I remember when we were first introduced to the Logic of English company through the Schoolhouse Review Crew. My eldest daughter giggled about their name (“There is no logic in English!” she proclaimed – she is the one who has struggled in reading). We quickly discovered, however, that they had developed a systematic approach to reading and spelling that really worked. (Our review of Essentials from last fall). Knowing how much we like Essentials (ages 7 to adult), I was excited to review Rhythm of Handwriting Manuscript – Complete Set with my oldest son (8 year old). Rhythm of Handwriting is also available in Cursive. Rhythm of Handwriting can be used with children as young as 4 or as old as anyone needing to master fluid handwriting (adults included).
The complete set ($65.00) includes a student workbook (perforated pages for easy removal), a quick reference chart, tactile cards and half-size whiteboard. Notice there is not a separate teacher’s manual? It’s not needed – the directions are very clear and concise and on the page as needed. The front of the workbook contains about 10 pages of instructions and tips for the teacher. There are some fun activities given to really involve all modes and types of learning. Some of these are written for classroom use, but we managed to adapt them for a single learner (or borrowed a sibling or two). The favorite was a version of Simon Says.
I am so glad we received the complete set. The whiteboard and tactile cards are my son’s favorite parts of our lessons. Even now that he knows the letter formation, he still likes pulling out the cards and tracing his finger over the sandpaper texture. There are other sensory options to utilize as well. We have a simple salt tray (that I intended for our youngest) that was used quite a bit. A chalkboard was nice to rotate with the whiteboard, too.
I was really happy to see that instruction begins with lower case letters – for my use with this child. I understand both sides of this debate (upper case is easier for younger children to write vs lower case is used most for reading – my condensed version) and feel – as with most things – that it is going to depend upon the learner. Some learners have a hard time seeing the upper case and lower case version being the same letter. You’ll need to determine what is best for your child.
Each letter is introduced individually grouped by similar formation. In the practice area for each letter you will see a range of sizes. You only need to select one – the one your learner is most comfortable with. After some letters are introduced there are some practice pages with lines for different letters. Even later, words are introduced – in lower case. Once all the lower case are covered, the upper case is introduced. When you progress to words in the upper case section, there is a mix of upper and lower case. For this reason, I don’t think this program would be easy to adapt for upper case first (unless you create your own practice pages). After both cases of letters are learned, numerals are taught. The last practice pages (there are 66 in all) have a mix of numerals and numbers spelled out. Throughout, you will not find cartoon characters or graphics to distract (or indicate this is for young learners). We really appreciate this no-nonsense approach.
There are a few recommended schedules depending upon the needs and age of your learner. Each stroke/step is broken down for learners who are starting at the very beginning (there are even tactile cards for just the strokes). We thought we would work through at a faster pace. My son is doing mostly second grade work but has lousy handwriting (inconsistent letter formation mostly). He was overwhelmed working through all the letters utilizing the same (or similar) strokes. We slowed this part down to work on only a few, focusing more on better work and a shorter working time. He had much better success this way — and greater confidence, too!
Though we’ve been working on this for little more than a month, I can tell improvement in my son’s handwriting. When working on other written work, he will softly say to himself the strokes for some of the letters that are a bit challenging still. You know I love that he is not just learning from my instruction time with him, but also utilizing the tools of the stroke steps on his own. He is learning those tools for himself. My hope is that when we reach the end, my son will have built the muscle memory needed for writing. Then his writing will be more about what he is communicating and not in how each letter is formed. He has quite the imagination and I cannot wait to read his stories!
You can read more about Rhythm of Handwriting and how this works with Essentials. For a program for early learners (ages 4-7) that combines the reading instruction with handwriting, you would be interested in Foundations. All of these components – and the coordinated apps – have been reviewed by fellow Crew mates. Be sure to check them all out!
