I originally had purchased the A Beka K4 cursive material from my son, only to have him really struggle through the first several lessons and begin writing manuscript letters on his own. Rather than continuing to fight through cursive and frustrate both of us, I began teaching manuscript to him, except I didn’t want to spend more money on another handwriting book. So instead, I’ve been creating my own DIY handwriting pages using an online tool that works as a handwriting page creator.
I use Letter of the Week wipesheets to introduce and teach the new letters. Then, we transition to a wipe board about midweek, and finish with our own handwriting pages by the end of the week (blends on Thursday, one-vowel words on Friday).
An extra bonus, by creating our own DIY handwriting pages, we actually get to make our handwriting practice practical! I’ve made handwriting sheets of the Bible verses my son is working on, printing it off on decorative paper. I’ve even printed off notes to people, let the children trace the letters, cut out the handwritten lines, and pasted them to home-made cards. The possibilities are endless! And yes, I do allow my kids to use special pens and markers to make their handwriting pages “pretty.”
We’ve had more fun coming up with our own curriculum, and truly finding a meaningful purpose for handwriting.
If you are looking for an entire set of lessons, check out Donna Young’s website.
