Take the Guess Work out of Teaching Cursive with CursiveLogic {Review}

Cursive is quickly becoming a lost skill with more and more children failing to be taught cursive handwriting.  CursiveLogic aims to change that by helping parents to teach cursive using a logical approach contained in their CursiveLogic Quick-Start Pack and The Art of Cursive coloring book.

After my son’s attempt to teach himself cursive, I was looking forward to using the CursiveLogic Quick-Start Pack to help correct technique and teach missing letters.

 

 

Webinar

This is the first cursive program we have used that comes with a webinar to teach the parents how to use their program.  You will need a Vimeo account in order to access it; however, it is free to sign up if you do not have one.  The webinar is about 50 minutes long and teaches you step by step how to implement their program.  You can choose to watch it all in one sitting or in parts.   

 

 

 My son was so excited to start that he was impatient for me to watch it first and then teach him, so he watched it along with me.  Since we were watching it together, I chose to break it up into multiple sittings. I really appreciated having access to the webinar.  It was helpful to learn how to teach their method for the best result and to also have explained the science behind why they chose the techniques they did. Also mentioned is the proper positioning for both right and left handed students.  I happen to be left handed, but all my children are right handed, so I have to be conscious when teaching them to make sure their paper is slanted correctly because it will naturally look wrong to me.  The workbook is also bound at the top making it friendly for left handed writers, which I really appreciate.

The Technique

CursiveLogic implements a multi-sensory approach to reach a wider variety of learning styles.  Each of the four letter strings has a color and a chant that is associated with it. My son felt a little silly at first tracing the letter string with his finger while saying the chant, but I feel that it helped him to slow down and really internalize what he was doing instead of just rushing through and copying everything and then immediately forgetting it.   

 

 

I did really like the approach CursiveLogic takes to teaching cursive.  I feel it is superior to the myriad programs we have tried before, in part because it isn’t just a workbook that you hand your child.  But I also appreciate the training for the parent and the process they use to teach, two things I have found lacking in other programs.  The use of color in teaching the letter strings and and the lessons also makes it eye catching for your child.  And in the back of the book there are dry erase sheets where they can practice the letter strings they are learning.  

 

 

Above is a sample of my son’s handwriting before he began (on top) and after the first three letter strings.  He still has the fourth string to learn and all capital letters, which I think will make the greatest improvement since that is where most of his letter trouble is. We’ve been focusing on having all the letters the same size and making sure that they are where they should be in regards to midline, baseline and top line–something he forgets less often now.

The Art of Cursive Adult Coloring Book

   We also received The Art of Cursive coloring book, which caused much excitement among all my children.  The Art of Cursive is not meant to teach cursive to children, but it can be used as a refresher for older students or as a quick-course for adults as it does give a brief refresher of the letter stings to practice at the beginning.  The pictures are made up of a famous quote written in cursive and then different letter strokes are found within the pictures.  On the back on the page is a place to trace and then practice the quote yourself.  The pages are also perforated so that you can tear them out to get the correct slant for writing.  My son was really excited about this and I found it has been a great motivator for him to do his cursive so that he can use the coloring book when he finishes.  His older sister actually confiscated this copy, so I will be getting him his own when he’s done.    

If you have a child who is ready to learn cursive, or needs to improve their technique, I highly recommend this program.