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handwriting

How to Teach Kids to Write
Kid Shopping

5 Products That Help Teach Your Kids to Write

Here's a post from our partners at BabyCenter!
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Here's a post from our partners at BabyCenter! Every week, we bring you the best parenting and lifestyle stories from the experts at BabyCenter, including this post about teaching kids how to write.

I don't know about you, but teaching basic life skills to my children is pretty much last on my list of likes when it comes to parenting. Want to chat about your day? Great. Want to ask me a question about the sky, or the circle of life or religion? Let's do it. But you want to know how to use scissors? Or how to hold a pencil? I have no idea how to communicate this.

Related: How to Make Breakfast More Exciting Each Morning

My preschooler is learning to write, and I recently had a parent-teacher conference discussing how we can help him. He is 4 and refuses to hold writing utensils properly. Part of it is his age; I know this will come with time. But I think part of it can also be traced back to my complete paralysis when it comes to teaching this skill. After a chat with his teachers and a few friends, I decided to make a list of helpful items to get kids on the right track. Or should I say write track? Groan. I know, I know.

Check out these 5 products to help your child learn to hold a pencil:

  1. The Crossover grip from The Pencil ($11 for six) helps keep fingers where they are supposed to be.

Keep reading for the rest of the list!

Tools For Teaching Cursive Writing
News

Lean Into It: Tools For Teaching Tots Cursive If Their Schools Don't Do It

Add Indiana to the growing list of states that won't require tots to learn cursive writing.
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Tools For Teaching Cursive Writing

Add Indiana to the growing list of states that won't require tots to learn cursive writing. The state recently announced plans to remove cursive handwriting requirements from second grad curriculums, leaving the decision up to individual school districts. When we first discussed the issue, many LilSugar readers agreed that there should be a greater focus on typing skills than script. But for those mamas who still believe in the beauty of a handwritten letter, here are some options for teaching your lil one how to create the beautiful characters on your own!

Source: Flickr User spiritinme

Wallpaper "Cahier d'ecriture" by Madame Chalet ($153/roll) Abc Joined Up ($3) New American Cursive Penmanship Program ($23) Super Teacher Worksheets (free) Winter Wonderland Cursive Handwriting Tracers ($2)
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Schools Not Teaching Cursive Writing
School

41 States Don't Require Students to Learn Cursive

Just print your John Hancock here.
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Just print your John Hancock here. It may sound funny, but given the current educational standards across the US, few tots may know how to sign their name by the time they graduate from high school. To date, 41 states have adopted the Common Core State Standards for English, a new set of standards students are expected to learn before graduation, which doesn't include cursive writing. Though 71 percent of LilSugar readers believe that script should still be taught, more states are removing it from their curriculum as they aren't assessed on kids' ability to use it, and there is more of a focus on learning the QWERTY keyboard. States like California and Massachusetts have added the longhand style of writing back into their schools, but Georgia will make a decision when administrators meet in March.

If your school doesn't require students to learn cursive, would you teach your children?

National Handwriting Day
Layout

Celebrate National Handwriting Day With Cursive Practice

Clockwise from right: A simple Composition Book ($4), Secret Message Writing Set ($8), Removable Chalkboard Wallies ($20), One Line a Day Journal ($17) and a Chalkboard Placemat ($16).
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Your little scribe may be thrilled to be home from school today, but don't let her get away with skipping her cursive work. Today is National Handwriting Day, and a fitting opportunity to encourage your child to practice her writing skills (even if some schools favor typing these days). Celebrate the joys of unique penmanship today and everyday with creative canvases — from keepsake journals, notepads to erasable chalkboards. Practice makes perfect.

Clockwise from right: A simple Composition Book ($4), Secret Message Writing Set ($8), Removable Chalkboard Wallies ($20), One Line a Day Journal ($17) and a Chalkboard Placemat ($16).

Should Computer Typing Class Replace Teaching Cursive?
Poll

Writing Off the Written Word: Typing to Replace Cursive Class?

Some people consider handwriting an art.
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Some people consider handwriting an art. Others believe that technology makes the angled script obsolete. Kids start sitting and typing at computers as early as kindergarten; is there a point to teaching them cursive? While fancy penmanship certainly adds a classy touch to personal letters and flair to a person's signature, is it worth taking time away from the school day since the world is moving toward keyboard communication?