-by Mimi Rothschild
Should your students learn handwriting? There are those who say that there is no longer any point to learning to write beautifully. Our children, like the others of their generation, will be using computers, texting and emailing, not penning handwritten letters. Even note-taking in college classrooms is being replaced by quick typing into electronic devices. By the time our children reach college or the work world, being able to write legibly may be a quaint old-fashioned skill.
Let’s consider, though, all the old-fashioned skills which are actually very highly valued in our modern world. Can you bake a pie? Repair things around the house? Play a musical instrument? Make your own clothes? All these old-fashioned skills are admired by modern people who can’t do them.
If your students resist handwriting on the grounds that they’ll never use it, try learning calligraphy instead. While calligraphy can be an advanced art form, it can also be a simple way to cultivate beautiful handwriting. Use online lessons or a simple chart from a library book, and have students copy the simple forms of chancery or italic script until they’re pleased with their results.
Once the basic forms are comfortable, move on to art projects. Here are some practical uses for calligraphy:
- Labels for kitchen, schoolroom, or crafts cupboard.
- Shopping lists, chore charts, or memory verses.
- Classroom posters – maybe a history timeline or the periodic table of the elements.
- Holiday cards or stationery.
- Bookmarks and bookcovers.
As your students work, tell them about the way monks in the Middle Ages copied out the Bible so it would not be lost or forgotten. Share the excitement of Gutenberg when he printed his first Bible in the 1400s. Discuss how advances in technology have made the Bible available to so many, and made it possible for so many to read the Bible – even online!
Your students may or may not become skilled calligraphers. But it’s a sure way to improve their handwriting!
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Mimi Rothschild is the Founder of LearningByGrace.org the nation’s leading provider of online PreK-12 online Christian educational programs for homeschoolers.