Cursive Curiousity

I had to buy a textbook for Hannah’s class this year.  To my surprise, they are teaching the 3-year-olds to read and write in cursive!  Isn't that strange?  Although maybe it's a new teaching rage in the U.S. too.  

According to my cursory research, many Dominicans think (1) it’s easier for young children to write in cursive than script, and (2) having nice cursive handwriting is really, really important.  Honestly, I don't even remember how to form 50% of the letters in cursive.

After slightly more than 3 months, Hannah can now write an “a” in cursive.  It looks kindof like a "q" to me.  Hmmm.  She can write Hs, As, and Ns in script.  Not to brag or anything.  Especially because as hard as I try, I cannot get my daughter to put these letters in the correct order to spell her name.  She writes them in a long string “HHAAAAAANNNNNNNHH” in the order of her choosing, which in her mind spells her name just fine. 

Actually, the cursive thing might work well because she associates Spanish sounds with the cursive letters and English sounds with the script letters.  I pointed to her cursive “a” and called it an “ā” (as in “āte”).  “NO, mom, it’s not an ā, it’s an aaaaaahhh," (pronounced like ŏ as in “pŏt”)!