Cursive Logic Review
I picked up a cursive handwriting book for Super D at the beginning of last year, thinking we’d practice. The only trouble was, that particular book showed him letters to copy, but didn’t actually teach him the METHOD behind cursive writing. It expected, I suppose, for him to either learn that elsewhere or figure it out as he went along. Neither of those happened for us, so I was super excited to have the opportunity to review CursiveLogic, a program that actually teaches students how to write in cursive. Linda Shrewsbury kindly sent me her new CursiveLogic Workbook to use with Super D for the purpose of this review.
Linda Shrewsbury, the primary author of CursiveLogic, graduated from Harvard in 1947 and has spent decades devoted to students. CursiveLogic was birthed out of her determination to help one 23 year old student learn how to sign his name, without months of instruction.
In the CursiveLogic course, the student learns that four foundational shapes underlie the entire lowercase alphabet. Instead of teaching them individually, CursiveLogic groups the similar letters based on the initial stroke, and teaches them together in a single lesson. The letters are taught in a specific way that reinforces the pattern, so each letter they practice helps them remember the others as well.
CursiveLogic also teaches similarly shaped letters in a string, rather than as individual letters. Linda’s program offers the student practice writing the letters in a grouping based on shape. Then she goes on to provide practice writing words that use similarly shaped letters.
Linda knows that kids learn visually and auditorily, as well as kinesthetically, so she has incorporated several methods to capture those methods of learning as well. Students learn a simple chant to help them remember the shapes. Each set of shapes also has a different color.
The Cursive Logic Workbook comes with plenty of practice sheets, but Linda also provides even more! I was thrilled to get an email with a link to 3 free cursive writing practice books! You can download your free practice ebooks here: CursiveLogic Practice Ebooks.
I love that Super D has started writing cursive words! It’s opening up a whole new world for him, including being able to read historic documents. Especially with how quickly our world is changing, I want him to be able to go back to the original manuscripts of our founding fathers, and be able to read them himself. Beyond that plus, studies have shown that students who write by hand demonstrate more advanced cognitive function than ones who simply viewed the letter on a screen.
And, according to neurologist William Klemm, the neurological benefits of writing by hand are compounded with cursive writing. “Cursive writing, compared to printing, is even more beneficial because the movement tasks are more demanding, the letters are less stereotypical, and the visual recognition requirements create a broader repertoire of letter representation.”
Win for cursive handwriting! I love Linda’s simple, straightforward approach and plan to have each of my kiddos use her program when the time comes.
You can get your copy of CursiveLogic here: CursiveLogic Workbook
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