Bub's handwriting has been barely legible since he's learned to write. He's practiced a lot, writing me love notes everyday for a time, but still, his handwriting is lacking. And it's hard for him--when we work on math, he complains when I set him to write the problems out himself--he doesn't form the numbers and some of the letters the way you are supposed to.
So today I found myself researching handwriting programs. To my knowledge (if you know better, feel free to correct me), most public schools, around here at least, teach Zaner-Bloser or D'Nealian. I've found that Kindergarten teachers often feel very strongly about one over the other. Some of the swanky private schools use Handwriting Without Tears, as do many homeschoolers. I can't figure out which style HWT is (of the ones I looked at).
But today I found a new style, called Getty-Dubay, from Portland State University. Instead of using stick-and-ball formations, it's more elliptical and has fewer pencil lifts. Also, the cursive version is very similar to the manuscript version, making it easier to read, write and learn. Originally I thought we'd be doing HWT, but there seems to be a bit of coloring in the workbooks, at least at the lower levels, and Bub hates to color. And there are so many add-ons (the little chalkboard, the shapes you put together to make letters, the dough) I wonder if we really need all of that.
I ordered the first and second grade books today, this will be one of our summer projects. I guess we'll see how this goes.
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