Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Freebies for Teaching Cursive

Just a few days ago my 6-year-old daughter expressed her wish for me to teach her cursive handwriting.  I'm not really looking forward to this, honestly.  I made the unfortunate mistake of trying to teach her to write in cursive when she was 4 years old (yes, go ahead and laugh I know that was dumb on my part) and it was AWFUL.  I taught her older sister cursive when she was 6 and it was a great success.  We used A Beka with her and I still have the teacher books and the half used workbook from our previous attempt.  My problem is: I have no extra money to spend on a new workbook or curriculum.  It's Christmas time for goodness sake!! But I am a Thrifty Homeschooler and I will find a way to teach her cursive on a shoestring budget.

IF I had the money to spend right now I would simply buy the A Beka Writing With Phonics Workbook for 1st grade.

My other option (which would be a little more expensive) would be to purchase The Joy of Handwriting   for instructions and practice and the A-Z Crawly Critters Cursive Penmanship for extra practice once all the letters were learned.

But like I said before I have $0 to spend on this new change.  She has interest and that's whey it's crucial to start now.  She has been a little jealous that she can't read the cursive handwriting notes between big sis and me.  I've searched all over for cheap/free options.

First, I looked through what I already had (since I've already taught one child cursive).  I already had a laminated cursive letter chart for reference.  I have Cursive Letter Formation Flashcards that I bought used. A dry erase board for demonstrating letter formation is such a plus if you can't splurge on the flash cards.  I also have writing tablets for different levels (I knew there was a reason I bought these at the back to school sale).

So I've got the materials I need but now I need the worksheets and instructions.  Here is some of the free printables and information available.  While I favor the traditional cursive for our homeschool, I did my best to include several different styles of cursive.

This site is my favorite for creating my own worksheets.  It has the most beautiful cursive out there and the letters connect!!
http://www.handwritingworksheets.com/


Jan Brett Cursive Tracing pages by the popular children's author.
http://janbrett.com/alphabet/alphabet_tracers_cursive.htm


Teacher created cursive handwriting worksheets and animated letter formation videos.
http://myfunteacher.com/resources.htm


This page will take you to the Printable Cursive letter handwriting pages on Crayola.
http://thefrugalgirls.com/2012/08/cursive-printable-handwriting-pages.html


Cursive handwriting worksheets.  The worksheets have to be done in order since they have a specific layout of letters.
http://www.kidzone.ws/cursive/index.htm


Upper and lowercase worksheets.  For some reason the lower case r doesn't look like cursive to me.
http://mixminder.com/cursive-handwriting/


Cursive letter formation video on Youtube.  The letters are done from a-z
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3C26YWtFwYQ


Teaching Cursive lens on Squidoo
http://www.squidoo.com/Teaching-Cursive


Printable worksheets for lower case and upper case by Bible ABC Worksheets
http://www.biblestoryprintables.com/BibleCopyworkABC.html


Free printable pages in different fonts
http://www.learningpage.com/free_pages/galleries/basics.html


Free printable cursive handwriting worksheets on Squidoo
http://www.squidoo.com/free-printable-cursive-handwriting-worksheets#


Free printable lined paper for cursive lessons
http://www.do2learn.com/activities/writingtools/index.htm


Donna Young's cursive handwriting worksheets
http://www.donnayoung.org/penmanship/cursive-handwriting.htm


Printable lined paper in different sizes by Donna Young
http://www.donnayoung.org/penmanship/paper.htm

Printable Cursive letter charts-- if you don't already have one-- to be laminated or put in your child's notebook.
http://practicalpages.wordpress.com/handwriting-pages/cursive-handwriting/

http://www.studenthandouts.com/01-Web-Pages/Lot-01/Free-Printable-Cursive-Script-Alphabet.html

http://www.newamericancursive.com/alphabet.htm  New American Cursive

http://www.abcteach.com/directory/subjects-handwriting-dn-style-font-cursive-637-3-1?utm_expid=271287-0&utm_referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bing.com%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dprintable%2Bcursive%2Bletter%2Bchart%26qs%3Dn%26form%3DQBRE%26pq%3Dprintable%2Bcursive%2Bletter%2Bchart%26sc%3D1-30%26sp%3D-1%26sk%3D  all kinds plus bookmarks

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Cursive-Handwriting-Key

http://www.teachervision.fen.com/tv/printables/phdirect/Landy_0130139424_326.pdf