It has been many years since I have worked on cursive with my 7th grade daughter, so I knew when we were selected to receive review copies of the CursiveLogic Quick-Start Pack and The Art of Cursive from CursiveLogic, I would be using these resources with her.
The program is certainly easy enough to use with younger students, so I may grab another copy of the workbook to work on cursive with my 5th and 2nd graders soon. This method has been a great review for my middle schooler, and we have both loved how quick and painless the lessons have been.
CursiveLogic
First, we received the Quick-Start Pack. This included access to a webinar teaching the CursiveLogic method, as well as a softcover, coil-bound 112 page student workbook. I watched the webinar with my daughter. It gave an overview of the CursiveLogic method and walked us through the first several days of lessons. The webinar was clearly made for teachers in a classroom setting to teach them the method, but we both enjoyed hearing from the company on how to use the product. This was better for me than simply reading about it, because I’m definitely an auditory learner, myself.
There are 10 lessons in the workbook. Each lesson takes one week to complete and is broken down by day. For an older or more eager student, lessons can be completed in a single session, which should only take about 45-60 minutes. We chose the slower pace of 4 short sessions per week to quickly add cursive into our daily homeschool work daily.
The program is designed to spend 4 weeks on lowercase letter instruction using four shape strings, which are based on shape patterns that are similar and can be strung together. Each letter string has a little Catch Phrase to describe the strokes being made while forming the letters, which helps students to be able to remember the pattern in their cursive handwriting practice and implementation.
The next 6 weeks are spent on mastering uppercase letters, which are also grouped according to their similar shapes. Obviously the student won’t be stringing capital letters together, but they will still be practicing the lowercase strings while learning and mastering the uppercase letters.
My daughter’s cursive has improved a LOT since beginning this program a few weeks ago. Before, it was messy and difficult to tell what she was saying when she wrote me a little note here and there. Now that she has practiced the letters by tracing with her finger, then the pen, and then writing on her own each day, I’m able to read her words clearly. I was telling her how interesting it was that students only work on penmanship for a small window of their educational careers and then we expect them to just be good at it. This cursive course is really helping her revisit her handwriting and is correcting her errors and reteaching her in a way that makes a lot of sense.
In addition to the consumable workbook pages, there are 3 dry erase surfaces with more practice work for students. This can be used over and over again, and I imagine I would want to do this with a younger student when they would get stuck on something in particular for more reinforcement. As CursiveLogic mentions, we’re working on muscle memory so the hand just flows to form the letters without the student having to really think much about it over time! The dry erase pages provide a space to do that while reminding them of the different shapes and strings mentioned within the workbook.
The Art of Cursive
We were also sent a copy of a coloring book by CursiveLogic called The Art of Cursive. This book is a terrific way for adults or older students to get a refresher on cursive handwriting. It has reference pages and mini lessons at the front, and then there are 27 images with inspirational quotes and pictures that are actually colored in by writing cursive letters and strokes within the illustration. The lessons cover the letter strings, and there’s an uppercase letter reference page as well.
Behind the coloring page, there is a practice page that has a place for you to trace the quote that was on the picture, and then a place to rewrite it for yourself below within the dotted handwriting lines.
The Art of Cursive is no replacement for the CursiveLogic program, but it is perfect for an adult or for a student who has already finished the CursiveLogic workbook. It really gives you a chance to relax and let your fine-tipped marker or pen flow as you get the satisfaction of completing a beautiful and colorful picture. What a cool concept!
The retail price for the coloring book is currently $15.95.
More Information
Are you interested in receiving the same Quick-Start Pack as I did for teaching cursive to your student? You can use code CREW2018 through 3/31/18 for a 20% discount on your purchase, which includes the printed workbook and access to the instructional webinar. The regular price is $49.
See how other families used the CursiveLogic program and coloring book in their homeschool by clicking the banner below.
