Several people have called or emailed me and asked how our new school is going — so I thought I’d multitask and post my thoughts here. School is going great — except for one problem.

Handwriting.

Ugh! Can any of you relate? I regret that over the summer I didn’t take things more seriously and get my kids working on cursive handwriting. Most Christian schools in my area use the A Beka curriculum, which teaches cursive handwriting from the beginning. Even the 5-year-olds in kindergarten learn to write only in cursive.

Just to give you some background, we homeschooled the first three years using Handwriting Without Tears curriculum, which taught ball-and-stick print. Then my oldest started public school in 3rd grade and learned to write in cursive. But he prefers print, and he wrote in print most of the time in 4th grade and did well in school.

My 3rd grade daughter has never had ANY cursive handwriting before. So she was in tears the second night, while I tried to teach her how to write her name.

“I can’t do it! I’ll never be able to write an ‘a.’ I’ll never be able to write an ‘s.’ It doesn’t make any sense to me. I just can’t do it!” is what I heard over and over again.

I went to a local teacher supply store and tried to buy some supplementary workbooks, but they don’t match with the A Beka handwriting. Thankfully, their teachers have sent home some practice sheets and some handwriting paper, and we’ll be working through these.

So, in addition to all the other things I do every day, I’m now a cursive handwriting coach/cheerleader. And you know what? It’s kind of fun. And it brings back memories.

When I was 8 years old, my family moved to a new school system. It was in March of my third grade year. In my old school, we hadn’t even started cursive yet, but in my new school, everyone wrote in cursive. I came home in tears, and I remember my Dad sitting down patiently with me helping me learn to write cursive. He said, “You can do it. It’s just a different kind of handwriting, but you’re smart. You’ll pick it up fine.” Well, I got the hang of it in less than a week.

The choices of handwriting curriculum can be completely overwhelming these days. Here’s a site that gives you an overview, including samples of all the fonts. When I was homeschooling, I remember going to curriculum fairs and feeling seized with panic that I might ruin my children forever if they learned the wrong way!

Many of my homeschooling friends taught their children italic handwriting, which combines print and cursive in one style. Others used traditional print methods, then later cursive. It’s hard to know what to do. My advice to homeschooling moms would be to teach your kids what you both feel most comfortable with, but keep an eye on what your local school system teaches, as well as the private schools — just in case. We have a great teacher supply store in town, and the owner knows all that.

We’re all hitting the books here — dotting our i’s and crossing our t’s. With plenty of loops and swirls.