|
|
Something Worthwhile Review by The Old
Schoolhouse Magazine
|
|
Handwriting Exercises for the
Beginning Student
Handwriting Exercises for the Intermediate Student
Compiled and Edited by Yvonne Mutch
XL Group
www.latintrivium.com
8327 Phillips Rd.
Lakewood, WA 98498
Something Worthwhile
is exactly what it says it is. How often have you thought
how fantastic it would be to put together handwriting
exercises with beautiful literature experts, poems,
wonderful sayings by great people, scripture references
and more? Yvonne Mutch has taken the time to do all this
for us. Something Worthwhile is a spiral-bound resource
from the same people who bring you Latin in the Christian
Trivium. You will find the same high quality in this
resource too.
Listen to some of the samples of great things your
children will model for their handwriting practice from
the beginning book:
If you’re told to do a thing,
And mean to do it really,
Never let it be by halves;
Do it fully, freely!
Do not make a poor excuse,
Waiting, weak, unsteady;
All obedience worth the name
Must be prompt and ready.
-Phoebe Cary First Poems and Bible Versese
And Philippians 4:8, Micah 6:8, and quotes like this:
From Virgil: “He who lives in fear will never, in my
judgment, be a free man.”
From George Washington: “It is impossible to rightly
govern the world without God and the Bible.”
From Herman Melville: “He who has never failed
somewhere, that man cannot be great. Failure is the test
of greatness.”
And from an inscription on the wall of a concentration
camp:
I believe in the sun, even though it doesn’t shine,
I believe in love, even when it isn’t shown,
I believe in God, even when He doesn’t speak.
From the intermediate book your child will become familiar
with items like this:
From William Hutton: “The charity that hastens to
proclaim its good deeds, ceases to be charity, and is only
pride and ostentation.”
From Thucydides: “The bravest are surely those who have
the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and
danger alike, and yet notwithstanding go out to meet
it.”
There are portions of the “Battle Hymn of the
Republic” and quotes from Aristotle and Cicero and
excerpts of letters of great men like John Quincy Adams
after his mother’s death. There are beautiful portions
like this:
“Good painting draws near to God and unites with
Him…it is but a copy of His perfections, the shadow of
His brush, His melody and music…So it is not enough that
the painter should be a great and able master. What is
more important, in my view, is that his life should be as
pure and holy as possible, so that the Holy Spirit may
guide his thoughts.”
-Michelangelo
These books are designated for children who have mastered
the basic skills of letter formation as there are no
specific handwriting instructions given, but rather lines
for writing. These will better suit your children after
they have been writing for a while and are comfortable
with their pencil. I would not recommend them to a new
writer because they will probably find themselves
frustrated with the many words or the deeper (for little
ones) sayings. This should not deter you from using these
fantastic resources though! I plan to use these beginning
with my nine year-old because the content is so wonderful.
Modeling one’s writing after great literature or great
quotations has long been known to help in the formation of
better writing skills. These are the perfect resource for
this! I am considering using these with my older children
too because I know that the content will produce wonderful
conversations between us. Even though the older ones may
not need the handwriting practice, they will surely
benefit from the content!
-Product Review
by Kate Kessler, Product Reviews Manager, The Old
Schoolhouse Magazine, LLC, March, 2007
|
|
|