What’s new in my “Teaching Print Step-by-Step” Ebook?

So many parents need help to teach their child to write. Over the years of homeschooling, I have had wonderful success using my laminated handwriting charts.

I have just completely updated my Teaching Print Handwriting Step-by-Step Ebook which is now a 16-page booklet. It includes new detailed instructions & examples on line placement for writing on lined notebook pages, starting & ending points for each letter, as well as new charts that include coloured numbered dots and arrow guidelines.

Here’s what you’ll find in this Teach Print Handwriting Ebook ~

• Introduction to Teaching Print Handwriting Step-by-Step
• Why laminated charts work
• Step-by-Step Handwriting Lessons
• Getting to know the lines and letter placement
• How to start teaching print handwriting step-by-step
• Examples of how to talk through each lower-case letter
• Print lower case with start & end and arrows (a-o)
• Print lower case with start & end and arrows (p-z)
• Print lower case with arrows
• Upper Case print chart with start & arrows A-N
• Upper-case print chart with start & arrows O-Z & Numbers 1-9
• Combined print upper-case and lower-case chart

Would you please support me and pop over to my Packages page to purchase the updated Teaching Print Handwriting Step-by-Step booklet.

If you wish to write a private email to me, please fill in the contact form on my About & Contact page.  I would love to help you!

 Blessings, Nadene

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Line Placement Hints for Handwriting

When your child first starts to write on lined notebook paper, it can be very confusing! Where to start?  Where to skip lines so that letters don’t crowd into each other?

We use laminated handwriting charts to teach print and then cursive letters, first working on lower-case and then going on to upper-case letters.  I have several Ebooks on my Packages page that will teach letter placement, as well as the starting and ending points for each letter.

Once your child can confidently trace over their laminated handwriting chart without making mistakes, he is ready to start Copywork.  Copywork is a wonderful way of practising handwriting in a very meaningful way.  Read all about Charlotte Mason.

Copywork is best done on lined notebook pages.

Here’s a good rule when teaching ~

ALWAYS START BIG AND WORK SMALLER!

When you start writing on lined notebook paper, first use broad lines.  You can find 17mm lined books at your stationery shop.  Then go on to normal feint & margin pages before using the narrow Irish lined paper.

Before starting, first, draw simple little hints in the margin to help know where the body line begins.

We used these 3 hints:

1. Draw a simple “Cat” in the margin to allow 3 lines of regular notebook pages for the head, body and tail.
2. It may be quicker to draw a “lollipop man” in the margin. The round shape is the “head” and the stick is the “body”.  The “legs” are where the cat’s tail would be.
3. The fastest method is to make a clear dot in the body line. My kids would count “Skip-dot-skip-skip-dot-skip-skip-dot…” to quickly place a dot marker on every 2^nd alternate line all the way down their margin before beginning their copywork.

With these hints, your child will soon easily know where to start their writing and be able to do beautiful copywork.

Please support me by ordering my Handwriting Tips and Teaching Print  & Cursive Handwriting Ebooks on my Packages page.

If you wish to write me a private email, please fill in the contact form on my About & Contact page.  I would love to help you!

 Blessings, Nadene

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What’s new in my “Teaching Cursive Handwriting Step-by-Step” Ebook?

I have just completely updated my Teaching Cursive Handwriting Step-by-Step Ebook which is now a 17-page booklet. It includes new information such as Joining cursive upper-case to lower-case letters as well as detailed instructions & examples on line placement for writing on lined notebook pages, starting & ending points for each letter, as well as new charts that include guide-lines and letter placement hints.

Here’s the Table of Contents and some examples:

• Introduction to Teaching Cursive Handwriting using a laminated chart
• Why laminated charts work
• Step-by-Step Handwriting Lessons
• Getting to know the lines and letter placement
• Teaching Lower-Case Cursive Letters
• Line Placement Hints
• Cursive Lower Case Chart with “cats”, coloured lines and start- & end-points
• Some fun lower-case cursive handwriting exercises
• Cursive Lower Case Chart
• Teaching Cursive Upper-Case Letters
• Some fun cursive upper-case handwriting exercises
• Cursive Upper-Case Chart with “lollipop men” coloured lines and start- & end-points
• Cursive Upper Case Chart
• Cursive Combined Upper and Lower Case
• Joining Cursive Upper-Case to Lower-Case Practice Pages A – I
• Joining Cursive Upper-Case to Lower-Case Practice Pages J – R
• Joining Cursive Upper-Case to Lower-Case Practice Pages S – Z

Would you please support me and pop over to my Packages page to purchase the updated Teaching Cursive Handwriting Step-by-Step booklet.

If you wish to write a private email to me, please fill in the contact form on my About & Contact page.  I would love to help you!

 Blessings, Nadene

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How to Join Upper-Case to Lower-Case Cursive Letters

With parents finding themselves suddenly homeschooling during this pandemic, a mom emailed to ask me to help her as she was struggling to teach her son how to join cursive upper-case to lower-case letters.   To help her, I created a little  5-page download which is also available for free right here ~ Joining Upper Case & lower case Cursive letters

How to join an upper-case letter to a lower-case letter

Most upper-case letters will have their own ending line that simply overlaps as the starting line for the next letter.

Only a few upper-case letters will require “an extra” line to start the new lower case letter at their base such as with B C D F H I O P S T V W  I  have drawn this line which will be the overlapping starting line as a dotted line.

Practice Joining Cursive Letters Sheets

• Laminate the following Joining Cursive Upper-Case to lower-case practice pages or place each page in a plastic page protector.
• Demonstrate and talk about where to start, how to form and end each letter.
• Then ask your child to trace over the letters with a whiteboard marker.
• Once your child knows where to start, how to form and end all the letters in lower- & upper-case, your child can start doing simple copywork as handwriting practice using the chart as a reference.

This download provides practice pages using every letter of the alphabet.  Extended lines provide space to not only trace over the letters but also to copy and write out the joined letters on the coloured lines provided.

I have also included a detailed explanation of letters’ line placement as well as coloured dots for starting and ending points for each letter in this download.

I will post a detailed blog post on letter line placement in my upcoming post.

Please pop over to my Packages page to purchase the updated Teaching Cursive Handwriting Step-by-Step booklet.

If you wish to write a private email to me, please fill in the contact form on my About & Contact page.  I would love to help you!

 Blessings, Nadene

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Beatitudes Copywork Pages

Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount contain His “Blessed are …” blessings called The Beatitudes, one of the most loved portions of the Gospel.

Jesus describes a character trait or action that is often not associated with blessedness. He then describes the reward or blessing of such people who follow God’s ways.

I have created these Beatitude Copywork pages which include a detailed discussion of Charlotte Mason’s Copywork approach, the full Beatitude Scripture followed by a copywork page for each verse with a personal response or interpretive writing prompts.

Charlotte Mason’s  Copywork lessons are power-packed and very naturally offer short lessons where the child can practice beautiful handwriting, develop correct grammar and improve spelling, increase vocabulary, and seamlessly teach good writing style.

More importantly, these Scripture Copywork lessons provide an opportunity for your child to learn, understand, memorize and make the Scriptures a meaningful personal part of their lives. (Read this post describing Copywork stages in detail.)

Back in 2010 I created a Beatitudes slide strip page to help memorize the scriptures.

The child inserts the 2 strips and slides them to match.

 

For greater mastery,  when the child knows the verses well, she can leave one strip out and memorize the missing part of each verse.

A great way to help memorize the scriptures.

 

For fun, I made a Matching Beatitudes Card Game.  Here 2 or more people can play “memory” with the Beatitudes cards.

 

Here are your  Free Beatitude pages ~

• Beatitudes Copywork Print
• Beatitudes Copywork Cursive
• Beatitude Memory Verse Game & Slide Strips

Pop over to my Copywork Pages for all my other free downloads.

Blessings, Nadene

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John Muir Nature Quotes & free Copywork pages

Previously I introduced the famous naturalist John Muir.  Today I would love to share a wonderful collection of his beautiful and inspirational nature quotes.

Here are 15 of John Muir’s famous nature quotes  ~

I was struck by John Muir’s real passion and love for nature and the Creator which he expressed so beautifully in his quotes, all taken from AZ Quotes.com ~

I collected several short quotes, some slightly longer quotes, as well as several long quotes.  These would suit children from junior primary all the way to high school.

You can use these quotes ~

• in your nature journalling
• displayed in your nature study centre
• copied or dictated for Copywork
• for handwriting practice
• for debate topics
• as creative writing prompts
• for nature causes and ideals

Here are your free downloads which include Charlotte Mason’s copywork & dictation principles, about 10 pages of quotes, as well as lined copywork pages ~

• John Muir Nature Quotes Cursive
• John Muir Nature Quotes Print

May these pages inspire you and your children in your nature journalling and handwriting practice.

Blessings, Nadene

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Famous Music Quotes Copywork Pages

Introducing new free Famous Music Quotes for Copywork ~

I have created a collection of 50 Famous Music Quotes copywork pages, in separate print and cursive downloads.   This bundle contains one Famous Music Quotation copywork sheet a week for a whole year!  

These copywork pages also include a personal response or interpretive writing prompts, offering you a power-packed application if you follow Charlotte Mason’s 3 copywork stages ~

I.  Copywork (Grades 1-2) is simply copying a passage ~

• copy carefully & slowly,  practice beautiful handwriting in context, reinforces the habits of observation, best effort, and attention

II.  Transcription. (Grades 2-3) copying from memory ~ 

• looks at/ studies the word in the passage, then writes it from memory, and double checking his spelling right away

III. Dictation (Grades 4–12) an advanced skill of writing out the prepared passage as the parent or teacher dictates it to him ~

• The child studies the passage ahead of time, taking note of the spelling, punctuation and capitalization. Parents dictate the passage phrase by phrase.

Here are your free Famous Music Copywork pages ~

• Famous Music Quotes Print Copywork
• Famous Music Quotes Cursive Copywork
  

Pop over to my Copywork Pages for all my other free downloads.

Blessings, Nadene

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Laminated handwriting charts too slippery?

A reader recently asked ~

“I’m interested in your handwriting charts. But I’m wondering, does the child need more initial feedback from the paper than a laminated copy might provide? I’m wondering if this is too slippery and potentially frustrating for a newbie. Is it better to start with a chalkboard or actual paper that provides some friction in the learning process?”

Here is my response ~

What a good question regarding the need for friction or feedback when starting to learn handwriting on a laminated handwriting chart!

I suppose it would depend on your child, but all my children found the smooth, gliding feel of the whiteboard maker on the laminated chart eased their hand and finger-grip stress.

My youngest child didn’t have much finger and fine-motor strength and her pencil work was very faint and wobbly when she first tried writing with a pencil.  Using a laminated chart and marker was a huge help because the whiteboard marker made a lovely, clear, wide, bold line without her needing to apply any pressure which built up her confidence to write.

As she played finger strength games and practiced her handwriting daily using the chart, her finger pressure improved and she then made the transition to using mechanical pencil. (Read my Practical Tips on mechanical pencil here.)  She used softer B pencil lead instead of HB lead because the soft lead made a clearer, darker mark.

The only problem I have seen is with left-handed writers may smudge their writing when using whiteboard makers on laminated charts.  They need to adjust their hand position so that they don’t smudge over the wet marker as they work.  Also, in an attempt to avoid smudging, a left-hander sometimes develop an excessively rounded “claw” wrist position, where the child writes “above” their writing.   This extreme wrist angle puts too much strain on the wrist and down into the fingers.  Remember that a left-hander should try sit on the left-hand side of a desk, especially when sharing with another child.

Handwriting Tips Booklet

Pop over to my Packages Page to order your copy of my Handwriting Tips booklet where I share activities, games and exercises to build up gross and fine motor strength, teach the correct pencil grip, and sit with good posture to help create a stress-free handwriting experience. 

Hope that this information helps your child master their handwriting lessons with ease!

Blessings, Nadene

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Nature Copywork Pages

Don’t your just love a bargain?  When an advert declares,

“And that’s not all … there’s more!  Included in this special offer we also give you …..  But, wait!  There is more …. you will also receive this amazing bonus of ….”

Well that’s how I felt when I discovered Charlotte Mason‘s Copywork.  Although her approach seems deceptively simple, it is power-packed with skills and range of difficulty that will teach, reinforce, strengthen and develop your child’s handwriting, spelling, vocabulary, grammar and writing style, all the way from Grade 1 to  high school graduation!

Charlotte Mason approached copywork in 3 stages ~

Copywork

Transcription

Dictation

Gently moving from one stage to the next as the child is ready, the child will very naturally learn beautiful handwriting, develop grammar and improve spelling, increase vocabulary, and seamlessly imitate good writing style.

Copywork (Grades 1-2) is simply copying a passage ~ 

• Once a child has learnt to write each letter using my laminated handwriting charts, beginners begin to copy each sentence, done slowly and gently, with an emphasis on quality not quantity.
• Careful copywork gives a child the opportunity to practice beautiful handwriting in context.
• Copywork reinforces the habits of observation, best effort, and attention.
• Lessons are kept short (5–10 minutes) and the goal is beautiful work.

Copywork leads to Transcription. (Grades 2-3) copying from memory ~

• Once the student has mastered the mechanics of handwriting, he can start concentrating on the spelling of the passages he is copying. 
• At this stage he looks at/ studies the word in the passage, then writes it from memory, and double checking his spelling right away.
• Rather than copying letter for letter, he begins to write whole words from memory, working his way through the passage.

Dictation (Grades 4–12) is an advanced skill of writing out the prepared passage as the parent or teacher dictates it to him ~  

• The child studies the passage ahead of time making sure he knows how to spell every word in it, taking note of the punctuation and capitalization.
• Parents dictate the passage phrase by phrase.
• Dictation cultivates the habit of looking at how words are spelled, reinforces correct punctuation and capitalization; sharpens listening comprehension; increases vocabulary through context; reinforces correct sentence structure; reinforces the habits of observation and attention. 

I have created a series of copywork pages, and updated my popular Nature Quotes with both print and cursive options.   The print version has new,  considerably shorter and easier quotes. These pages also include creative writing or interpretive writing prompts, offering you a power-packed application if you follow Ms Mason’s 3 methods.

Here are your free copywork pages ~

•  Nature Quotes Copywork Cursive
• Nature Quotes Copywork Print

Pop over to my Copywork Pages for all my other free downloads.

I love Charlotte Mason’s simple, yet highly effective approach!

Blessings, Nadene

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How to Join Cursive Font Letters

For years I have used ABC Cursive Plain Font for our Handwriting and Copywork pages, but I never knew how to adjust the font so that the letters join each other, until a reader kindly gave me this tip ~

“You can get the letters to join if you choose “Advanced” and then turn the “Kerning option” on!”

With a little Google search, I found very simple instructions and, once I followed the easy steps, each cursive letter smoothly joined the next letter!  Here’s a pdf. of the instructions ~ Joining letters ABC Cursive Plain Font

In MSWord ~

You can apply these kerning settings to any font which will narrow the space between letters, and with cursive fonts, the starting and finishing strokes will meet to form a seamless line.

Oh, my heart flutters with joy to see the  smooth, joined, flowing cursive lines!  I just LOVE the Internet and my kind readers who helps me learn more!

References:

• https://word.tips.net/T001130_Changing_Kerning.html
• http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=2030049&seqNum=10

Blessings, Nadene

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