Little Son is in the middle of his fourth grade course with Calvert School. As such, he learned to write cursive using Calvert Script beginning with the mid point of first grade. He learned it with no resistance or problems at the time. This form of script is strictly efficient and practical, with no real finesse. There are no loops or flourishes to speak of. Everything is vertical, highly legible, and using the minimum quantity of strokes or lifts of the pencil to accomplish the job. Block letters are used for capitals. It isn't the prettiest, but it does accomplish the job. In this image at right, the traditional Zaner-Bloser, that I learned as a child is at the top, and Calvert script is on the bottom. See the huge difference?





So imagine my surprise when Little Son announced that he wanted to learn a more traditional style of cursive. He noticed some of his friends who learned to write with Zaner-Bloser and decided that he liked the way it looks.

This caused me to recall the penmanship of my mother (born 1922), my grandmother (born 1897), my great aunt Anna, who was my best friend as a young child (born 1883!!) and especially my other aunt, Helen, who I suppose was born around 1912. Aunt Helen had the most impressive penmanship of all, even into her very elderly years. She always chose a very fine tipped ball point pen for all her correspondence. We always admired her writing.


I did some research and discovered that my mother undoubtedly was taught the Palmer method of penmanship (sample at right -- not my mother's actual handwriting, though). She later went on to develop fine skills in Gregg and Pittman shorthand.


My aunt Helen, however, may have been taught Spencerian script, or a variation of it. She had the most perfectly formed letters of any adult I knew, and the capitals had such beautiful flourishes that dipped below the line or leaped above the line. Unfortunately, she has passed away now, and I don't think I saved a single sample of her writing. An I shortsighted or what?


So Little Son and I decided, after looking at online samples, to study Spencerian penmanship for fun. I would very much like to improve my handwriting, and this is certainly an inexpensive hobby. So we are investing in this set of books: Theory of Spencerian Penmanship with five copybooks.


We figured, this is the penmanship that Laura and Mary [Ingalls] would have learned. Wouldn't it be neat to be able to write that way today?