Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in
exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I
compensated in any other way.

 

Reading and Handwriting

Homeschool Review Crew

Everyday Education, LLC

 

Ever wonder how you can help your child with their reading and handwriting without it being a trial in patience?  Maybe there is help!  Everyday Education, LLC sent us a digital copy of their product Perfect Reading, Beautiful Handwriting ebook.  It’s a black and white printable that includes everything you need to know to teach reading and handwriting to your child. 

This curriculum can be used for those who are just starting out learning to read or with those who might struggle with reading to help them read better.  The handwriting portion is good for everyone!  I mean, I’ve even used it to help make my handwriting nicer because I have noticed that I tend to get sloppy as I’ve gotten older. 

 

 

About the Curriculum 

This is a downloadable ebook.  It is 218 pages long which includes the foreword and instructions on how to use the curriculum.  Also included are all that you will need!  It truly is all-inclusive and has all of the reading and handwriting pages needed.  There are copywork pages as well as examples. 

Once upon a time, a mom used a curriculum she loved.  And then when she went to purchase another copy it was out of print and she became very sad.  But thankfully that’s not the end of the story! 

Janice Campbell used and loved Perfect Reading, Beautiful Handwriting by Caroline Joy Adams.  When she couldn’t find it to use again she set out making it her own.  Now you can purchase the original curriculum plus a foreword by Janice Campbell.  So all hope is not lost!

 

 

This unique curriculum is available as a digital download or as a physical curriculum book.  We received the digital download which is nice in that you can make multiple copies of the pages needed.

There are 60 lessons teaching reading.  Within this, you learn the alphabet, sounds, basic CVC words, blends, plurals, compounds and more!  After the reading section is complete the handwriting section starts out. 

 

 

If you have a child who can read well start then at Chapter 6 where the handwriting takes off.  This is where you’re going to learn to write in Italics and improve your own handwriting.  Children and adults alike can work on their handwriting with this curriculum. 

Our Thoughts 

First, I enjoyed the writing.  This might sound silly but the font used for this curriculum is very neat and easy to read and strikes me as a bit old fashioned which of course is going to be something I approve of!  After all, I’m a bit old fashioned myself.  Learning to write in Italics does take quite a bit of practice but this book gives you that and you can make multiple copies of each page so that you can practice the same phrase over and over again.

We do practice a modified Charlotte Mason style of learning and this book fits in well with that philosophy.  The only issue I had with the curriculum was that it did have a lot more nonsense type rhymes in it than I would have liked.  I understand why this is as they’re for young children to read, and small words are needed, but we prefer to avoid some of them.  While these are nonsense thankfully they aren’t nonsense to the extent of using zombies and ghosts throughout which we are thankful for.

Use again and again?

This is a curriculum that I can see myself using over and over again.  I used this primarily with a six-year-old girl who does already know her alphabet and can read some words on her own.  With the program, she had been using I was beginning to wonder if she was truly reading the words or if she had just memorized them.  This came in handy to use and make sure she truly could identity the sounds and blends as well as sound out words.  

Of course, I also really enjoyed the handwriting section.  While I used it myself I also forced (cough strongly encouraged) some of my older kids to use it as well to improve their handwriting.  I really liked how the reading and handwriting went hand in hand in the beginning of the book and how it teaches them to make the letters.

 

 

I do want to say that I hold my pencil quite differently than the curriculum teaches and so I found a video online for my kids to watch on how to correctly hold a pencil.  I’m not sure how I learned to hold a pencil so differently from other people!

 

 

One concept I liked that I actually do is writing with a slant.  I have always had my paper at a slant when writing.  Some people questioned if I should have been left-handed because of it so I really enjoyed seeing that it actually is an acceptable form of writing.  I can remember teachers not liking me doing it but I could not write with my paper straight up and down!

 

 

Learn More

You can learn more about Everyday Education, LLC and their Perfect Reading, Beautiful Handwriting ebook by reading all of the blog reviews that crew members have done.  All of the blog posts are linked up to the Main Post on the Homeschool Review Crew blog.  They can also be found on social media on their sites on Facebook, a second Facebook, Twitter, a second twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.