Handwriting

Callirobics

Book cover: 'Callirobics'
Author(s): 
Liora Laufer
Number of pages: 
45 pages
Copyright: 
2002
ISBN: 
9780963047809
Publisher: 
Callirobics
Binding: 
Stapled Softcover
Subject(s): 
Handwriting
Grade / Age level: 
Elementary
Resource Type: 
Audio
Review: 

Callirobics will significantly and quickly improve your child's penmanship, even though he'll never form a single letter while using it. If your child has difficulty with consistency in formation, slant, and spacing, thinks he "just can't do it", has a bad attitude toward penmanship, or simply benefits from auditory and kinesthetic modes of learning, this may help.

The name, "Callirobics", refers to calligraphy and aerobics; these are exercises (though not very oxygen intensive, thankfully!) for the hand and brain, set to music. The program is an adjunct to any manuscript or cursive program that you are using, not a replacement for it. Its goals are to improve "eye-hand coordination, fine motors skills, self-esteem, and handwriting". Don't let the inclusion of self-esteem put you off; this program delivers what it promises, and the self-esteem is a natural result of accomplishment.

Callirobics was recommended by St. Thomas Aquinas Academy for my 6th grade daughter, but I decided to use it for my 8th grade daughter and myself as well. Within the first month of using the program for about 10 minutes a day, as instructed, I could see significant improvement. The endings of words started tending up instead of down; letters were better formed and more evenly spaced; there was a great improvement in slant and smoothness. Callirobics is rapidly and almost effortlessly effective.

A nice fringe benefit was that we began associating penmanship with joyfulness, since the combination of Liora's appealing accent (she introduces each exercise) and the engaging instrumental music create a pleasant mood. The children enjoy it so much that they ask to do Callirobics every day.

As effective as it is, Callirobics might not appeal to you initially if you're accustomed to more serious, formal approaches to schoolwork. The program has light-hearted illustrations and exercise titles ("Curly Head", "Lucky Clovers"). Also, the affirmations for students to write after each exercise may strike you as too full of phony self-esteem or humanist sentiments ("I make my life safe and happy", or "I am a beautiful person"), though some are not so bad ("I focus my attention on the task at hand"). The fix for that is to have your children write other sentences, such as "I'm thankful for the gifts God gives me", or to skip the affirmations altogether. The program will work just fine without them.

There are five levels: Beginning, Ages 4 - 7, 7 - 14, Advanced, and Adult, with different patterns and music for each. We are using the program for Ages 7 - 14, geared to cursive writing. The teacher's manual states that you need a Callirobics notepad; however, I called the 800 number and was told by Liora, who answered the phone, that any paper the student would normally use is appropriate.

For all those whose penmanship needs some shaping up, Callirobics may be just the right exercise program.

Additional notes: 

Set includes book plus CD or audio tape

Non-consumable

Reviewed by: 
Mary-Eileen Swart
First reviewed: 
10-11-03

Copybook: First Year

Book cover: 'Copybook: First Year'
Author(s): 
Leigh and Cheryl Lowe
Number of pages: 
96 pages
Copyright: 
2005
Publisher: 
Memoria Press
Binding: 
Softcover
Subject(s): 
Handwriting
Grade / Age level: 
Grades K-2
Review: 

Memoria Press' new copybooks provide a brilliantly simple combination of handwriting practice and memory work (simple Bible verses and classic poems from authors such as Robert Louis Stevenson). The child first practices simple letters before getting into Bible passages and poetry. These lessons also include space for illustrating the verse (great for reading comprehension!). Bible passages are taken from the King James Version of the Bible. Though the King James Bible does not suffice for Catholic religious instruction, it is rightly valued for its literary qualities and contributions to the English language. The Bible passages selected, which include passages important to Catholics like "I am the Bread of Life," are completely unobjectionable.

Reviewed by: 
Alicia Van Hecke
First reviewed: 
6-21-06

Cursive Connections: A Traditional Style

Author(s): 
Kathy Libby
Number of pages: 
80 pages
Copyright: 
1998
Publisher: 
KEL Publications
Binding: 
Softcover
Subject(s): 
Handwriting
Grade / Age level: 
Elementary
Review: 
Cursive Connections is a very simple and straightforward program for beginning cursive writing. The author considers the text appropriate for a mature 2nd grader or a 3rd grader. Permission is given for photocopying the materials for use within your own family.

The text is strictly black and white with no distracting illustrations. (These details are a matter of personal preference - I prefer this simpler style and others would rather have more colorful texts.) This text would be easy to use in a homeschooling situation because of the introductory information is rather complete: "the purpose of these materials", "who uses these materials", "practice methods", "expectations of the child", "correct paper position", etc. Different sorts of cursive strokes are explained as well as several examples of poorly done letters alongside "better" and "best" examples.

Individual cursive letters are given quite a bit of practice space on their own, and then practiced alongside other individual letters (particularly those which are more difficult to connect). As more and more letters are introduced, the practice begins to include short words and some phrases. After all of the lower-case cursive letters are introduced, the text moves along to Upper Case. "When should a capital letter connect to the next letter?" and when it should be left alone is also clearly explained.

This is in no way a "religious" text. However, the words God, and many Christian names (such as Xavier) are included in the word practice pages. Also, there is absolutely no offensive or "politically correct" content.

Reviewed by: 
Alicia Van Hecke
First reviewed: 
1998-99

Holy Papers

Book cover: 'Holy Papers'
Number of pages: 
80 pages
Copyright: 
1997
Publisher: 
Catholic Heritage Curricula
Binding: 
Other
Subject(s): 
Handwriting
Grade / Age level: 
Elementary
Review: 

This booklet provides thirty-three pages of lined paper with beautiful Catholic pen and ink illustrations. The pages are intended for handwriting practice and may be photocopied for use within your own family. Following the lined pages are approximately forty pages of beautiful religious quotes - printed in both script and cursive - for practicing handwriting. Quotes are organized according to themes such as Adoration, Conscience, Eucharist and Obedience.

Perspective: 
Catholic
Additional notes: 

Binding details: paper pad binding

Reviewed by: 
Alicia Van Hecke
First reviewed: 
2-3-01

Little Folk's Letter Practice

Book cover: 'Little Folk's Letter Practice'
Author(s): 
Nancy Nicholson
Number of pages: 
62 pages
Copyright: 
1997
Publisher: 
Catholic Heritage Curricula
Binding: 
Stapled Softcover
Subject(s): 
Handwriting
Grade / Age level: 
Preschool
Review: 

We reviewed Little Folks' Letter Practice. We found this to be very simple. For our child this was too easy for K level. It is basically for the Pre-K level. It has pages that are of coloring book quality. We photo copied the pages to make them easier to write on with a pencil. The letters of the alphabet are one to a page with a trace and write page following each letter. The pictures with each letter try to complement our faith. The introduction offers creative advice for the use of the book. The last 5 pages of the book encourage the child to sound out words. There are four or five possible words in a column. A blank has been left in front of each word, such as 'an'. Pictures to the possible word are in the right hand column to assist the child in the discovery of the word. The child will need to sound out the word in the column look at the pictures such as 'man' and write the consonant. There are no difficult words to sound out. All words are only three letters such as 'man', 'cat', 'mop', etc. This is a nice book for becoming familiar with the alphabet.

Perspective: 
Catholic
Reviewed by: 
M.Z.
First reviewed: 
1998-99

Peterson Directed Handwriting

Grade 1 Complete Kit
Author(s): 
Rand H. Nelson
Publisher: 
Peterson Directed Handwriting
Binding: 
Softcover
Subject(s): 
Handwriting
Grade / Age level: 
Preschool
Grades 6-8
Elementary
Review: 
Additional notes: 

Most of the booklets are stapled softcover, with the exception of the Preschool / Kindergarten ABC - 123 book, which is spiralbound.

Reviewed by: 
Suchi Myjak
First reviewed: 
1-21-2008

Startwrite Handwriting Software

The Handwriting Worksheet Wizard
Book cover: 'Startwrite Handwriting Software: The Handwriting Worksheet Wizard'
Number of pages: 
0 pages
Copyright: 
1998
Publisher: 
Idea Maker
Subject(s): 
Handwriting
Grade / Age level: 
Elementary
Review: 

System Requirements: 16 MB Ram, 20 MB Hard Disk

This is an elegantly simple computer program that resides on your hard drive just like an ordinary word processor. It allows parents and teachers to print out handwriting pages in a variety of handwriting styles, sizes and fonts. Some of your options include:

  • a center dotted line
  • solid text, dotted text, dashed text or text with arrows showing the proper writing direction
  • how dark you want the writing printed
  • a variety of fonts including standard print, italic and cursive
  • Landscape or Portrait orientation
  • how large you want the text to be
We've found this to be a really wonderful resource - particularly for our more reluctant writers. This software has enabled me to type in material from other subjects for handwriting practice (like Catechism or Geography). I love being able to save worksheets for extra practice or to use later on for younger siblings. I can also take the same text and print it out in different sizes for each child. It's quite easy to add pictures for embellishment or for the children to color (you can find lots of pictures on the Internet for these purposes). My children have enjoyed making up worksheets for each other as well.

Please note that the user agreement allows for use on just one computer. They do offer package deals for multiple computers. You can see more about this product at http://www.startwrite.com

Additional notes: 

CD ROM for Windows 95 & above / Mac OS 8.1 & above

Reviewed by: 
Alicia Van Hecke
First reviewed: 
11-8-04

Catholic Heritage Handwriting

Author(s): 
Nancy Nicholson
Publisher: 
AMDG For Little Folks
Binding: 
Spiralbound
Subject(s): 
Handwriting
Grade / Age level: 
Second Grade
Resource Type: 
Workbook
Review: 
It’s often the little things that make a resource stand out from the myriad of great products out there. Maybe it’s color pictures instead of black and white; or maybe it’s the typeface used; or maybe it’s the weight of the paper. There are many reasons why I like the Catholic Heritage Handwriting series more than the many other options available for practicing writing, spelling, even grammar and punctuation. For this review, I’ll be referring to Level 2 (about a 6 or 7 year old level – basically 2nd grade). With the revised handwriting series written by Nancy Nicholson, a big plus is the spiral at the top. I’m left-handed, my husband is left-handed and two of my children are left-handed. The one who will be using the Catholic Heritage Handwriting Series – Level 2: Finding the Way is one of my lefties. Being a boy, he already has to work so hard on his manual dexterity without also having the encumbrance of the spiral always in his way! Believe me, it makes for stress that can be easily avoided by placing the spiral at the top. THANK you, Nancy Nicholson! The organization of this handwriting series is great for a multi-aged home learning family. Each lesson is titled with the week and the lesson number – making it extremely easy to schedule the handwriting practice into a four-times-a-week time slot. Additionally, the lessons are short – maybe taking a total of 15-20 minutes (which is about the concentration span of a very active 6 or 7 year old). I like too that Nicholson has woven in Catholicism in the practice sentences and phrases. If this book was used during First Sacraments preparation, the words could be incorporated into spelling practice while the phrases could be memorized for recitation practice. Another cool thing is the subtle shrinking of the lines as the student progresses, from 3/4-inch uppercase to 1/2-inch uppercase! The lessons build bit by bit until, by the end of the year, the student will be copying out full prayers, poems and thoughts. These are all geared toward receiving the sacraments of Reconciliation and First Communion; however, even if your student is not yet ready to receive (or has already started receiving), these sentiments are still worthwhile for learning. The one down side is that for these longer copywork exercises, the author turned the page to allow more writing space. I’m sure though, that by the time my son gets to those longer lessons, he’ll be confident enough and his manual dexterity will have improved enough to avoid the despair the spiral unnecessarily engenders.
Reviewed by: 
Mary C. Gildersleeve
First reviewed: 
6-22-2009