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Where Art Thou, Cursive? 

2/7/2016

51 Comments

 
Picture
My cursive handwriting in sixth grade.

​Once upon a time—okay, my childhood—there were some not-so-terrific things about going to school.
 
For starters, corporal punishment was the way of the land.  I never got paddled, but even now, I can hear the screams that came from the principal’s office.  However, I did have my share of skinned knees, since the dress code was exactly that: girls were only allowed to wear dresses (or skirts or jumpers) but never pants. This, despite the fact that jungle gyms, monkey bars and those scary low to the ground merry-go-rounds are clearly not intended for children in ruffles and bows. 
 
Then, too, growing up in Southern California, I can still, literally, see the nasty smoggy air that enveloped all of us
at recess.   
 
Of course, there was awesome stuff, too.         
 
Our little school, like every other one in our town, had its own orchestra, with a music teacher named Joe Burger, who visited us every week, rain or shine.  When it did rain hard, we sailed right into a schedule that got us dismissed several hours ahead of the usual end of the day. Sixth grade had its very own rad adventure: we were bussed to a camp in the mountains for an entire week.  I can’t forget the yummy school lunches either—with real cafeteria ladies on site in
a real kitchen. 
 
For a whole lot of reasons, a lot of the ways schools were back then are gone.    
 
And while I think that’s mostly A Very Good Thing (especially the physical punishment and the now much cleaner air), there was one big chunk of the curriculum that shouldn’t have disappeared.     
 
But sadly, it mostly has.     
 
I’m talking about cursive writing.
 
I was reminded of its elegance and beauty a few weeks back while going through a battered manila folder filled with drawings I’d made that my mother had saved.  Stuck in as an after-thought was a page of poems she had copied in cursive. 
 
Perfectly slanted to the right with artful whorls and curves, the pretty words harkened back to the decades when people took their time to write mindfully and purposefully, and write well.     
 
I learned the same strokes in third grade.
 
With our own little workbooks and chunky pencils, we practiced one letter per day, upper and lower case, until all 26 letters were mastered.  If someone was absent for a few days, woe to that child: that meant that he or she might never learn how to properly execute the letters taught on the days he or she had missed.     
 
Like so many, I was proud of my ability to complete whole papers using cursive writing. 
 
But once I landed in high school, typed assignments were the only way to turn in homework.  Thanks to this new rule, my cursive skills eventually vanished. (Indeed, I only use cursive today for my signature.  Those who are generous might call it “interesting,” but not necessarily readable.  A few days ago, after examining my signed check, then looking at me, then looking at the check again, a grocery store clerk asked if I had been born in another country.)  
 
And although my teenage daughter was taught cursive at a young age, she was also taught to type in second grade. 
 
So, just like me, the one time I see her cursive skill is when she must sign her name. (And with electronic signatures becoming more and more common, there will come a day, sooner than later, when she won’t even be required to do that.)  I’m also well aware that her taking class notes in only block letters is the opposite of unique: I see this every day in both the middle and high schools where I work between TV and other writing gigs.   
 
I don’t know exactly why this makes me sad, but it does.
 
Perhaps it’s because I know that cursive writing still needs to be taught, and still needs to be used, at least sometimes. 
 
I’m not in the minority. 
 
A quick Google search using the phrase “benefits of cursive writing” comes up with 415,000 results, including articles from The New York Times and Psychology Today.  One site from the United Kingdom breaks down the positives of cursive into 10 reasons, and frankly, a lot of these explanations are just plain common sense. 
 
For instance, teaching cursive to those just learning to master words goes a long way in helping to prevent reversals and confusion of letters, especially with the letters B and D, and the letters F and T.  Learning cursive also enhances spelling ability because kiddos learn how to correctly spell using hand movements—which create muscle memories that retain specific spelling patterns.  And because cursive writing also promotes learning whole words rather than distinct letters, reading skills are improved. 
 
The article goes on to say that once words are learned, sentences in cursive are easier to comprehend, which subsequently means that less students require remedial support.  There’s more: one can generally write faster
using cursive rather than printing out the alphabet.  Writing like this, a student can get ideas on paper down
more quickly, and as a result, be able to take more detailed notes in class. (The entire article is right here,
at http://www.burford-pri.oxon.sch.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/10BenefitsCursiveHandwriting.pdf.) 
 
So will cursive writing ever make a comeback? 
 
Of course not. 
 
While a few of us might pen a letter now and again, mostly for the novelty of the experience, the instantaneous and magical communication provided by laptops and iPhones and texting make writing out homework and poems and other missives as extinct as the dinosaurs. 
 
Still, wouldn’t it be nice to hold on to this graceful way of connecting with one another… at least for a few
​more generations?
 
What are your thoughts and stories about cursive writing?  I’d love to hear from you!  

51 Comments
Lois Roberts
2/7/2016 08:49:18 pm

Did learn cursive still use as privacy on-lines becomes more doubtful, but never good at it, unbeautiful but hopefully legible.

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Hilary
2/7/2016 09:04:29 pm

Yes, I'm at that point as well. As you can see from the photo, I *used* to be good at it! Now, it's barely legible. :)

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Bruce Roberts
2/7/2016 08:55:24 pm

Joe Burger is still alive and on FB.

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Hilary
2/7/2016 09:05:02 pm

Oh my gosh! I'll have to go look now!

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Glenn Young
2/7/2016 09:01:51 pm

Your article made me think of the old show, "What's My Line?" The guest walked in and had to sign in on the little blackboard. Man or woman, the penmanship was flawless. If you watch many films from the 1930s to 1950s and there's a scene where a personal note was shown, the penmanship was also impeccable. I still sign my name in cursive, but it looks as if I've been out of practice for a while. My hand is used to holding a computer mouse instead of a pen.

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Hilary
2/7/2016 09:27:10 pm

Oh, did you ever read my blog on What's My Line? Here it is... http://hilaryrobertsgrant.weebly.com/blog/the-very-best-game-show-in-the-whole-wide-world ... and YES, challengers pretty much always wrote their names in beautiful cursive... and when it comes to old movies, I remember the beautiful cursive as well. Did you ever see Letter to Three Wives starring Kirk Douglas? :)

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Rick Mayberry
2/7/2016 09:05:32 pm

The one truly outstanding feature of my elementary school career was my solitary "U" ("Unsatisfactory") for handwriting in the fifth grade. The only other person in my class to be so shamed was my friend, Tony Rains. He, at least, went on to become a physician. My poor penmanship failed to suggest a comparable course of action for me...

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Hilary
2/7/2016 09:24:06 pm

I love the fact that Tony went into a profession where terrible, not-legible handwriting is simply a given. :)

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Bdv Praver link
2/7/2016 09:48:25 pm

Jerry's brother is a retired physician. I've never seen his prescription writing but his personal cursive is amazingly clear and well formed.

Susan Jordan
2/7/2016 09:08:29 pm

It makes me sad AND angry, and I think the next generation will find out what a big mistake it is. Cursive is faster, and I believe those other reasons for its value too. Maybe it will make a comeback, but only after a generation has lost it.

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Hilary
2/7/2016 09:26:12 pm

There are soooo many reasons to bring cursive back. In researching this blog, I found that Common Core (which most schools now use) stop teaching cursive to kids after first grade. It is shameful. As I write, I don't use it now, but I believe that being taught cursive made my brain stronger and more able to comprehend language. :)

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Jerry link
2/7/2016 09:19:01 pm

One of my sisters has never owned a computer and hence handwrites heartfelt cards and letters (with honest-to-goodness old-fashioned 4x6 photo prints enclosed), which are always charming to receive, but impossible for me to reciprocate… My handwriting has always been disastrous… Recently when I served as a jury foreman and had to scrawl a one-sentence note to the judge requesting testimony transcripts, he sent it back with a note saying that my handwriting was inscrutable, try again… At least that’s what I think it said, since his own handwriting wasn’t anything to, um, write home about… So thank goodness for keyboards — even though the iPhone’s is too small for my thick digits to correct AutoCorrect’s version of my dictated texts… In a perfect world, the next techno-evolution will be AutoThink — without even speaking, you’ll be able to beam your thoughts right onto the monitor… As for whether cursive should be taught in school — well, we’re managing to produce entire generations of high school graduates who are functionally illiterate (not to mention innumerate and lacking any concept of science or history, or what even constitutes facts or logic), so decipherable handwriting would seem like a low priority… at least until these kids develop thoughts that require more than emoticons to express…

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Hilary
2/7/2016 09:32:25 pm

LOL--the jury story is great and indicative that even judges these days are likely to have poor penmanship! I love keyboards for their speed and ease in writing... and correcting. I've mentioned white-out to a few middle schoolers I work with and they are perplexed as to why such a product is even needed... these days, of course, it's not. I'm so glad, too, that you have a sister that has kept up the tradition of writing letters by hand. :)

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Loree McRoberts
2/7/2016 09:49:33 pm

I have been reality checked a few times this week with things from my childhood that kids today know nothing about. Cursive writing was an art form in my elementary school; we had competitions to choose the best hand writers. You were proud to show off your nice, neat work. I would not have been able to keep up with note taking without my cursive. It saddens me that my grandchildren will not experience the curls, loops and slants of writing their ABC's.

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Hilary
2/7/2016 10:02:01 pm

I know, for sure, that I would not have been able to take the detailed notes I did in high school and college if not for my cursive skills. Someone else commented earlier tonight that cursive may very well come back into our schools--once we realize the mistake in getting rid of it. But, it may take a couple of generations What we WROTE back then actually went into our BRAINS, unlike so many kids today who "write" via copy and paste. It's just all so sad, and of course, not their fault. :(

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Bev Praver link
2/7/2016 09:56:10 pm

Our eight year old granddaughter is, I think, learning cursive. She's very proud of being able to write her name in cursive. It is not the lovely cursive that you achieved in sixth grade but it is a start. I still remember doing those exercises and having the teacher tell me my letters were too large and then doing them again trying to emulate my sister's handwriting (which received high marks) and being told the letters were too small! I can still write a fine hand if I take my time, but I rarely do.

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Hilary
2/7/2016 10:03:48 pm

Yes, Katie learned at that age, but then, continuing to write in cursive was stopped. Hopefully that won't be the case with your granddaughter, but if her school district practices Common Core, the cursive will come to an end.

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George Marshall link
2/7/2016 11:06:14 pm

I still write in cursive but a lot of times it is a kind of combination of cursive and printing. My mother had been a secretary and stenographer and had excellent handwriting all her life. She never lost it, even when got older.
I think it is sad that it is being lost. It is artistic and also a form of self expression. When I receive a handwritten note from a friend or family member I read not only the meaning of the words written but also the sense of their personality and even the mood they were in when writing. So much is expressed in the movement and form of the line that can never be revealed in the impersonal printing such as I am pecking out right now on the keyboard of the IPhone.

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Hilary
2/8/2016 09:20:48 am

I'm on the same page with all of these thoughts. Artistic, a form of self expression, the sense of personality, the mood the person was in when he/she took pen to paper... While our instant communication is satisfying in so many ways, the nuances are gone. I miss that.

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Pam Thomas
2/8/2016 08:07:52 am

It was lovely, and I still have a pack of letters, written in cursive and mailed from various locations. It is archaic now, but a nice memory of another era. We have easier and more efficient ways to communicate now. No need to bring back cursive...it served its purpose, and is not adaptable to the world we live in now. And also, my handwriting was a mess...left handed, dragging my hand through the ink. No. Just no.

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Hilary
2/8/2016 09:24:58 am

Our planet is getting smaller and smaller thanks to instant communication, and new and better ways to make that instant communication happen. But teaching cursive to little kids for just one year, then switching directly to typing, that's a big no for me. I wish there could be more of a compromise. RE: handwriting being a mess, I'm left handed as well and yes, I remember those ink-stained hands. It was all worth it, though!

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Carol Stern
2/8/2016 09:58:43 am

I am as a retired elementary school teacher deeply saddened by the loss of cursive to the curriculum. It was such a joyful, creative, and important part of the day for me and my students. Like many other changes to what our children are being taught or not taught we will be very sorry years later. There are so many benefits to handwriting as you said in your fine blog.

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Hilary
2/8/2016 04:04:51 pm

Yes, it WAS... emphasis on the word CREATIVE. As you can see from the photo I posted, I began making little circles above my lower case letter "i"... it was a way to be a little different from the rest, and also express my personality. My mother's cursive was more slanted than mine, and a bit tinier. So, there's more wiggle room to cursive than those who are not familiar with it might think. And yes, it's a terrible loss... and I think educators will end up being very sorry about it going away.

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Larry Grant
2/8/2016 12:33:36 pm

Though the bulk of my written communication today is text or email, I still hand write cards to loved ones. I feel it more accurately speaks my heart.
I also occasionally write out assignments for my private music students. They are able to read cursive.
In my stamp collection I have envelopes and postcards to family members from the 1920s and 30s. The handwriting is like a flowing work of art.

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Hilary
2/8/2016 04:06:58 pm

I can't imagine not writing out a special card by hand. Any other way is beyond impersonal... it's downright tacky. And yes, because every cursive is a bit different, just as we all are, the handwriting is its very own work of art. :) xo

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Heather Risinger
2/8/2016 03:54:42 pm

Cursive is making a comeback in some places. I just ordered a book for Zak to start working on it at home. If he goes to regular school next year, which he may, that school has the kids working on cursive in 2nd and 3rd grade. Nothing in the universe can ever replace a hand written card of thank you note. Love this!

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Hilary
2/8/2016 04:13:35 pm

This is very good to know! I am hoping, too, that the school where Zak may go next year will also be encouraged to continue to use their cursive after third grade. There is also something so lovely and elegant about a hand written card. I cherish one that Larry's adult middle daughter wrote me after I married her dad. For a lot of very good reasons, she was understandably suspicious when I joined the family. But a Mother's Day card a year later told me how much she valued and appreciated me. Those words meant, and mean, the world to me, but having it all written by hand on a card (which I *do* plan to frame sooner than later!) is the cherry on top of the sundae! :)

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Karen Roberts
2/8/2016 08:01:27 pm

We were writing in cursive before my family moved from Washington state to California when I was 8 years old. The new school was flummoxed, as they were not teaching cursive yet in that grade. I was punished for writing in cursive. I went back to block letters, and that is mostly how I write, even my signature. We were also using fountain pens and learning calligraphy. Moving to California seemed like a bad idea! I still love calligraphy and beautiful cursive writing, but being a physician, my handwriting turned to hell. I must look to others for this beautiful writing!

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Hilary
2/8/2016 08:36:34 pm

Yes, Katie's cursive signature has a few block letters in it as well. Sigh. But... PUNISHED for using cursive? That's just awful. The school systems in California were supposed to be top-notch back then, but it sounds like the school you went to clearly was not... at least in this regard. :(

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leslie spoon
2/9/2016 08:14:52 am

Hilary I use to enjoy that part of class for cursive writing. It is a lost art now. I use to find it relaxing. Now I print all the time and it looks pretty bad!

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Hilary
2/9/2016 09:40:25 am

I print all of the time now, too. I wish that at least one teacher in my high school had given us the option of turning in at least a few assignments in cursive... that would have kept me in practice!

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Fran Phinney
2/9/2016 10:01:54 am

This is my 2nd try at submitting a response to your blog on penmanship. I tried to hit the send button but it didn't work. Therefore I will be short, in case this also doesn't go through.
In 2nd grade I was taught to write cursive, or script as they also called it. However, being a left handed kid, I held my hand and arm at the top of the page and tried to write script. As I wrote, I smudged my words with my arm, which got covered in ink. Yes, we had to use ink. Cursive has always been a disaster for me to write so I went back to a sort of printing and attached the letters with a swirl here and there. My writing is hard to read, which ever way I write, and I use the cursive style only when signing something that I might not want to not admit to sometime down the road. "That's not my handwriting"... I have tried to read my great grandmother's frilly script from the 1800s and that is not easy to get through either. In these fast paced times, I find the typed word more efficient and less eye strain.

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Hilary
2/9/2016 10:48:42 am

This one made it through! My father was a right-handed person who was really a left-handed person, and he curled his right hand at the top of the page while writing, which was no doubt very uncomfortable. As a leftie myself, I obviously had an enlightened teacher, because I just wrote in a comfortable position and never put my hand on the top of the page... and from the photo, you can see how my cursive was once--emphasize ONCE--beautiful. I do remember the ink smudges, though. Typing words out is definitely more efficient and there's less eye strain... but still... I miss the beauty and art of cursive! : )

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Kim Fonturbel
2/10/2016 08:43:27 pm

Everyone should know cursive. It seems like a crucial developmental brain-step hoop to go through similar to how its important to crawl before you walk. That was some amazing cursive Hilary! Wow!

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Hilary
2/11/2016 10:08:07 am

Yup, it seems that cursive is taught in early grammar school grades... and then kids are led straight to the keyboards and never allowed to actually USE the cursive. I hope it comes back, because it's important for our brains! I know I learn a new thing way better when I actually write it out. Re: my cursive, given my signature now, I was surprised how nicely I *used* to write! :)

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Tammy Dalcin
2/12/2016 07:45:37 pm

My grandmother lived in Los Osos just a few blocks away from my house. She would send me cards for my anniversary or birthday, and everyone was in cursive. I always looked forward to reading her letters, even though Her writing was a bit shaky I actually learned how to read her cursive writing. The last letter I received from her was in February 12, 2010 ( today's date) she told me she loved her haircut and hoped I would be receiving See's cans for Valentines Day. I kept that letter and keep it in one of my favorite cookbooks so that when I open it I can be reminded of grandma.
I wish we could save this lost art, but sadly like you said technology has pushed it aside.

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Hilary
2/13/2016 11:17:12 am

I'm so glad you have that wonderful card in hand to remind you of your grandmother. I feel the same way about discovering that page of poetry my mom copied in cursive. I'm hopeful, too, that after skipping a couple of generations, educators will realize the importance of cursive and bring it back to use throughout grammar school... and beyond. :)

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Carolyn Reynolds link
2/13/2016 12:10:50 pm

It is almost like a second language in some nostalgic way. It's emotional, historic, commanding. It reminds me of great romances, declarations and I hope some of the elegance of cursive remains. Just another reminder of how far we have come from what we are losing in the dumbing down of our country.

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Hilary
2/13/2016 01:43:58 pm

We are singing to the same choir here. :) There are those who might argue that the dumbing down of our country needn't happen unless we let it. To that end, I'm thrilled that some areas of the country, and some schools, are realizing the importance of cursive handwriting... and then implementing it back into the curriculum. :)

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Melany Shapiro
2/13/2016 01:16:37 pm

Like you, I had perfect handwriting in grade school. Several times, I was given the job of going to the Assistant Principal's office to write out award certificates, commendation cards, etc. I'm sure in some dresser drawer somewhere, there's an award certificate written by yours truly.

I hadn't heard about the language benefits of cursive writing that you outlined, but it makes sense. As you know, my kids have had little to no instruction in this area. On the one hand, it's a loss. On the other hand -- on my more cynical days I'm glad. I get the nagging feeling that while the girls were perfecting their loop-de-loops, the boys became doctors, or otherwise ran off with all the money.

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Hilary
2/13/2016 01:46:04 pm

One of my first summer jobs was working for the water department of the city I grew up in. I was asked to address envelopes because "your handwriting is so nice." So, that means I was still using my cursive a little bit in high school. Re: your cynical days, you're probably right! :)

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LoisRoberts
2/13/2016 07:07:26 pm

Did find this discussion interesting as I really did not know that almost all cursive teaching was gone in this current generation.
I, too had my cursive education flawed by moving.When Ieft Kent for Cleveland, they were already using cursive and I only printed. In the third grade where I moved to, they were graduating to ink that year, it was a big deal. We had dip pen points and little chamois wipers and an ink bottle in the little hole on the desk. Of course I got a D and moved again the next year to Lakewood where we did not have it as a subject.l

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Hilary
2/13/2016 09:44:37 pm

I'm glad that we never had to move during all of the years I was in school. As far as using dip pens and ink... glad I started out with clunky pencils and graduated to ball point pens! I did use ink pens in art class, but thank goodness, not when learning cursive writing! :)

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Kari
2/14/2016 10:41:57 am

Yes, sadly, I miss cursive. My grandmother who raised me wrote the most beautiful cursive I had ever seen. She penned Caligraphy too. I even tried some Calligraphy. It is a lost art for sure. My 15 year old son sadly does not know cursive as well as he should. It is a sad realization.

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Hilary
2/14/2016 11:44:47 am

Yup, calligraphy went right along with cursive. I know, of course, that it's still out there, but not nearly as popular as a few generations back. ((SIGH))

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Jackie
2/15/2016 04:35:43 am

My cursive penmanship went to the gutter after grad school. However, if I am at a workshop, I take notes by handwriting them. Typing notes using a keyboard is too distracting. The public school curriculum is devoid of anything that hints at developing our right brain. But thanks for the fond memories of growing up when we did. (And how many times did you hear kids sing, "I see London, I see France..." while swinging on those monkey bars?) 😀

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Hilary
2/15/2016 12:50:37 pm

Yup, there were some terrific memories growing up when we did. :) I don't remember that particular phrase on the monkey bars, though. But I do remember doing "the cradle" with string, and I also remember jumping rope to phrases during recess. Lots of imagination and creativity there, for sure. :)

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kerri
2/23/2016 04:40:59 pm

I LOVE having my grandmamma's cursive on all her old recipe cards she gave me. I will truly cherish those.

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Hilary
2/23/2016 05:23:25 pm

I, too, cherish my mom's recipe box with all of her cursive dishes written out. I've added some of my own over the years, but in block print or cut out of a magazine or newspaper onto an index card. Even if some of the recipes are redundant, or I use a better version from a cookbook, I will never throw out the box (which is falling apart), or the cards. :)

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Karen
5/27/2016 09:22:57 am

Thanks for reinforcing the time my students spend learning cursive with research, and heart! I've used Handwriting Without Tears, created by Occupatioal Therapist Jan Olsen, for years with great success. It uses a vertical style, rather than a slant, and is not flowery. Both of these characteristics make it a quick-to-learn skill! Check it out!

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HIlary
5/27/2016 06:09:08 pm

I so wish that *all* students had access to this program, or similar ones. For those who are interested, here's the website: https://www.hwtears.com/hwt

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    Hilary Roberts Grant

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