Hey Mama Monday: Cursive Writing, Copywork, and Penmanship, Mama

Hey Mama,

Is copywork important? How about good penmanship? I would have to argue that both will benefit your children’s education and future. If your children are copying good literature, their reading, writing, and vocabulary improve. Just pick a good piece of literature your children love and have them copy a short quote or paragraph. Here are 15 ways to motivate your child to do copywork.  Implementing the Charlotte Mason method includes copywork, along with reading aloud, narration, and dictation. We are made to communicate, and we are uniquely made to write down that communication. The power of penmanship goes beyond a copying activity. Good penmanship will definitely be of value in your student’s future.

Looking back over the years, I believe that having my children copy Scripture was important. The more they wrote it, the deeper it went into their hearts and minds. It’s the perfect combination of good literature for good writing that brings about good in their lives. You can do this with your kids. Write a verse from the Bible every day until you can write it without having to look at it. Keep going until it is memorized by heart and by hand. Get something fun to keep track of the Scriptures you memorize and celebrate the mastery of each one! You won’t have to look back on your homeschooling and have any regrets.

Remember, Jesus copied His Father. He only did what He saw His Father doing. John 5:19 says, “So Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.’”* Probably the best thing we can do is teach our children to copy Jesus and His Word.

*The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®)  Copyright © 2001 by Crossway,  a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.  All rights reserved.  ESV Text Edition: 2016.

Deborah Wuehler is the Senior Editor and Director of Production here at The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine. She would say she is a very ordinary homeschool mom–with one exception: she has an extraordinary God Who provides all she needs for life and homeschooling. She has eight children aged 11 to 29. Deborah’s mission is this: to point other homeschoolers to the Lord in all they do, think, and feel—and to confirm that they, too, can find everything they need for life, godliness, and homeschooling in their knowledge of Him (2 Peter 1:3-4).