Beginning with Cursive

As a culture we have been mistakenly led to believe that manuscript is easier for students to learn than cursive. By reserving cursive for third grade we have given a whole generation the false impression that cursive is the “adult” form of handwriting and printing is simpler. However, this is simply not the case.

At Logic of English we strongly recommend beginning with cursive. Cursive has six primary advantages over manuscript:

1. It is less fine-motor skill intensive.
2. All the lowercase letters begin in the same place on the baseline.
3. Spacing within and between words is controlled.
4. By lifting the pencil between words, the beginning and ending of words is emphasized.
5. It is difficult to reverse letters such as b’s and d’s.
6. The muscle memory that is mastered first will last a lifetime.