Kids and calligraphy?

[ewigginton]

So I have a nephew who is teaching himself cursive since they no longer teach it in his school. He's nine. Is pointed pen a good idea for a child? When is a good time for them to learn? Are there how-to books geared toward children or is hands-on the best way?

[Erica McPhee]

How awesome he is teaching himself cursive! We are homeschooling this year so I am teaching my younger two cursive as well. I am making it up as I go along but Michael Sull has a wonderful course. http://www.spencerian.com/americancursivepromotion.html

I think you can order it through John Neal and Paper & Ink Arts as well but the link above goes into more detail.

I think it is important for them to master the basics before they move on to pointed pen. There is a frustration factor involved with getting the pen to even work, let alone making the correct letter forms. However, I have introduced all of my kids to a pointed pen around age 7 just to get a feel for it. They were thrilled when they could write words with it but I think they are a long way off from actually doing cursive with it. However, every child is different! My kids have handwriting issues anyway (go figure) and low muscle tone so it is a bit of a challenge to manipulate.

No harm in giving it a try!

In terms of other lessons, people really like handwriting without tears but I don't care for their letter forms. I have created a manuscript lesson for learning print. I will post it at some point, but it isn't cursive. This is another great resource http://www.handwritingforkids.com/handwrite/cursive/texts/index.htm but again, not crazy about some of the letter forms (however, of course, I have my own idea of what they should look like).

This is my favorite: http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/blog/2012/10/a-z-cursive-handwriting-worksheets.html. She has a bunch of free downloads, too. 

[Erica McPhee]

Oopsie ...hit send before I was finished!

In terms of calligraphy, there are a couple of great books! Eleanor Winters has a Calligraphy for Kids book. Anything by Margaret Shepherd. It's never too young to start! But I would advise beginning with a marker. I started calligraphy in the 5th grade (around the same age as your nephew).

Peter Thornton told me in a calligraphy workshop once that he found the thing in common with many of the modern day masters is they all started at a very young age. I think it's about muscle memory and ingraining the techniques at a young age. The same can be said for most sports. Or perhaps there is some innate skill there that is just expressed early on and then continues to improve with age.

Personally, I had horrible handwriting until after college. I used to get straight A's but with C's in penmanship in grade school! It would make me crazy! All the while practicing calligraphy!!! 

[ewigginton]

So much good information, Erica! I'll get to work on printing out some worksheets for him and we'll go from there. I'm sure his dad has found him a book or two on cursive (he's a special needs elementary teacher) but it never hurts to have a nice variety. Last year I bought him a vintage (aren't they all now?) typewriter and he houses it in his roll-top desk. He definitely has my genes in there somewhere!

[Erica McPhee]

He sounds like a kid after my own heart!