Cursive Alphabet. Check.

 

Today Katherine learned to write the last of her letters, completing her cursive alphabet. When my friend, Chloe, first told me about teaching cursive penmanship first, I was pretty skeptical. Doesn't that confuse their recognition of print in books? Isn't it too complicated? Isn't there a reason we all learned printing first? 

Turns out the research and history support teaching cursive first, and there are many practical advantages. Cursive writing is actually much easier on the young (and old) hand, and learning it first helps folks be less confused in the long run. It also helps prevent dyslexia and other learning disorders by better hard-wiring left-to-right directional reading and writing. And as for the history, penmanship was developed to make it easier for human hands to write more quickly and legibly with greater comfort and that's what was taught first in schools until John Dewey proposed the switch. Anything associated with Dewey is already on my educational black list, since I tend to think his basic philosophy is pernicious. But, I digress. 

I've been converted: Teaching cursive first is the way to go! Katherine is definitely getting it, as you can see by the photo above. (We're using the "Cursive First" curriculum, which is available here.)

And now that she's learned all her cursive letters? We are celebrating by drinking tea out of cups I bought in Germany at a castle. And we all know who lives in castles. . . Princesses, of course!

 And then Jude suggested that we put dolls in race cars and zoom them.

Polly just happened to be in her underwear. It's a wild party over here! Yeee-haw! I think it's time for a little 16 Horsepower, or, as Jude likes to say, "Horsey. Neigh!"