Presidential Penmanship is an excellent way to combine civics, history and beautiful handwriting all in one package. This program allows children from first grade all the way to 12th to improve their handwriting and gain knowledge of the founding principles of the United States, as well as character qualities that we all should aspire to attain.
My daughters used the first grade level so that they can grow accustomed to the Italic style, which is lovely by the way. The first two grade levels contains 36 quotes each that were important to the founding of America as well as character traits such as industriousness and honesty. There were many quotes from George Washington which thrilled my eldest girl who is a George Washington fan.
The work is divided into small segments which allows the student to concentrate on their letter formation and not on “how long is this going to take?” Most of the quotes in the first and second grade are one short sentence, but as the grade level increases so does the work.
For example on the senior high school level, they start off with short quotes that develop into full paragraphs as they copy sections of the Declaration of Independence, Lincoln’s First and Second Inaugural Addresses as well as the Gettysburg address.
By the time a family completes the full handwriting course the children will have a very good understanding of how the United States was formed and a look into the thoughts of its founding fathers. I love programs that are multi-purpose like this one. I think it’s important for children not to just be engaged in busy work, but to start drawing parallels and making connections so that they can have a deeper understanding of the world that they live in. This is one of the programs that helps bring the past and present together in a beautiful way.
abcTeach is an easy way for parents to begin the homeschooling journey without breaking the bank. The focus of this website is to help children to grasp the fundamentals and run with them. There are thousands of worksheets to choose from which allows parents to customize their children’s educational experience.
One of the traps that most homeschoolers fall into during the elementary years is spending a mint trying to buy the “perfect curriculum” for their little ones. But, as experienced home educators know, their needs can be met by resources such as abcTeach for as little as $40/year (or $70 for two years) for individual families. This is an exceptional value, especially when you have multiple children since you can have access to multiple grade levels.
So what do you get for your money? There are over 35,000 worksheets to choose from ranging from the basics (math, time, spelling, and handwriting) to the cool (suduko, shapebooks, and art work). They also offer unit study themes, research tools, clip art, language studies and more!
The site owners are very creative, and since some of their offerings might be new to parents, they provide tutorial videos to help you make the most of each resource they offer. I found that to be exceptional since I have belonged to other elementary level programs that pretty much just make you it out on your own.
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So, how did abcTeach work out for me and my crew? Well, I enjoyed creating the different worksheets. It was quick and easy. There are also ways to customize the worksheets beyond the original offerings which worked really well to make sure that girls weren’t peeking at each other’s work. So, I had a lot of fun. The downside for my family is that they don’t really enjoy doing worksheets very much. My kids are on the kinesthetic side of town, so we do a lot of physical activities while studying, so being made to sit down and fill out papers didn’t really thrill them.
I, however, think that abcTeach is a wonderful tool to add to whatever your homeschooling style happens to be. It’s perfect for those days when the parents are involved in other things, but they still want their children to do some unsupervised schoolwork. I plan on using the suduko and crossword pages for our many driving excursions as a way to keep their minds active without the use of their handheld games. I am glad that abcTeach was kind enough to give me a test drive to really discover the hidden treasures they’ve created.
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They also generous enough to giveaway thousands of free worksheets so that parents can try them out on their kids before they purchase the full subscription. You can also sign up for the newsletter which fills you in on the new worksheets available and other teaching tips. These resources were created for teachers, parents and homeschoolers so be sure to tell your friends that if they have a child who needs more practice in a particular subject that abcTeach should be their first stop.
I'm a homeschooling mom with seven children: 3 human, 2 feline and 2 canine. I'm also the wife of one very patient husband who seems to like the role of ringmaster to our circus. I am a virtual assistant who enjoys writing, crafts, music and laughter. I hope you'll visit often. Please be aware that this blog is supported by affiliate links, although every link isn't necessarily an affiliate program.
Presidential Penmanship is an excellent way to combine civics, history and beautiful handwriting all in one package. This program allows children from first grade all the way to 12th to improve their handwriting and gain knowledge of the founding principles of the United States, as well as character qualities that we all should aspire to attain.
