Penmanship is just as important (in my mind) as learning to use grammar correctly. So I was excited when I found out that I was going to be able to let my youngest son review Patriotic Penmanship Grade 2 from Laurelwood Books. It is beautiful and I think you will love it too!
Patriotic Penmanship
Joseph and I received the Patriotic Penmanship book for grade 2. This is a wonderful series that goes from kindergarten through high school and will make the transition smooth as you move from one grade to the next. There are review books as you go through the series too.
The book is a paperback book with a total of 65 pages. Our book is manuscript but they do have cursive starting at Grade 3. The cover is so beautiful, I love the images that are used on the front. It most definitely is patriotic themed.
The paper inside is thicker than regular copy paper. It holds up well to the handwriting from my 8 year old. When Joseph needed to erase something, I was not concerned about holes showing up in the pages. That is a great plus for beginners!
In the beginning of the book there is letter practice. A short overview of each letter set and room to practice all of them. Then the lessons begin. There are a total of 30 lessons in the book, each lesson is two pages long. The lessons are broken into sections:
- Letter Practice
- Key Words
- Word Pairs
- Full Quote
Each page allows room for the penmanship practice of each specified section. The child is shown the letter or words, then they can trace the letter or words, and them there is space to write the letter or words themselves. This is great for muscle memory training. Consistent practice makes way for improvement.
There is a full quote at the top of the lesson page, but only a portion is used for the penmanship lesson.
Here is an example of one of the quotes that was used in a lesson:
“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed:
‘We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal.'”
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Only a small portion though is used for the penmanship lesson, “I have a dream today” is the only words used from this quote. Making it easier on the child but allowing them to see the full context of the quote.
How This Worked for Us
This is was a wonderful penmanship book for Joseph to use. It was exactly what he needed and spot on his level of ability. It proved to be just enough of a lesson that he wasn’t dreading it the next day. The lessons were just long enough. I am pleased that he was excited about using the book. He was a bit resistant at first but once he started to use it consistently he was enjoying it more and more.
Basically our school day consisted of Joe sitting at the table beside me and doing the lesson on his own. Only occasionally would I need to remind him of moving his book so that he could write more comfortably and ultimately neater.
There were numerous days that he would begin the next lesson because he was already seeing improvement in his handwriting. This was exciting for me, because it is often difficult to encourage a child when they cannot see their own improvement. So by allowing him to continue at his own pace was just the way we needed to go. He could see tangible results from his diligence.
Overall, this is a wonderful penmanship book. It is simple to use, and upon explanation to the child it is self explanatory as well. This is a great curriculum for penmanship or to add in as a practice book. We both enjoyed the quotes, it often opened up dialogue for deeper discussion as well. It fit well into our history of our country class also, which is always an added bonus!
Please see what my fellow Crew members used from Laurelwood Books during this review:
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I hope you enjoyed this latest review and that you visit again soon!
In His Grace.
Callie
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