How Wee Learn

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Why teach cursive handwriting?

by 124 Comments

I am excited to partner with Oak Meadow today to bring you this post on the benefits of cursive writing and a great giveaway!

Sometimes, as a Mama, I do things just because I have always done them. Do you know what I mean?  For example, my little ones have always had an early bedtime. I know in the back of my mind there are tons of benefits for this, but I haven’t really taken the time to research them. I just put my little ones to bed early.

Another thing I do is teach my little ones cursive writing. This is one of those things that I know has tons of benefits, but I have never taken the time to research them. I have just taught them cursive writing … until now. 

The incredible benefits of teaching children Cursive Writing! This is a very informative post about the important role cursive plays in teaching children to READ! #HowWeeLearn #Sponsored #cursivewriting #writingactivities #teacherresources #kidsactivities

That’s right friends. You are about to get the fabulous recap notes from many nights of research. Many long nights and cups of coffee later I have realized that the ins and outs, benefits and history of cursive writing is quite the worm hole. As it turns out, the benefits of cursive writing and why it should be taught to children are plentiful. The reasons many children are no longer taught cursive writing though, are not. The biggest reason I could find for why it is no longer being taught is simply it is not felt to be needed or relevant any longer.

BUT when you look at all of the benefits of cursive writing you will see a much different picture. There are incredible benefits to children! So much so that I would say it is indeed still needed. Here are 8 benefits of cursive writing that will help us to see why teaching cursive writing is still important:

1. Cursive flowing letters are easier for young children to form as fine motor skills develop. Writing in print with all of the starts, stops, and hard lines tends to be difficult for young children. Writing in a smooth, flowing, curving, connecting pattern is much easier for little hands still developing fine motor control.

The incredible benefits of teaching children Cursive Writing! This is a very informative post about the important role cursive plays in teaching children to READ! #HowWeeLearn #Sponsored #cursivewriting #writingactivities #teacherresources #kidsactivities

2. Reduces letter reversals. Young children very commonly struggle with letter reversals when printing. Letters b and d are examples of two print letters that look very, very similar. Children start by drawing a line and removing their pencil, then they need to try to remember (or guess) which side the circle goes on. In cursive writing though, young children do not remove their pencil. Letters flow from one side of the page to the next in smooth and fluid movements. The letter ‘b’ is made with the stick first, and the letter ‘d’ begins with the circle. Letter reversals vanish!

3. Cursive writing is artistic. Most children love to draw and begin to do so quite naturally. Cursive writing is very artistic and quite like drawing in many ways. Cursive writing flows from this natural drawing ability.

4. Cursive letters are distinct. Because cursive writing flows from the beginning of the word through to the end, cursive letters tend to be more distinct. And since those letters all flow into one another it strengthens muscles memory on how words are spelled. This actually has been shown to help children learn to read easier and faster.

5, Crossing the midline. Do you remember a post I wrote some time ago about the importance of crossing midline? If not you can read it right here.  Cursive writing is a fabulous activity for crossing the midline.

6. Increased writing speed and lowered hand fatigue. Due to the flowing nature of cursive writing children who write cursive do so quicker and with less stress on little hand muscles too. There is no starting and stopping, removing the pencil and placing it down again to shape each individual letter as there is with printing. 

7. Increased retention of information. This benefit of cursive writing is actually a benefit of printing as well but needs to be mentioned due to the current shift towards typing reports, papers, and basically everything. It has been shown that writing things down by hand helps us to remember that information much better. This is a huge benefit to children learning information!

8. Signature. Finally, there will come a day when our little ones need to sign their names. Be it at the bank or on a driver’s license, that day will come. Voila! I have found at least ONE completely practical, daily reason why children should still learn cursive writing!

The incredible benefits of teaching children Cursive Writing! This is a very informative post about the important role cursive plays in teaching children to READ! #HowWeeLearn #Sponsored #cursivewriting #writingactivities #teacherresources #kidsactivities

Isn’t this list surprising? There are SO many fabulous reasons to teach our children cursive writing.

Today I had the pleasure of partnering with Oak Meadow. A company I adore and a curriculum I use with my own little ones. Oak Meadow also understands the value of teaching cursive writing and has it as a staple in their curriculum along with other important, wonderful skills beyond simply reading, writing, and math. All those things that we can just teach knowing it benefits our little ones without needing to do all the research behind it, as Oak Meadow has already done it. Which is a fabulous thing, as finding out the ‘why’ behind things can be a worm hole my friends. A very, very long worm hole filled with many late nights and cups of coffee. 

Now it is GIVEAWAY TIME!  Oak Meadow is generously offering some of their Cursive Writing workbooks to my American and Canadian readers!

To be entered to win one of these 5 workbooks, please comment below and simply tell me whether you are a Canadian or an American. Good Luck!

Please note, the contest is now closed. Congratulations to our winners!

 

 

Comments

  3. What a great giveaway.
    Cursive is a lost art these days. I can’t wait to have my small human get better at writing.

    Reply

  4. I love the wee learn page it has brought alot of learning and fun to my 1 and 2 year olds. Keep doing an excellent job love you guys.??❤

    Reply

  10. Hi! My name is Lara and I’m a Preschool teacher of 3’s in America! I am a BIG supporter of handwriting for the benefits of reading skill development! I hope I am a winner!

    Reply

    • I live in UAE, you change my view about cursive handwriting, I though it’s something difficult for young kids to learn, I will start teaching my 3 years old son about this, thank you.

      Reply

  36. Hi, I’m a Canadian Grandma,aka, Gigi.I am a full time caregiver to my 3 year old granddaughter and loving every minute. Love your site, keep up the work as we need teachers like you. Yes it is a crime that they are not teaching cursive writing anymore.

    Reply

  39. Canadian, and I have found the distinct lack of teaching cursive to be profoundly sad. I love writing cursive and will definitely be teaching my tiny human how to do it. Thanks for the cliffs notes

    Reply

  40. American!
    One more great reason I’ve found to learn cursive is to be able to READ it. I do a lot of family history work finding my family’s ancestry, and so much of it is in cursive! I love looking over old records and reading history in it’s original script.

    Reply

    • Oh YES! A fabulous reason!! I am always surprised looking back on historical letters how almost all of it is in cursive writing. It is definitely a needed skill to keep our history alive.

      Reply

  43. I’m American. We just started kindergarten homeschool with my oldest and are continuing preschool homeschool with my middle. Since I started homeschooling, I knew cursive would be something I taught to my munchkins. All of these benefits just confirm it. Thank you!

    Reply

  45. I’m American – and a big fan of cursive, which was always so much easier than printing for me when I was little!

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  47. None. I live in Saudi arabia and am always on the lookout for great resources for our little champs who i believe can change the world by being taught and directed in the right direction .

    Reply

  49. I am an American. I am a firm believer in teaching our children cursive. I appreciate the research you did. I did not fully understand all of the benefits of cursive writing!

    Reply

  51. As a retired American Teacher/Librarian, I have long been an advocate of teaching cursive writing after kids have mastered print. We used to teach D’Nealian in second grade as a step into cursive which was taught in third. Kids wrote more legibly all around and were able to read any type of print as they aged. My local school district has recently voted to bring back teaching cursive, and I am thrilled about that!

    Reply

  52. Cursive writing is very important skill for children to learn. There’s nothing nicer than receiving a letter that has been hand written.

    I am a Canadian granny.

    Reply

  58. My daughter was just telling me yesterday, “in the olden days, people wrote ‘connected’ but not anymore” – heard from her teacher! I didn’t realize they don’t teach cursive anymore!

    We are American.

    Reply

    • Not silly at all! With the Oak Meadow curriculum form drawing begins in Kindergarten and continues through first grade. Official cursive writing begins in Grade 2. Thank you for entering Shelby! Good luck!

      Reply

  72. Great post! I’ve been researching different curricula and would love to try Oak Meadow. We live in America.

    Reply

    • I am a big fan of Oak Meadow. If you have any questions I am happy to try to answer them for you! Thank you for entering – good luck!

      Reply

  78. Hi, my name is Nicole and I’m a mother of five beautiful children: I’m new to “howweelearn” and so far I love it, and your sponsor Oak meadows, which gives me hope for homeschooling Multiple children in different grades . If I could afford the packages for all My children’s grades we would have considered homeschool, Oh and I’m American!!!!!

    Reply

  80. I need to use these workbooks, haha! I have a style of writing that’s a combo of cursive and printing but I wish I kept the cursive going. When I see a note or something written in cursive it just looks amazingly beautiful. And the research makes sense! Thanks for doing that! I am Canadian and I love your blog and Oak Meadow!

    Reply

  82. I am Canadian.
    When is a good age to start doing activities like cursive writing?
    Thank you for the information that you shared in this post.

    Reply

  87. I am American and just taught my daughter to write her name in cursive this summer! Now I have a list of reasons for why it is important to learn cursive writing. Thank you!

    Reply

  89. I was excited to see the item on cursive writting. Schools don’t teach this anymore and it’s a same

    Reply

  90. American.
    My 2 older girls have always asked why they didn’t learn cursive in school like I did. They always wanted to learn and I taught them as best as I could but, these workbooks would be amazing to help me teach my 3rd, youngest daughter!

    Reply

  93. American, and I have fought tooth and nail to keep handwriting as part of the curriculum to no avail. I still teach it in my classroom.

    Reply

  95. I’m American. I’m glad to see someone present good practical reasons cursive is good for the hands. I learned print and cursive, but calligraphy changed my handwriting even more for the better.

    Reply

  96. I’m American. I went to K-2nd grade in Belgium and we only wrote in cursive. When I returned to the US for 3rd grade, the other kids were just starting to learn cursive. I got teased a lot because I couldn’t print well and was so shy, so I stubbornly gave up cursive any chance I had. It’s a skill I wish I’d never lost, and I plan on teaching it to my 2yo when she’s older.

    Reply

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