Memoria Press is a family run company that publishes Classical Christian materials in a variety of subjects for homeschools and private schools. Memoria Press curriculum is easy to teach and requires no previous knowledge of the subject being taught, but have high Academic Standards. We have used many different products from Memoria Press over the years and have been very impressed with all of them. We were excited to have an opportunity to use and review New American Cursive 2 (Famous Americans.)
New American Cursive was developed by Iris Hatfield who has over 35 years experience in the field of handwriting. It uses simplified letter forms and multi sensory methods to help with motor skills necessary to learn to write well. The simplified letter forms allow NAC to be used with younger students. The books in the program were designed to be used with students in grades 1-4. Mr. Meerkat is the book's guide showing the students how to draw each letter.
We received New American Cursive 2 (Famous Americans) for our review. The book is spiral bound at the top and contains 125 lessons. In the book you also will find 8 pages of teacher instruction, journal pages, and reproducible writing pages. The book begins with practice of the alphabet and has places to trace and then draw the letters themselves. Mr. Merkeet shows how the letters are properly formed by using directional arrows. Students also have places to practice words, copy quotes, do creative writing, journal, and draw.
I have been using New American Cursive 2 (Famous Americans) with my 9 year old daughter who just finished third grade. She had already completed one year of cursive with a different curriculum but needed more practice and needed to work on making her handwriting neater. We studied American history this year so I chose the quotes from famous Americans. Lily has been completing one page per day. Lessons take less then 15 minutes per day.
Lily really likes her new cursive book. She thinks Mr. Meerkat is cute. We love that the book is spiral bound at the top. This makes it so much easier to write in as the book lays flat on the table and the binding will not get in the way. Lessons are short. Students have an opportunity for plenty of practice. I love the fun pages that allow students to free write about a topic such as writing about one of your best friends, favorite states, favorite city, etc.. and then there is a space for children to draw a picture about what they wrote. At the beginning of the book the lines are large and as they move through the book they start to write on lines that are smaller and loose the dotted line.
Some of the letters are formed in a different way then Lily learned in other book. Many of them are missing the fancy loop at the top and the F, T, Q, Z, and K look more like then do in print then in the other form of cursive she learned. But I do believe the style of NAC is easier, especially for younger students. She has enjoyed working through the book and I love the different varieties of assignments that are in the book.
Members of the Crew reviewed a variety of products from Memoria Press including the different New American Cursive books, Traditional Logic, and Classical Composition. To see what my Crew Mates had to say, stop by the Crew Blog!
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