Classically Cursive

by Sharon
(Leavenworth, Kansas)

Product: Classically Cursive
Subject: modern cursive
Levels Used: Books 1, 2 and 3
Dates Used: fall 2008 to fall 2009...and onward

Description: Those who use D'nealian will find that this series is designed to bridge the child from that style to modern cursive. That did not matter to me. We skipped the early bridge review, since my children learned to print with the old "ball and stick" method. They still have all done well in transitioning to this program.

This program was also designed with the classical method in mind, but that hasn't mattered for me, either. We don't use the classical method, but this still worked fine in our home.

I love the beautiful cursive style. It isn't boxy, nor does it look forced. It caught my eye as being very romantic and old-fashioned, in spite of the term "modern".

Included in the back of the first book is a wonderful verbal explanation of how to create each letter: both capital and lower case. I found this very helpful; after I had initially explained the formation of the letters, if a child asked me how to make the letter I reminded him or her of the instructions in the back. This helped the child become more independent and prompted quick memory since they were looking up answers on their own.

Beyond the self instruction and beautiful style, this program actually doubles as a review of Bible knowledge, and I love that most of all! After the child goes through the formation of each letter, he moves on to writing things like the books of the Bible and the ten commandments.

In the next book, the child is copying questions about God and the Bible along with the answers to those questions. I can't remember how often my son Timothy would come to me with an amazed look and tell me what he had learned about the nature of God and other deep topics.

The third book covers God's character traits and the scriptures that compliment each trait. It compliments other programs we use, because it reviews so many Bible truths and so much scripture.

The books are a costly $10 a piece. They are designed to be used as individual workbooks for each child and have plenty of nice line space for lots of practice.

The only way that we could justify buying the books was to give each child a composition notebook or a spiral notebook in which to copy their penmanship for the day. I am so glad that we did this. I see no ill effects thus far in the three children who have used this program by copying material over into another notebook. I am thankful that we were able to pass the books to other children without paying for them all over again.

Just today, I looked closely at the handwriting of my generally sloppy-in-all-things 13-year-old son. He now has, along with a deeper understanding of God, the penmanship of a scribe! WOW! He writes beautifully! If only I could find a program that could teach him how to keep his room as neat as his handwriting.

This was a well-spent $30.