Prescripts from Classical Conversations

I love the Classical style of homeschooling and am working toward a more Classical approach so was eager to review Classical Conversations Prescripts program for Cursive with Nathan.
Classical Conversations is an online Community as well as a local co-op program that is modeled on the Classical Trivium.
I recently attended a talk by one of the local Directors for a Classical Conversations group and she explained Classical Christian education is a brilliant way. I am paraphrasing, but basically the idea when we are Classically educating our children in a God centered way, not only is God the center of everything, but all the subject he created are interlinked and work to glorify him. With that in mind, simply adding scripture to our day isn't enough and for me, I am longing to put God in the center of our school day and our lives as we find ways to help the boys see scripture, God's Word in all they do. I was so eager and excited to dig into the Prescripts book with Nathan it didn't even occur to me that the book would use a different format and style for cursive writing. Oops!

I finally have a handwriting system that is working for my boys and as we began looking over the Prescripts book, I immediately saw the issue arising, "This isn't how my other writing pages look. Why are these letters different?" Yikes, stop the presses; Mommy has to figure something out.

After thinking on it for a couple of days, I decided I loved the way the program was laid out and designed, so I created some blank pages in the style that we were succeeding in and had Nathan do the same verses and the same drawing activities on formatted paper. It means I copy the verses onto his pages and then he traces and rewrites on the lines below. Means more work for Mommy but it is a huge stress out of our day. We are reading the verses together and breaking them down so we can do it in 3 parts. Once Nathan is finished with that day's portion of copy work, he can move onto the drawing lesson. At first my husband thought this was silly to rework what was already there into a different format paper, but once he saw that Nathan wasn't fighting with me to do his copy work, verse, or drawing activity he came around. 

If you don't have a child that struggles with changing writing styles this program is great. I love the verses from Proverbs and James and the basic shapes drawing lessons are simple enough that he can even read the directions without a lot of input from Mommy. The book retails for $12.99 and is one of four books available in the Prescripts series combining scripture, handwriting, and art lessons and can be used by younger students through elementary students; covering a wide range of ages with solids cursive scripture practice.

This video does a wonderful job showing and discussing the books in the series.

There is as wonderful FAQ page you can download from the Prescripts Page at Classical Conversations.
You can download sample pages of the Prescripts book

I want to make sure my boys have a foundation of cursive writing as it is the basis for creating our own signatures as well as reading many source documents they will come by. I am glad we were able to review this product and share our experiences with you. The rest of the Schoolhouse Review Crew shares their experiences with the Prescripts group of books, check their reviews out by clicking on the box below.

No more tears with Handwriting without Tears 2nd grade

Handwriting is a very personal thing in my world. Your signature and how to write tell those around you something about you, so I asked my boys what kind of impression people would have of them with their handwriting the way it is? They both realized it wasn't going to be a very positive one. 


Thankfully I was able to tell them we would be focusing on handwriting a lot this year and would be introducing them to a new program, Handwriting Without Tears. 
We would be working through the Second Grade  with both boys, since both boys' handwriting left a lot of be desired. 

Nathan started out the program with a bad habit that I must take full responsibility for , writing in all capital letters. Cameron likes to write capital letters when and where ever, making reading some of his work difficult. Thankfully,  Handwriting without Tears has a wonderful teacher's manual that lays out each of the letters and tricks to easily teach the boys.  I decided to have Nathan work on Printing Power and Cameron work on through Kick Start Cursive since he is already in the 4th grade but hasn't worked with cursive very much. 


We started out with a little frustration from Nathan as he thought he already knew how to write, thankfully as we got into the book he realized he needed some work.  One thing he is frustrated with is the smaller lines in the 2nd grade book, but I have told him if he would like bigger lines I can make him some paper to use for copy work and creative writing.  He is really catching on to the cues in the book and with only a few reminders is seeing a lot of improvement in his readability   He was crazy happy about writing his name on the front cover of his book, we decided to hold off writing in the inside cover until his penmanship improves, kind of a before and after look at his writing. 

 Cameron has been very happy with learning cursive using the Kick Start Cursive even if it is a 2nd grade level and is even looking forward to starting another level later this year. I am so grateful for being able to be flexibile with the boys and show them that labeling doesn't have to mean anything. It is just a guide and a starting point. 

The teacher's manual retails on their website for $9.25 and the Printing Power Plus which includes both the printing and cursive books in a bundle is $10.25.
Handwriting without Tears has a full range of Preschool - 5th grade penmanship programs and various manipulatives to enhance the child's learning of letters and words. 
We have been very happy with the program and will be purchasing additional books for both boys to work through. 

 Click to read more reviews from the Schoolhouse Review Crew