Best Homeschool Cursive Curriculum
After not focussing on handwriting in our homeschool for the last few years I needed to find the best homeschool cursive curriculum.
The main reason I chose to teach cursive handwriting was solely the fact that it is quicker to write.
Of course, it looks nice but my main reason was to help my son write quicker. He tends to do most of his schoolwork these days on the computer, and when I asked him to write an essay on paper the other day it took him hours.
I kept looking at him and it was because it didn’t flow, the pen was raised off the paper for every single letter. No wonder it was taking him so long to write.
I timed his writing before we started with cursive and again after. He saved a massive 20% in time, and not only that, it looked neater.
This is one of the best homeschooling resources for improving children’s handwriting.
**Disclosure: I was compensated for my time to write this post. As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own. I only share resources that I would use with my own family and those that I believe other homeschool families will enjoy. There may be affiliate links in this post.**
If you are in the same position, carry on reading to see how to teach cursive to your kids with this homeschool curriculum. Trust me our top 3 methods have helped no end.
How to teach cursive writing
The only way we could teach cursive writing in our homeschool is with a curriculum. I learned cursive a long time ago, and to be honest, it isn’t the best.
I wanted to teach Freddie the correct way to write that would not only look amazing but be quick!
Handwriting App
Yes, that’s right, you can teach cursive writing on an iPad! In fact, any time spent on the iPad during the school day is a win for Freddie.
The Handwriting Success™ App provides a complete handwriting curriculum for K-6 at the touch of a button. Anyone with a tablet and compatible stylus can download it and try it for free.
Download the free app here to try it for yourself on IOS and Android. Freddie really enjoyed using the handwriting app, and his handwriting definitely improved. However, as I am old-school I needed him to write with a pen and paper too!
Cursive Workbooks
If you are more old school like me the thought of practicing handwriting on an iPad is a step too far. (Don’t get me wrong though my 12-year-old son preferred the iPad method.) Then I highly recommend the cursive workbooks from Getty-Dubay.
The Getty-Dubay Italic Handwriting method has been a homeschool favorite for 40 years, and I can see why.
The cursive workbooks are aimed at grades K-6. The first 3 books are basic italic and the last 4 books are cursive Italic. Below is from the Book E collection which is aimed at 4th grade, personally though this was a great place for him to start in 6th grade as he had not done it before.
I was impressed with the lessons and I also like in the front of each book is an informal assessment so you can easily see progress. The children write in the book before taking the lessons and then at the end of the book they write the same sentence.
Check out the best homeschool literature curriculum!
Make Your Own Cursive Worksheets
We create a lot of our own worksheets and I love that you can do this with Getty-Dubay.
Download these amazing handwriting fonts from Getty-Dubay and create your own cursive worksheets.
We use Canva so much in our homeschool, we pay for the pro option as it gives us that little bit more that we need. However, for the first few years, we used the free option.
All you need to do is extract the zip file and add them straight into Canva. Please note though this is for personal use only, so I can not send the Shakespeare cursive practice we created.
But with Canva it is easy to recreate yourself. (If you love Shakespeare or want to encourage your children to get into his works check out the best Shakespeare books for kids.)
If you are looking for even more homeschooling curriculum reviews check out all of the others we have reviewed over the years.
Last Updated on 2 September 2024 by Clare Brown