After much researching on handwriting curricula for my oldest, I decided to abandon the “curriculum” approach by purchasing the Startwrite handwriting software (I purchased mine at www.EducationMax.com for $29.95). With this software, I can create my own handwriting assignments and print them out for my son to practice.

For the past several days, I’ve been printing out various Bible verses for my son to practice writing. So far he is really enjoying it. The key is making sure he follows the correct strokes and sequences by constantly guiding him. As he gets better, I can be a little bit more hands-off. What I like about this approach is that I can kill two birds with one stone. He is learning Bible verses and learning how to write. I make it a point to discuss the Bible verse before and after he writes. Currently I’m using the verses from Susan Hunt’s My ABC Bible Verses.

Most of the handwriting curricula have the children start on a letter first and then keep on practicing the same letter. For example, most start with the capital A and then have the children write five or more times. After learning all the capital letters then they move on to the lowercase letters. I did a similar approach with my oldest several months back but I quickly noticed that after writing the first two letters, the subsequent letters got worse and worse. The phrase “practice makes perfect” didn’t apply in this case. He also lost interest quickly. After all, it’s the same letter over and over again. With these Bible verses, they are complete sentences that offer both content and variety. He really feels a sense of accomplishment after completing each verse.