DIY Homeschool Copywork

Homeschool copywork is a way your child can learn handwriting, grammar and spelling. When you make your own worksheets your child can practice passages that you think are important.

One way to make your own worksheets is to copy what you want your child to write onto paper in your own handwriting. This would take me a long time to do. Also I don’t have neat handwriting.

Another way is to download a penmanship font from the internet.

 Fonts

Printing

Recently I came across a manuscript font that is freeware. It is Penmanship-print by Richard Douglas. 

What make it really neat is that it types on handwriting lines. The letters are similar to the printing I taught my children to do.

You will have to unzip the file and place it into your word processing program. To install it into Microsoft Word all I had to do was click the install button. To install it into Open Office I had to place the penmanship file into my documents. Then I clicked on the penmanship file and clicked on copy to. Then I found the Open Office file and placed the penmanship font there.

You can download the zip file from http://www.fontspace.com/richard-douglas/penmanship-print

Cursive

I had difficulty finding a cursive font that I liked. There is one but I had trouble finding the copyright information. You can use a font that is already on your computer that resembles handwriting, buy a school font, or search the internet.

 The two fonts that are on most word processors are Script Mt Bold and Vladimir Script. Some of the capital letters such as the g, i, and s are not formed the same as I was taught in school. Also the fonts are not typed on lined paper like penmanship-print.

One way to use the handwriting fonts on your computer is to leave a space for the capital letter that you don’t like. Print your document and write in the letter. You could also the draw handwriting lines. Then your child will see the letters that go above the line and those that go below the line.

Finding Passages

When you use your own font you can write your own passages for homeschool copywork.

We all have favorite passages from the Bible that we want our children to learn. If you make your own worksheets you can use the translation that you like. You are not limited the King James Version or International Version. 

You can also find passages in your history text. You might find the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, or the Bill of Rights. The documents are also on the internet.

You can also use important speeches. Look for the Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln or I Have a Dream by Martin Luther King Jr.

Another idea is to use poetry or passages from classical literature.

Benefits

Not convinced that homeschool copywork is beneficial for your family? Here are some reasons we have used handwriting worksheets to teach language arts in our home.

Handwriting - Children learn to print and do cursive by copying letters, words, and passages.

Memorizing Some people can memorize better by writing the passage.

Grammar Copying passages is a good way to have your child learn about punctuation. You can also have him use different colored highlighters to highlight the different parts of speech.

Spelling Writing can give meaning to spelling. You child will see many common words in context. When he copies the words over and over he will learn to spell them.

Your child will learn to pay attention to details. When he first begins to copy your child will look at each letter. Later he will be able to write words. Besides making sure that each word is spelled correctly he will have to pay attention to capitalization and punctuation. It is also a good idea to have your child correct his copy work and make it perfect.

Don’t Want to Do It Yourself

There are several homeschool copywork programs. We have used PreSripts Cursive Passages and Illuminations American Documents by Classical Conversations. Passages is for children ages 9 through high school. My children have copied passages from the Mayflower Compact, The Articles of the Confederation, The First Amendment, and Gettysburg Address.

There are other books in the PreScript series that are for younger children. The books use the Zaner-Bloser® method.

We have also used Learning Language Arts Through Literature. It integrates the learning of grammar with copying the passage. After the child copies the passage he may be required to circle one of the parts of speech. A passage of literature is studied for a week.

We can teach our children language art skills with homeschool coypwork.

---

Return from Homeschool Copywork to Homeschool Language arts

Return to the home page

---