I would like to learn old-school cursive. Please advise.

January 14, 2016 9:21 AM

My handwriting is artistic but illegible. I'd like to learn plain old cursive, which I think means the Palmer method. What's the best way to go about doing that?

Added complication: I'm recovering from a concussion and can't do research (usually my favorite thing) so sites like this, while attractive, are overwhelming. I need something simple, and not on-line. The books I see on Amazon are aimed at children -- which I'll do, if that what it takes, but is there something better for adults?

posted by The corpse in the library to Education (14 answers total)

I wouldn't worry too much about having a "method" unless you are a very process-oriented type person. Simply find a cursive style you like the shape of and copy the letters.

Start by writing the alphabet over and over both in caps and lower case.

Then work on getting the letters joined up. You can write out song lyrics or copy passages from books or even just go through the alphabet again in a more complicated way (Alligator, Baboon, Capybara, etc).

(Make sure you're using a pen/pencil that you love.)


My handwriting looked like balls my entire childhood, despite being formally educated in penmanship (D'Nealian). As I got older I realized a lot of the problem was that the way I was taught to shape the letters just didn't work for me, for whatever reason, and I could never get a good flow going. Once I stopped being told what to do and how to do it, I was able to figure out how to cursive the way that worked from me, and now I can make something look nicenice with pretty much no effort at all.

If you're a visual learner there are also youtube videos of folks writing longhand that you can watch if you're having a tough time knocking out a particular shape.
posted by phunniemee at 9:46 AM on January 14, 2016

The best children's one I know of is handwriting without tears- though I am not sure they still sell the cursive writing one because they don't teach cursive in most schools now-a-days. I think you could easily do this yourself, there are certain letters that are a bit crazy (F, G, J, Q, S and Z), those you should practice over and over again. When I was taught to write cursive in the second grade by Sister Catherine Frances, she had us balance a quarter laid flat on the top of our hand right below the knuckles- this was supposed to be the proper hand position, and if the coin slide you were not doing it correctly. I couldn't get the coin to stay.
posted by momochan at 10:01 AM on January 14, 2016

Do it like we learned it when we were kids. Get paper like this for practice, the rules help you with height and loops and stuff.

A book like this is as good as any.

Then just practice.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 10:02 AM on January 14, 2016

Palmer is simplified Spencerian; I got these books (an instruction book and 5 copybooks for practice) to learn Spencerian. I haven't gotten very far with it yet, but it's pretty straightforward but not dumbed-down or childish.
posted by katemonster at 10:07 AM on January 14, 2016 [2 favorites]

Seconding what phunniemee said.

During the years that cursive was taught, I was going to an open school (basically like unschooling), so I had to teach myself cursive. I just made a little reference, with maybe half a page dedicated to each letter of the alphabet, then went around looking at grownups' handwriting and copied their versions of letters. Then I'd go through, practice, and decide which version worked for me. The fact that I had to be able to discern what the letters were ensured that the versions I chose were legible, and then I just picked the ones that looked good and that I could replicate well.

So I never really learned a prescriptive handwriting model, but my handwriting was legible and I'd always get compliments on how nice it looked.

For what it's worth, one thing I learned from my research at the time was that almost nobody actually sticks with a prescriptive model for daily use. Teachers might use a specific style to write on blackboards (or the newfangled modern day deelybobbers), but not when they're taking notes or making grocery lists.
posted by ernielundquist at 10:24 AM on January 14, 2016

Emily Yoffe did a piece for Slate a few years ago in which she and her daughter took a penmanship course to improve their handwriting. One of the links in the article points to a series of resources that you could use.
posted by Liesl at 10:46 AM on January 14, 2016 [1 favorite]

It's mostly practice. I was taught Palmer as a kid and had horrible handwriting until I re-learned with a pointed dip pen and copperplate calligraphy book from Dover Publications. Striving for that level of handwriting with a normal pen taking normal notes eventually neatened up my handwriting. A local calligraphy club may offer a class you could take. Once you learn calligraphy letterforms, you can apply them to your life. Your local library may have access to penmanship books; that's where I got mine when I was relearning Palmer and starting copperplate.

One thing I have heard about Palmer and Spencerian is that they are more copy-hands than functional; that is, the letters don't flow together like you would want for an efficient script. I have heard D'Nealian and Zaner-Bloser mentioned as better hands to learn if you want your handwriting to come out both neat AND quick. I don't think you really need to be concerned, though-- just practice, practice, practice, and develop your own style that you can enjoy.
posted by blnkfrnk at 12:01 PM on January 14, 2016 [2 favorites]

Why not print out the Palmer Method book here?
posted by Tanizaki at 12:25 PM on January 14, 2016

I believe this is what I used with my sons to help them learn to write in cursive legibly in spite of being dysgraphic:
http://www.handwritingsuccess.com/
posted by Michele in California at 12:38 PM on January 14, 2016 [1 favorite]

It's not cursive, but Getty & Dubay's modern italic style described in the book Write Now took my handwriting from so-bad-I-couldn't-read-it to getting regular compliments on my penmanship.
posted by scruss at 12:46 PM on January 14, 2016 [5 favorites]

It is debatable whether Italic is or is not cursive. I didn't want to get into that, but, supposedly, Italic is essentially what most adults who are writing cursive eventually default to as a variation of what we were taught in school. It skips some of the connectors we were taught. It is a little simpler and more efficient, but it is incredibly unlikely that anyone will read your handwritten note and exclaim "Hey, that isn't really cursive!" (My mother was taught to write in German by an elderly aunt before she was school aged. People notice and comment on her eccentric handwriting. You will not get a similar reaction for learning Italic.)

Getty-Dubay is what my link, above, goes to, in case you haven't noticed.
posted by Michele in California at 12:55 PM on January 14, 2016

Open Library (disclaimer: I work there) has one or two online Palmer Method textbooks that are mainly geared towards adults. They are "oinline" in that the books are on the internet but you can download the older ones (and freely checkout or read the newer ones online with a free account) and that might be a good place to look around before you decide your path.
posted by jessamyn at 2:53 PM on January 14, 2016

If you are indeed open to other systems besides Palmer: my story's similar to scruss. My handwriting used to look awful; in grad school I was taking a lot of notes and I retrained myself to use a form of Getty-Dubay italics using the info on briem.net (e.g.: I am pretty sure I found it on MeFi originally, so thanks guys!) and now I literally get unsolicited compliments on my handwriting. I haven't used the book scruss linked but I've heard it's the "canonical" one for adults learning a modern italic script.

Italic is not just a variant of printing, nor is it just a type of ad hoc semi-cursive. The letters are formed in a specific way that you practice, and while some of them do end up connected together, there are rules for which letters you are supposed to connect and which you are supposed to leave separate, and these rules make a lot of sense (they have basically been selected for speed that doesn't come at the expense of legibility).
posted by en forme de poire at 3:34 PM on January 14, 2016 [4 favorites]

I used to have terrible handwriting. I discovered this calligraphy set (or it's equivalent from 20 years ago) and taught myself caligraphy. Once you do okay with the caligraphy pen, you'll get a better flow on your normal pen and cleaner lines.
posted by nursegracer at 8:04 PM on January 18, 2016