turn in written assignments? (really have no idea about secondary schools - presumably exam papers are still handwritten?)

dd's cursive handwriting is coming along slowly, but he loves using the computer so alongside encouraging handwriting I'm wondering if I should be showing him how to type properly - not necessarily as a replacement, but just so that he can produce something creative during this awkward period when his handwriting is a bit of a barrier to creative thinking.

not meaning to hijack thread - just thinking that if handwriting is putting some children off creative writing, maybe someone has some thoughts on combining the two methods so they don't just get turned off using their imagination to produce something

We provide laptops for children who experience difficulty with handwriting for long pieces of work but in general find at primary level their keyboard skills are slow too so encourage them to develop both skills. However once children experience success with handwriting they all opt to write rather than type.
At secondary level I found some teachers refused to accept my son's word processed work even though his IEP clearly stated he should have this option.

In Estonia children don't start cursive writing until they turn 7 (this is when they start school). They write with CAPITAL letters at all pre-schools and at kindergartens beforehand. When I was living/working in Britain I had a chance to compare my handwritting to other people's and I have to say - many did say that I had a calligraphy like writing. This is just the standard writing skills we all had to learn at ordinary schools, but not before the age of 7. I genuinely think you push your children way too early and as a result they later lag behind their European peers.

I think I agree with you esland.

I'm not in the UK either, and feel that Reception is the hot house for many a failure to be.

And on another thread was see that England doesn't have compulsory maths for up to 18 year olds.

Maybe they were supposed to cover the whole maths course in Reception also...

Touch typing is going to be of far greater use to your DS than writing.
IME the students take notes on their laptops at uni - and download the lectures.

Nobody ever writes in science - they type it up and submit by email. As for equations... DUH... you can download specialised fonts for symbols etc. It's all digitised.

You really don't need to start little 4yo children, who maybe don't even know how to toilet themselves, how to -fail- -at- write in joined up writing - unless you are expecting them to quit school early (and who wouldn't with that start) and never progress to tertiary education, where signing on for their giro may be a consideration.

Plenty of time for gross and fine motor exercise with ink pots at 8 years old, where it really is all over by Christmas.

Don't sweat the small stuff. Teach your DS to type.

Our school doesnt focus on handwriting at all and it does upset me. They dont seem to care much about punctuation either.

I found that all my children wrote better when they did cursive in their UK school than what they do now, which is printing. With cursive, they developed a good style of writing and were able to write neatly, whereas with print, it is all over the place and untidy.

My observations are though, that children who are taught to do cursive struggle to progress into print, whereas printing does and can be developed into cursive.

Dorje typing is a useful skill but so is the ability to write legibly.
IME university students rarely take notes on laptops (in fact I have never seen anyone do this and certainly the students I mentor bring me handwritten lecture notes they have made) I have seen a handful of students use digital recorders in lectures because they can't write fast enough to make notes.

I think that teaching a fully cursive script from Reception does have it's advantages in the long term for handwriting, but in my experience it hindered progress in other areas during the Reception year, especially for children who didn't have any experience of phonics or print prior to starting school. The problems came with children finding it difficult to relate written letters to printed letters in texts because the two look so removed from each other. However, if school policy is to teach it this way I think you should stick with it as learning two different styles at home and school will only cause problems.

Well as I say MrZ I'm not in the UK and all uni students take notes on their laptops here! Evolution?

Evolution geeky who knows

Many believe that cursive writing came into being when people used quill dip pens. It reduces the need to lift and put down the pen, so reducing the risk of "blobs" of ink on the page. Does speed up writing a bit. Also used as a selection/judgement factor when hand written letters of application are required :o) French and people from the United States have nice cursive handwriting, but then those countries actually have national policies on the subject - so unfashionable, lol!

Thank you for your rather creepy and abusive PM estland.

I have reported you and blocked you, in case you have the itch to have another go.