Classical Conversations - PreScripts Cursive Letters and Coloring Review

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We do not fully use the Classical Conversations method, however there are so many aspects about it I love. Classical Conversations begun in 1997 with 11 students, it has grown to over 36,000 students in 35 states, 5 countries and 3 continents. Classical Conversations is a mission: To know God and to make Him known. It is a model: Classical Conversations combines the classical method of learning with a biblical worldview. And it is a method: Classical Conversations families meet in communities where parents train parents to implement home-centered education well (we have 6 of these communities within 20 miles of where we live). Classical Conversations offers a full line of homeschool resources to assist parents including cursive workbooks, timeline resources, math facts flash cards, classical arts fact cards, Latin curriculum and more.

A moms review:
We had the opportunity to review Classical Conversations,  PreScripts Cursive Letters and Coloring. My daughter LOVES cursive. Though I dislike cursive I had planned to teach my children at some point because I do feel everyone should know how to write in cursive...after all you do NEED to know how to sign your name. Well Gwyn expressed an interest much sooner than I had thought she would, thanks to a friend of mine that taught her how to sign her name. She immediately picked it up and so the search began for cursive resources. Gwyn likes cursive because she says its fancy and pretty. Plus she says, "I am an artist and every artist must know how to sign their works of art!"

PreScripts Cursive Letters and Coloring is a comb bound 120 page workbook designed for children ages 3-7. I utilized the workbook with my daughter who is 7 years old. She is a beginner at cursive and still learning all the letters so it was perfect for her. The workbook is so simple to use and there is no preparation needed. If you focus on one letter a day the lesson (4 pages) will take only about 20-30 minutes. There were many times though that my daughter learned several letters in one day because she was having so much fun!

The workbook starts out with a 1 page note to parents. First there is an introduction that explains where the word prescript comes from, "the word prescript comes from the Latin words prae (meaning "before" or "in front of") plus scribere ("to write"). The introduction also explains why coloring, drawing, tracing and copying is so vital for children. After the introduction there is a "How to Use This Book," section. Here the goal of the book, your goals as a parent and how to utilize the PreScripts with multiple children is discussed. Next "The Journey in Perspective," is explained." Here the goals of PreScripts are discussed and Deuteronomy 6:6-9 is quoted as a reminder to parents that writing, memorizing, and reciting are all forms of worship that we model for our children.

The workbook starts out with 5 simple tracing exercises. Gwyn said they were too easy but she still had fun. Then we hit the first coloring page. Gwyn is my little artist and loves to color. She was very intrigued by all of the coloring pages and had lots of questions like, "What are they were doing? What time period are they from? and What country is that in?". So we took time to explore each piece of artwork further.

Here is an actual painting of the first coloring page which was Charlemagne being crowned emperor. We searched Wikipedia to find out more. Don't worry at the bottom left corner of each coloring page is a short description so you will know what to research. The coloring pages include images from medieval and modern world history.

Photo credit Wikipedia

Next it was time to begin learning how to write the cursive letters. The book goes in alphabetical order. Each cursive lesson follows the same layout so parents and children know what to expect each time. First children will finger trace large, bold letters following the directional arrows. Then they will trace the letter with their pencil or crayon and then they will practice writing the letter all on their own.

After a capital letter is introduced there is a fun trace and color activity. This was also a huge hit and Gwyn went above and beyond by adding to her drawing. Next the lower case letter is introduced followed by another coloring page.

This pattern of 1) large letter introduction, 2) trace and color activity, 3) lower case letter introduction and 4) coloring page is repeated all the way through Z. In the back of the book there are some free drawing pages as well.

So through a simple cursive curriculum with coloring pages and how to draw lessons we were also able to cover geography, art, history and more. This is one of the simplest, most inexpensive curriculum's I have reviewed all year and was loved by both parent and child!

One more quick thing to mention for those that use Classical Conversations is the image credits in the back of the book. This section lists all 23 image credits with artist information (if applicable) this is helpful for doing further research. But for those that use CC and have the Classical Acts and Facts History Cards they also list the corresponding card number and title for you.

Free resources:
-PreScripts sample pages.
-Interested in learning more about Classical Conversations? Find out if here is a FREE 1 or 3 day Practicum in your area.

Gwyn review (7 yrs old):
I loved the book. I loved the drawing and coloring pictures. I liked the cursive it was easy to learn. I had fun. I learned a lot about other things about stuff back in the times and countries.

Links to follow:

-Classical Conversations Website
-Classical Conversations Facebook page 
-Classical Conversations Twitter 

Where to buy:
PreScripts Cursive Letters and Coloring is only $11.99 and can be ordered directly off the Classical Conversations website.

Click here for more Classical Conversations PreScripts reviews from the The Schoolhouse Review Crew.