Harmony Calligraphy

Don't you absolutely love this fabulous HARMONY calligraphy? Nice thought for the last day of the year, isn't it? Let's carry it over into the next year too.

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Have You Written A Letter Lately?

"If you really want to touch someone, send them a letter."

This graphic design/photo by Avi Abrams says it all, doesn't it? Look around and see if you can find your old fountain pen and write a New Year's greeting to someone. I still have the real ink pen I got as a high school graduation gift. Send people handwritten notes if you didn't get around to sending out Christmas cards. Just do it! Snail mail is a good thing.




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Today is National Handwriting Day and Neatness Counts

Get out your pens boys and girls. It's time for penmanship. Oh, how I loved this class in the fourth grade! It was such a rite of passage to leave the childish printing behind and learn CURSIVE.

I looked through my flat files and found this page from Lena Carroll's 1873 lesson book.

This is a screen capture from an online website that teaches children cursive. When you mouseover each letter, it shows you how to write it. See 2nd link at end of this post.

This is a penmanship exercise from the late 19th century that I found online and copied.

You can download and print these cursive flash cards ~ see the last link below.

Today really is National Handwriting Day. I hope you will take the time to read the full article from The Boston Globe (first link below). It really made my hair stand on end when I read that there are 20 and 30 year olds that can't read cursive! How can this be? I can understand when 5 year olds say they can't read script but not young adults. What has happened?

I read an article recently about a young girl who sent 35,000 text messages in one month. We e-mail, we text, we Twitter - what will become of handwriting? Parents should insist that their children are taught these basic skills. It would be a real handicap later in life to be illerate in cursive and incapable of executing a handwritten letter or thank you note in your best penmanship.

I still have the fountain pen that I got as a high school graduation present and I have some bottles of real ink too. In my desk I have quite an assortment of antique writing instruments acquired over the years from relatives or purchased at estate sales. Sadly, I don't use them as much as I used to but I could if I wanted!

Try to write something beautiful today in your best hand to celebrate this special day and help keep handwriting alive.

Feel free to comment if you have any strong feelings on this subject. Thanks, Rosemary

Is the writing on the wall for penmanship? - The Boston Globe

Online cursive handwriting lessons for kids

Download cursive pictorial flash cards for kids




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