Transitioning from the Cheerful Cursive Workbook to Cursive CopyworkÂ
My eight-year-old son has done well with Heart of Dakota’s (HOD’s) Cheerful Cursive. However, I believe he needs more time to work in a workbook format with tracing before trying to copy in cursive. He has a tough time connecting letters. A model he can write in (like Cheerful Cursive’s “bubble letters”) is a tremendous help. Are you aware of any cursive workbooks that we could use to bridge Cheerful Cursive and cursive copywork? He is at the end of Cheerful Cursive now and will finish it out this month. Thank you!
Sincerely,
“Ms. Please Help with Transitioning from Cheerful Cursive to Cursive Copywork”
Dear “Ms. Please Help with Transitioning from Cheerful Cursive to Cursive Copywork,”
Often at the end of Cheerful Cursive students don’t seem to be ready to transition to copying in cursive on paper; however I want to encourage you that after a full year of learning to write in cursive doing another stint with a cursive workbook won’t really make your child transition to copywork any easier. I know this because I did years of cursive workbooks with my older son, yet he never could copy in cursive on paper very well. Truly, just systematically having a child copy a bit in cursive each day will make a big difference in a child’s ability to copy. It does take time, and it is slow at first, but they do get the hang of it.
So, my advice would be to buy or find on the internet a bookmark or a card of the cursive letters (with arrows marked on each letter showing which way the letter starts). Then, tape the card onto your child’s art box or somewhere where he can refer to it easily as he writes. We used the cursive card from A Reason for Handwriting, and it worked well for us.
Next, Preparing Hearts for His Glory (PHFHG) will assign one section of copywork each day to be done in cursive. It rotates from box to box through the week so that students are copying from a variety of sources. After nine weeks, you will be amazed at how much your child has improved! As an intermediate step, if you need to copy the assigned copywork in cursive on paper as a model for your child and have your child write below your cursive writing for awhile that works well too.
Blessings,
Carrie
