With technology ever growing and the use of text, email, and computers for everyday typing and relying of messages, basic handwriting is starting to become a thing of the past. Of course, everyone should still learn the basics of handwriting, and strive to make it legible, but cursive is becoming almost archaic. Many students are not learning this skill and many people wonder if it’s even worth teaching at this point.
The Pros
Your children may be learning at home or a traditional school, and so it may be up to you on whether you want to teach them cursive. There are some positives to being able to read and write it, as there are some people out there who still utilize it. If your children are particularly enjoying handwritten notes and sending cards to friends and family, they may enjoy the experience of learning it and applying it to the cards they send.
But for all intents and purposes, cursive doesn’t have as many real world applications as it did back in the day. If someone needs to write something quickly, they are most likely going to use their phones or computers to write something down, which is typically faster than cursive to begin with (and legible across the board). The positives of cursive writing is more about the experience, knowledge, and enjoyment of the writing style more than anything else, which is never a bad thing!
Should You Teach It?
If you are homeschooling and wondering if you want to teach your children cursive, you can always let them decide! If they seem interested in the art and would like to give it a try, then by all means show them the ropes! If your children aren’t fully receptive to learning it, chances are they won’t use it in the future anyway. Use this bonus teaching time to give them other interests to explore. And you never know, they may become interested in it later on.
Most schools (if not all of them) have mostly done away with teaching cursive. There are a lot of topics that teachers need to educate their students on, and cursive just doesn’t fall into that category anymore. With so many other subjects and more opportunities to learn, teachers are better off focusing on other topics to continue your child’s education on the things that matter most. If you are wanting your children to learn cursive, you can always teach them at home! It can make for a fun bonding experience!
Katie Kyzivat