For at least a year my 7 year old (and oldest) daughter has been begging to learn cursive! Her daily handwriting book transitions to cursive later this school year, and she has been so excited to start. Practicing cursive on her own from what she has seen in every day life, she has learned to write her name, and a few others as well, so it only seemed natural to jump at the chance to review CursiveLogic. As part of our review we used the CursiveLogic Quick-Start Pack and The Art of Cursive coloring book.
This multi-sensory approach to learning cursive is so easy and common-sense I was asking myself why we didn’t learn this way when I was a child?! As a homeschooling mama I find it easy to teach, and absolutely no fuss- no extra supplies, no clutter to add to our already overflowing shelves of manipulatives. Everything you need to teach a child cursive writing comes in one simple Quick-Start Pack.
About CursiveLogic Quick-Start Pack
The CursiveLogic Quick-Start Pack is an easy to use and easy to teach cursive program based on 4 letter “strings.” Similarly shaped letters are grouped together in “strings,” which means that connecting those strings comes more naturally! No more dry, tedious practice of repeating individual letters over and over for weeks on end before learning to really write in cursive. If done at the pace recommended, students are writing real words the first week! The program is designed in such a way that with 1:1 instruction, children can complete lessons much more quickly if they’d like, or more slowly (like we’ve done) to fit their needs without getting bored, frustrated, or losing momentum. Regardless of what pace you choose, students are successful at writing and connecting cursive letters from the very beginning!
Included in the CursiveLogic Quick-Start Pack is:
- one CursiveLogic workbook
- access to an instructional webinar (active for 6 months after time of purchase)
The workbook is spiral bound at the top allowing both right and left handed students to use it with ease. Lower case lessons are found on the front of each page, and upon coming to the end, students simply flip the book over working back through the book on reverse pages. The design is genius, and my daughter was thrilled to tell her daddy all about how she gets to “flip it over to keep going!”
There are a few resource/informational pages in the first section of the workbook, which allowed us to go over the fundamentals of preparing for cursive writing and each time we need a refresher-so easy for student and teacher. The instructions are clear, the pages are crisp and of very high quality making writing on them an experience in itself. (Um … journaling, paper, and pen nerd here!)
The webinar is for the teacher (or perhaps a much older student that is self directed?) to learn the method of CursiveLogic and how to teach it. This is a very specific method, and is much different from how most of us learned cursive writing. As I mentioned, the method itself is based on learning 4 strings of 6 lower case letters at a time, their pattern, and the catch phrase which is associated with it. Each string has its own color which helps visually when learning, and the repetition of the catch phrase helps make students of all learning types successful at cursive writing! This is a multi-sensory approach to writing; and let me tell you- if you have a a child with a learning difficulty that affects their writing, (or a child that learns outside of the typical tracing/copying/video based learning) this may be just the program for your family! Cursive letters come later in the course, making the transition from lowercase to uppercase seamless.
At just over 45 minutes, the webinar holds all the wisdom to be had when teaching cursive, and using CursiveLogic to do so. This was a very quick and fun, yet important, part of the program. I watched it before we began, and have viewed sections several times before lessons. This really pulled the method and idea of the program together for me, making it easy and natural to teach my 7 year old.
How We Used CursiveLogic
Almost 2 years ago we noticed a few things that seemed off about her learning & writing, so with much investigation and prayer, we took our daughter in for an occupational therapy evaluation which led us to a developmental ophthalmologist. It was one of the very best things we’ve ever done for her, and while the journey has been long and will be part of our life for a while to come, it opened our eyes greatly to a few struggles she is experiencing. One of those struggles includes writing due to a very complicated vision dysfunction diagnosis she received last year. This dysfunction makes it difficult for her to read and write the way most people can.
Her handwriting alone has been a true personal struggle, a point of frustration for her because she is a perfectionist who leans towards anxiety. I have to give a lot of reassurance that her work is her best effort, and that’s what matters-not how perfect it is. Printing and spacing take so much concentrated effort for her that she often forgets what she is writing, as forming letters and numbers don’t come with ease, even after years of practice.
*Insert CursiveLogic here*
CursiveLogic has *truly* changed how she sees writing, how she feels about writing. The process itself has been a learning curve, she is only 7 and has been writing in print since she was 3 or 4. But despite the learning curve, CursiveLogic has come more naturally than print ever did. I asked her today if learning cursive has been easy or hard compared to learning print, her response was, “It isn’t harder … but it is much more fun!” (and let me tell you, as her mama and teacher, it has been easier!)
Tracing each letter string with her finger, then pencil, while repeating the catch phrase that correlates to that string has helped her handwriting tremendously! Learning in strings that are all similar shapes has increased muscle memory, which for her at this time, has not happened with print. I can only imagine that learning cursive the “old” way would have caused her more frustration & built a road block to learning- but not with CursiveLogic!
As a *rule follower* she took the instructions in the workbook very seriously- they are so helpful and clear; she is careful to watch her arm in alignment with the edge of the page, keep her posture, and works on relaxing her hand. These are all things that take a determined effort for her, and while they frustrated her when printing, she has found them a support when writing in cursive. She feels successful and excited to write!
Each day she asks if she can do cursive- it is a reward for after we have completed other work. CursiveLogic has made the process of learning cursive so simple for an otherwise struggling writer. We have taken it slowly with this program, because I was concerned about handwriting and her frustration/anxiety. She hasn’t become overwhelmed at all, and is always eager to get to the parts of the lesson where she uses her pencil. I watch the parts of the webinar for that day’s lesson if I feel I need a refresher, show her what we are doing, and then we work together.
I am very proud of her and the progress she has made, her new found confidence in writing, and thankful for CursiveLogic!
I would absolutely recommend this program for a typical learner, or a struggling learner/writer. The multi-sensory approach to writing cursive makes it attractive to all learning styles, and more effective. Because she was able to start right away forming “strings” and shortly there after words, she felt successful from the start. Using colors and auditory cues to help remember certain formations has also helped with muscle memory- no road blocks here! Every time we get ready for a cursive lesson, there is excitement! We will be writing spelling words in cursive soon, and I can’t wait to share that progress with you. (I will have before and after photos later today when my wordpress cooperates.)
The Art of Cursive
~Calling all fountain pen lovers~ (Yes, that would be me … Oh, and markers, too!)
The Art of Cursive is an absolutely gorgeous coloring book intended for adults or for a student who has completed the program. This coloring book includes 4 lessons (perhaps as a refresher?), is intricate, and will not disappoint. I know many adults who love to color and also work on their handwriting for journaling and scrapbooking- this is a perfect gift idea for them! I promised my daughter we could do it together after she has finished her cursive writing workbook. I have never, ever had beautiful handwriting so I am excited to work in The Art of Cursive to improve my hand.
The pages are thick- perfect for inks, markers, or pencils. I imagine blending markers would be great on these pages as well.
Quick-Start Pack Coupon Code
Connect With CursiveLogic
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. haha
– she loves them. And they are great for her to play with during independent play. They are good for learning and imaginative play-this set comes in 3 different sizes. We read the three bears and then I introduced them. She plays with them several days a week (if you get them, be sure to get the set with 3 sizes like the one in the link)
get used ALL the time, for all different things. They also make the 
that go with them, to use for more instruction type learning/play. My younger children love using the pattern block cards independently while I school with my olders.
, or some sort of snapping cube. Unifix cubes are great for building, sorting, counting, and learning about number sense, etc. They’re a great math manipulative! I linked to the 500 count set because 100 isn’t really enough. When you get into complicated math down the road (multiplication, division, fractions) you will need more than 100 to compare amounts, makes graphs, etc. So I’d suggest the larger set if you are able (Especially if you will have more than one child using them at a time)
is Ah-MAZING. I think I paid $25 w shipping (we have amazon prime, it’s worth it just for the shipping on Christmas gifts for family, alone!) The set is a little more now. The set is very strong, the pieces are big and wide so they’re easy for little hands to manipulate, and it’s fun.
. She loves it and uses it all the time. We got the wooden one, and the wooden trains to go with it (we only have a few, but she seems happy with that for now). I thought she would get frustrated with it, because the tracks have to be put together a certain way, unless you have enough track pieces then it doesn’t matter. But she doesn’t. She just pretends, takes it apart, can almost get it back together correctly… but often she plays with the trains without the tracks. **All 4 children now enjoy this train set, playing with the train tracks, and the trains. One of the first sounds baby #4 learned was “choo choo”
. I know- it looks simple but it has seriously been on her table in the living room for over a year, and she plays with it almost daily. We have used it for numbers, colors, and shapes.
like these (they were a gift for her first bday, I have no clue what brand ours are. But they are a nice thick foam made for the bath tub, though they’ve never been in the tub…)
and 
– my mom brought one for the trip from Memphis to NE when we moved. Bug really likes it, but it isn’t something I let her have all the time (we are learning not to bang the marker on the board….) The board is a small 12 x 12 board, great for playing, and learning to write. The one linked has both a lined side, and a blank side; so as children develop their writing skills they can use the lined side. We enjoy ours so far!
– it is the fisher price loving family dollhouse, I had when I was a kid. She plays with it all the time, and we play with it together.
– you may have 
– So much fun, so much learning and exploring.
– we have a few different sets of these from friends and family. My kids use them often, they are something fun to do together as well. They pretend to sew, knit, and crochet like mama. Great for fine motor, critical thinking, and hand eye coordination.
