Handwriting in manuscript printing and in cursive are both great skills which will benefit a student’s going forward. In today’s world there are applications where both abilities are needed over and above typing skills.

       A young child begins the adventure of writing the alphabet and the numbers somewhere  between three to five years old. Their parent or guardian should pay close attention that they begin holding the pencil or marker in the best way.  The pencil should be held by the pointer finger and the thumb while resting on the side of the tall middle finger near the first knuckle. The ring finger and the baby finger should be tucked under the palm of the hand. This manner of holding the pencil will provide the most versatility for movement and pressure changes which will be needed in future handwriting work.

      Because their fingers are quite small they often start with multiple fingers on the pencil. Perhaps getting a 3- sided pencil or marker pen will help get the ideal hand-hold. Another aid is to have them tuck a button or a small piece of chalk between their baby finger and palm of the hand.  This will keep the little fingers out of the way for the thumb, index finger and middle finger to hold the pencil.  If for some reason this ideal hand hold is too awkward after a few days of trying, leave it off for a week and try again. Eventually muscles adjust.  Experience has shown that often the way they start holding the pencil is how it continues for life.

     However, not to worry, legibility of content is the key quality to desire in this business of handwriting. A little reward for compliance is appreciated by the child or even an incentive for effort. It may be some years before the child expresses gratitude for your efforts to encourage good handwriting.

      Practice times should not be longer than 10 to 15 minutes per lesson mainly because we want to develop the handwriting habit without losing enthusiasm for so valuable a skill. Schedule the practice at a similar time each day or every other day. Leave at least about 30 minutes away from screen time so that they can focus normally. After some vigorous play the child may sit more quietly with good focus. A little prayer to God to write well before the lesson is efficacious. The child’s success is the success of the parent, teacher or guardian as well.

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Book 1 Introducing Printing and Handwriting

To be more explicit this title could be expanded to “Introducing Manuscript Printing and Cursive Handwriting”, but it is what it is to keep it simple. A five-to-six-year old can do these lessons and still progress from week to week quite well. Printed letters are introduced in pairs of similar letters and in order of difficulty. This process is covered in about 3 months while amazing growth is going on in focus, muscle control, and formation of consistent letters.  Then printing is paused and cursive is introduced to get the child to be familiar with cursive letters. It is easier than it looks because the student keeps the tip on the paper most of the time. A big advantage to introducing cursive early is that the child begins to recognize letters in both manuscript and cursive as two forms of the same letter.  Border decoration is encouraged toward the end of their handwriting period.  Borders strengthen the muscles for writing skills while doing something fun. The child can find some pattern which he would like to try at the front of the book. Borders usually delight the student because of the artistic effect.