“Cursing”

I hope that got your attention even if just to shake your head in dismay. When our oldest was in second grade, he came home to announce they were learning to write “cursing” In the years that have passed I have heard that word applied very freely by those who came through the process. At some point educators have thrown up hands in despair and thrown out the cursive for only teaching a manuscript alphabet. These comments, keyboarded in a readable manner, are a little disjointed. Pick what applies to you.

Hand eye coordination and small motor skills are still not my strength. I remember being frustrated but not stressed. The first hurdle to cross was holding the pencil, a challenge for all. (Think of toddlers with a folk.) Some want to do a whole hand fist grab and push and pull with upper arm strength. Then the sequence moves through thumb and first, second, or third fingers. Once a decision is made about holding, that is the choice forever. Look at adults. My means through college was to push the pencil against the third finger, creating a bump that has just now lessened.

I liked learning the letters because my blessed second grade teacher had stories to go with each one. A capital I was an airplane starting on the right, taking off, almost making a nose dive, and curving up before straightening out. A lower case m was a rabbit taking three jumps and two with an n, My biggest problem was I spelled more quickly than I could write. I remember misspelling papa three weeks in a row because I had already said the a before I finished the p so ended up with ppa without being able to figure out why. Through college I was a lean to the left writer to the point of being asked if I were left handed.

Since I was a cursive child and didn’t teach lower school to refine my printing posters, the time came when students would question what I wrote on the board. “”Consider it a life skill,” was my answer. Yes, books are in manuscript. The biggest requirement of writing maybe is legibility. I would allow speed and ease of correcting as an excuse for keyboarding.

However, that all important justification RESEARCH is now finding that the multisensory motion of hand to brain provides more hooks in learning. One sees the letter being formed, creating a strong visual image with what is appearing on the page. Bit by bit, writing becomes an art form, creating a beauty that identifies those strokes as mine. I knew the letter came from my mother and not an unidentified architect. Perfect “cursing” is not required, yet try recreating you on the page. Vary size and shape of letters, add doodles and art. Sometimes the paper is the visit that can’t happen. Remember most messages except a business letter can be signed with Love.

I have much to write to you, but I do not want to use paper and ink. Instead I hope to visit you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete.

2 John 1:8