{"id":1008,"date":"2018-01-17T19:17:57","date_gmt":"2018-01-18T02:17:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yycmontessori.ca\/?p=1008"},"modified":"2018-01-17T19:17:57","modified_gmt":"2018-01-18T02:17:57","slug":"cursive-handwriting-in-the-21st-century","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yycmontessori.ca\/cursive-handwriting-in-the-21st-century\/","title":{"rendered":"Cursive Handwriting in the 21st Century"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>There is a lively debate going on in the country about whether, in this age of electronics, cursive handwriting is a necessary skill. Cursive is not required by the national educational Common Core Standards. Many states across the country are removing or reducing cursive instruction from the curriculum while only a few states have deliberated and decided to keep it.<\/p>\n

Given these changes, some parents may question why children in Montessori schools are still given so many lessons to prepare them for handwriting and are encouraged to spend time practicing and perfecting their writing, whether it’s cursive or printing. Some parents may wish to encourage their children to write more with pencil and paper, especially since keyboards and touch screens are so appealing and easy to use.<\/p>\n

Research on Cursive<\/p>\n

New research points to the value of cursive writing. One\u00a0study\u00a0of elementary children concluded that just 15 minutes a day of cursive writing results in many benefits, including improved motor skills, cognitive development, reading comprehension, and writing skills. A fascinating\u00a0study\u00a0of children in second, fourth, and sixth grades revealed that students “wrote more words, faster, and expressed more ideas when writing essays by hand versus with a keyboard.”<\/p>\n

The Hand\/Brain Connection<\/p>\n

As a parent, you know how much your children love and need to move and explore. There is an important connection between the movement of the hand and the development of the brain. When children move and use their hands, they are developing pathways in the brain. They are learning! That’s why it is so important for children to draw, paint, build with blocks, run, jump, and move rather than spending too much time sitting still in front of screens.<\/p>\n

The steps to acquiring the skills of handwriting are much more complex than touching a key on a keyboard. In order to grasp a pencil and draw lines, shapes, and finally letters, children must develop fine motor skills, concentration, and eye-hand coordination.<\/p>\n

From Large to Small Muscle Movements<\/p>\n

Young children perfect their movements and develop the muscles for fine motor skills (needed to hold and write with a pencil) by starting with large movements. Children love to paint or draw very large letters on an easel,\u00a0chalkboard, or a large piece of paper.<\/p>\n

Montessorian Susan Scheibenzuber has worked with and observed children for over 20 years. In her booklet,\u00a0Beautiful Handwriting<\/em>, she noted, “Children travel along the path to becoming a writer at their own pace. We cannot hurry it. Most of them move through the same developmental milestones at their own time.”<\/p>\n

How to Support Your Child’s Writing at Home<\/p>\n

In the 1950s, my aunt in Nebraska had never heard of Montessori – yet she came up with a very Montessori-like idea. Searching for a way to help her struggling students form letters, she poured sandy cat litter into a box and encouraged the children to draw letters with their fingers in this material. They loved it!<\/p>\n

You can do something similar (and you don’t have to use cat litter!) by setting out a tray of cornmeal or sand and showing your child how to make letters by using the index and middle fingers of one hand. It intrigues children to feel the sand as they make letters appear, and then with a gentle shake of the tray, disappear.<\/p>\n

When your child shows an interest in letters, you can also:<\/p>\n