Teaching Cursive isn’t as Hard as You Think (A Cursive Logic Post)

Many of us have chosen to homeschool because we believe in basic skills. We know our students need a strong foundation in reading, writing, and math. But what about handwriting? In today’s digital age, do our children still need to spend hour upon hour perfecting their penmanship, or won’t they just be typing everything on their laptops? Well, yes and no. Yes, they still need to hone their penmanship, but, no, they don’t need to spend dozens of hours doing it. Not with CursiveLogic.

 

First, let’s talk about the importance of good handwriting. While typing is certainly convenient and fast, it turns out that writing by hand is more effective for certain tasks—such as taking notes. In a recent study entitled “The Pen is Mightier than the Keyboard,” researchers Mueller and Oppenheimer found that students who take notes by hand perform better on conceptual questions than students who take notes on laptops, because students who take notes by hand actually process the information rather than merely transcribing it.

When researchers Graham and Santangelo did a meta-analysis of numerous handwriting studies, they found that handwriting instruction leads to improvement in writing quality. Teaching handwriting also improves legibility, but they found noteworthy improvements in the quality of composition from teaching handwriting.

This finding actually makes a lot of sense. When students don’t have fluid handwriting, they have to work hard just to get words down on paper. Because their brain power is taken up with that basic task, not as much brain power is left over for higher-level tasks like planning, organization, and word choice.

Whether you want to help your child to process information coming in or to organize information going out, handwriting is the place to start.

Teaching Cursive isn’t as Hard as You Think with Cursive Logic

And that is where CursiveLogic comes in. CursiveLogic is a handwriting method that teaches cursive in hours, not months. The traditional way to teach cursive is to start with “a” and work through to “z,” then go back and start connecting letters. You can find programs like this for sale everywhere. Some of them include catchy pictures or neat games—all in an attempt to overcome the sheer boredom and frustration that can accompany the process of learning to write. CursiveLogic is completely different.

Rather than relying on rote memorization, CursiveLogic relies on the inherent structure of the cursive alphabet.

Letters grouped by shape ― Four foundational shapes underlie the entire lowercase alphabet. Rather than teaching the letters alphabetically, CursiveLogic groups the lowercase alphabet into four groups based on the shape of the initial stroke and teaches all of the similarly-shaped letters in a single lesson.  By teaching all of the similar letters together, CursiveLogic captures the natural synergy of the alphabet itself, allowing each letter in the series to reinforce the proper formation of all the others.

Letter strings ― CursiveLogic captures the flow of cursive by teaching all of the similarly-shaped letters in a connected string, rather than as individual letters. CursiveLogic’s letter strings teach students to connect letters from the first lesson, allowing students to internalize the flow of cursive handwriting even before they have learned all 26 letters.

Multisensory approach ― Each shape string has a color that reinforces the formation of the basic common shape. And students learn a simple, rhythmical chant that describes the path of the writing instrument as the letter shapes are formed.  The process of verbally describing a motor task while performing it aids the acquisition of new motor skills.

This method is fast and effective. Parents and students alike are blown away by just how quickly a student can master cursive. Here’s what other homeschooling parents are saying:

“It took him a full 6 months to learn to print the alphabet, so I certainly wasn’t expecting him to learn cursive in less than 10 days!” – Meg F., Adventures with Jude

Thank you, thank you, thank you CursiveLogic for such a wonderfully designed program! You have not only transformed Arlene’s handwriting, you have instilled a confidence in her that no other program has.” – Carol E., Home Sweet Life

“This was a super simple program for my boys to learn, and they successfully learned to write cursively in just over a week! If you are looking for an easy and effective program for teaching cursive, you really need to have a look at this one!” – Tammy B., Marching to a Different Drummer

“After seeing CursiveLogic, I wonder how all of the other boring systems of teaching cursive writing ever survived.” – Tim T., Families Again

Hundreds of homeschooling families just like yours have succeeded with CursiveLogic. In under a month, your children could be experiencing the academic benefits and the increased confidence that go along with mastering cursive.