Cursive That Works!

DoodleMom

7 years ago

My son valiantly resisted cursive for years and years, without success and so I was so thankful to have the opportunity to review CursiveLogic Quick-Start Pack and The Art of Cursive from CursiveLogic. I tried many, many approaches, but nothing worked. He is one of those kids who picks up most things almost immediately, and really doesn’t like repetitive practice. And once he gets it, it sticks. That is a great talent to have, but the part he doesn’t learn that way is how to persevere and practice until you get something.

Will It Enhance Your Homeschool?

A Clearly Organized Program

CursiveLOGIC is a way of breaking the letters in the cursive alphabet into groups based on common shapes. This is such a fantastic idea – so logical. And the result is that the process of learning cursive takes only 10 weeks or less, instead of the years that you generally plan to teach cursive.

Lessons Are Designed To Be Logical And Easy

The course is divided into 10 lessons plus an introductory session and a break halfway through to learn to sign your name in cursive.

Each lesson is designed to take 5 days, fitting neatly into a week of school lessons. If you have a teen who already knows a bit of cursive like I do, then you can move more rapidly through the course. Just adjust it to keep pace with your child’s focus, attention, and interest.

Prerequisites Are Minimal

The workbook is written for children who are in their elementary years and who know print writing. But the program works for any age. I used it with my teenagers and it worked wonderfully!

What Comes With This Product?

CursiveLogic Quick-Start Pack

The CursiveLogic Quick-Start Pack is a workbook with included teacher notes. All you need to teach your child cursive is included in the workbook, except a pen!

CursiveLogic also has an Online Teacher’s Seminar video that helps to explain the teaching method you will need, but it is possible to teach CursiveLogic with nothing more than the workbook.

The basic methodology behind this curriculum is to use color, a repeated catch-phrase, and movement, combined with a logical approach to learning that makes cursive easy to learn for any age. For a description of the process, see the company’s How It Works Description HERE.

The Art of Cursive

The Art of Cursive is a unique coloring book with a short summary of the CursiveLogic method at the start of the book. This book is a fantastic way for your child to get a cursive refresher, or to finish off his CursiveLogic lessons after he finishes the CursiveLogic Quick-Start Pack.

With 27 lovely quotations to practice writing and 27 accompanying unique coloring pages, this is a fantastic book to practice cursive for any child, teen, or adult.

Online Teacher’s Seminar

This seminar teaches you how to teach CursiveLOGIC to your children in a short 48 minute session. Be prepared to have the workbook in front of you while you work through the seminar, and have paper to take notes as you listen. I went through it slowly, pausing as I went to make notes and make sure I understood the whole process.

Once you complete the seminar, you are fully ready to sit and teach cursive to your child using CursiveLOGIC. It was 48 minutes well-spent!

Time Required To Teach CursiveLOGIC

Preparation Time: 48 minute Online Seminar to learn to teach the program, followed by 0-10 minutes each week (after two sessions, I let my teen go through the material completely independently, but you might need to work with younger children on the lessons)

Teaching Time: 15-20 minutes per session. (After two sessions, I let my teen go through the material completely independently, but you might need to work with younger children on the lessons)

Grading: I would suggest grading this course as a complete/non-complete basis. If your child works on and completes each lesson, he gets an “A”. If you are using this with a child who is in high school, you can use it as the basic framework of a 0.5 credit elective, work in The Art of Cursive book after your teen finishes the main program, and add a bit of copywork as the final exam.

How We Liked It & How We Used It

My son was a perfect choice for the CursiveLogic Quick-Start Pack. I had to do some convincing to get him interested enough to give it a go. He hates handwriting. It has always been a struggle for him, which is odd because he excels at so many subjects. Just not handwriting.

I have read a lot about kids that understand things quickly. People call them gifted a lot of times, but the best term I have heard is ‘Poppies”. These are kids that are gifted with a talent for a particular subject area, but in other areas they are way behind their peers. for my son, the behind bit has always been eye-hand coordination. In fact we even waited an extra year before beginning kindergarten in hopes that he would have an easier time holding a pencil or crayon with a bit more time. Let’s just sum his struggles up by saying that I have a teen who loves to write but hates handwriting with a passion.

When we began the review, I immediately worked through the online seminar. It is really easy to understand and easy to figure out how to translate the course to using it with a child in a homeschool environment. The course is targeted at younger children, but Linda Shrewsbury (co-founder of CursiveLOGIC) designed the method for an adult student, so it is really simple to adjust it to match your child’s age. The company has a fantastic video HERE describing the man who motivated her to create this wonderful program.

After watching the online seminar, armed with my notes and prepared for anything my teen would throw at me, I sat down with him for our first lesson of the CursiveLogic Quick-Start Pack. I quickly discovered that my teen really did not like some of the aspects of the program that are perfect for younger children and adults. I think teens just naturally are more self-conscientious. So we talked it over and adapted it easily to fit his comfort level.

After a couple of sessions together, he asked me if he could work on the program alone. I explained all I had learned in the online seminar to him so he understood the method and what he needed to keep in mind. And I let him do it alone.

Amazingly, it works! He loves CursiveLOGIC! If Linda Shrewsbury was in my living room, I would give her a big hug! This has been the central issue we have battled with my boy since he first started writing. And CursiveLOGIC fixed it!

I got a Surprise – my daughter grabbed up The Art of Cursive!

The first day the materials arrived, I left both books on the dining table in order to take photos. My teen daughter came out of her room to join us for reading time in the living room, walked past the table, stopped and looked for the longest time. Generally I hand out review material when it comes in to our house. My kids know that they need to wait before grabbing things.

But The Art of Cursive was irresistible. She cooed and grabbed the book and her colored pencils and got to work. You know those magical moments when your child grabs hold of something and runs with it. You know that it you say anything at all, even utter a sound, your child will stop? Well, that was one of those moments.

The last piece I need to mention about my daughter is that she is dyslexic. The layout and design of The Art of Cursive, including the colors and fonts used, and the artistic method of practicing cursive strokes create a product that was perfectly designed for her!