Having seen the great improvement in using picture study and copywork to teach our own children, the simplicity involved in this program really holds more than meets the eye. Picture study and copywork, properly used to require a standard of perfection, will greatly improve your child’s handwriting if you are attentive to hold them accountable to this standard.

Let me explain how this works…

The beginning part of this book, since it is just introducing and teaching the formation of the letters, is used much like any other handwriting program – the child copies what he sees onto the lines that follow. But we take this a step further in encouraging the child to copy his short, focused lesson, forming his letters perfectly. Having told the child about this standard in advance, he is encouraged to pay perfect attention as he copies his short daily lesson. Only after he checks his work and deems it perfect does he bring it to his parent, who checks it over and looks to see if the standard has been met. If it has not, the parent will gently point out to the child where any errors were made, and have the child erase the lesson completely, and do it over again – the same day. This is painful, for sure; but it is this slight bit of discomfort that really makes the program effective, for the child is encouraged to pay strict attention to every detail of letter formation.

The weekly picture study that corresponds with the lessons (once all of the letters have been learned) also encourage attention to detail, as the child is encouraged every day to look for and point out the object or feature that he is copying as it appears in the photograph. These continued gently forced lessons in attentiveness will benefit your child greatly throughout this book, and in lessons to come in all subjects.