Review -- Classical Conversations

• Classical Conversations
• Pre Scripts Cursive Words and Drawing, Scripture
• Price: $12.99
• Age Range: Elementary

 

Classical Conversations is a Classical Christian Community focused on assisting parents who desire a Classical education for their children. It is a service to help guide parents in using a challenging, Christian, classical curriculum. Their Bookstore provides the curriculum needed for their Classical Education programs. It is not necessary to join a Classical Conversations Community in order to use their curriculum.

A new resource that Classical Conversations is providing is called PreScripts. This program teaches children cursive while reviewing history, art, and Scripture. There are four levels of PreScripts: Cursive Letters and Coloring, Cursive Words and Drawing, Cursive Sentences and Art Lessons, Cursive Passages and Illuminatiions.

The PreScripts program is designed to help children acquire fine motor skills by imitating well written words.  A variety of techniques are used throughout the program. Coloring, drawing, tracing and copying seem like simple tasks, but to a child, imitation is the heart of their learning.

ClarkClan Experience

Rebekah was our tester for the PreScripts Cursive Words and Drawing book. She is ten years old and has been asking to learn “real’ cursive. We were given a choice of which book we would like to review and I chose the second in the program. Rebekah was a little on the older side for starting cursive, but this book fit her well. The book starts with a review of letters and ends with paragraph writing.

The focus of the Cursive Words and Drawing book is Scripture. It includes three parts. The first part are Letters, Words, and Scriptures. The second part is Writing Numbers in Cursive. The third part is Tricky Letter Combinations in the First Chapter of James. Each days work follows the same pattern. There is a review of the letter to trace and write. Then a word that begins with the letter and finally a bible verse. Everything on the page is designed to follow a “trace and then copy” model.  The second page are drawing lessons. This is an excellent way to practice the skills needed for cursive writing while avoiding busy work.

Rebekah enjoyed working on her Cursive book. She liked learning traditional cursive and she loved the drawing lessons. The book states that by working one lesson a day you  can complete the book in a school year. They also said older students could work two pages a day and work through two books in a school year. Because Rebekah asked to learn cursive I let her work through this at her own pace. She is approximately half way through the book and doing great. She was a little shaky at first, but I can tell the difference after a little practice.

Recommendation

We liked the PreScripts Cursive Words and Drawing book. I thought it did a good job of teaching Rebekah cursive. The book was designed so students could be self-sufficient and I feel that they hit the mark. Rebekah was able to take the book and run with it, asking for help only if she needed. I would check her work and correct any errors I may have seen.

The Schoolhouse Review Crew reviewed all levels of the new PreScripts handwriting program. Visit the Crew Blog to read what they thought about the program.