Ideas and resources
Do our children really need to learn cursive writing in today’s world? Um YES! I am a big believer in keeping things old school. Here is an interesting article outlining 5 important reasons why your children should continue to learn how to do cursive writing. Don’t worry though if your School decides to remove it from the curriculum then you can create your own writing sheets and teach your children at home.
Years ago when my daughter was still a toddler and still at home all day, I compiled a list of 64 rainy day activities to do with your toddler (also great for sick days, or any other day you need something to do without a lot of effort or leaving the house). Some of these would work in a classroom or with a small group of kids, though some are pretty at-home specific.
I’ve also shared rainy day crafts before, but it feels like there’s always a need for fresh ideas of things to do when the weather is yucky.
It’s always good when you can get kids moving on inside only days, so why not build an indoor balance beam like this one from How We Learn, or make a full on obstacle course with things from around the house or in the classroom? You can use lines of tape for jumping or other motor activities; get ideas from Hands on As We Grow. They’ve also got a post about walking on pillows that is great for doing at home or adding to an obstacle course.
If you’ve got a garage or covered outdoor area you can make a chalk obstacle course, track for playing with cars (that’s How We Learn again) or just let kids draw with chalk.
Building with blocks is a classic rainy day activity, and you can also use blocks to make games, like this block ring toss game from Stir the Wonder. Or grab some balls and make up games like these from Frugal Fun 4 Boys and Girls.
Of course crafts are great for rainy days, too, and you can even make crafts you can enjoy when the weather is better, like this recycled wind chime craft (add some bells to make it really chime rather than just being decoration) from Rainy Day Mum.
I’d love to hear about some of the things you do with kiddos at home or in the classroom to make rainy days a little more fun!
Yes, I was very dismayed when I found out the schools around here stopped teaching cursive a decade ago. How are kids supposed to read historical documents, sign a check or contract?
Schools are dumbing down the kids now.
*rant* So americans are still writing cursive the same way it was written in the 18th century? Cos over here it has evolved. The cursive I learned in school in the 80’s is different from what my old aunt and grandma learned and that’s different from 19th c cursive, which is different from 18th c cursive. In fact, most in my and my parents’ generations struggle with 19th c cursive and find 18th close to impossible to decipher most of the time. My sis is into genealogy and she hates going back to the 18th c because it’s so hard to read the handwriting (not least since you have to keep in mind that we all have our personal style and that included the priests writing the documents). And she has spent several years reading old cursive. Kids can’t automatically read historical documents just because they can write in cursive (and, honestly how many adults have ever used their knowledge of it to read important documents themselves?). No, I don’t buy that argument.
Knowledge of old cursive is useful and, yes, calligraphy is beautiful. That doesn’t mean it needs to be mandatory in school, other things are much more important. I do however get the importance of signatures, one does still use that sometimes to sign documents, but it is possible to create a signature without being skilled at cursive. It doesn’t have to be legible to begin with. *end of rant*
As for what killed cursive, now that computers are being blamed, this is a good article: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/08/ballpoint-pens-object-lesson-history-handwriting/402205/