On Strokes and Curves

7 year old Ilaya carefully doing her copywork.

Handwriting should not be rushed nor pushed. We allot only 5 minutes for copywork/transcription, even less. It begins with a perfect simple stroke; not waiting for endless pages of curves to frustrate the child. 

“No work should be given to a child that he cannot execute perfectly, and then perfection should be required of him as a matter of course. For instance, he is set to do a copy of strokes, and is allowed to show a slateful of all sorts of slopes and all sorts of intervals; his moral sense is vitiated, his eye is injured. [But when you] Set him six strokes to copy; let him, not bring a slateful, but six perfect strokes, at regular distances and at regular slopes. If he produces a faulty pair, get him to point out the fault, and persevere until he has produced his task; if he does not do it to-day, let him go on to-mrrow and the next day, and when the six perfect strokes appear, let it be an occasion of triumph. So with the little tasks of painting, drawing, or construction he sets himself – let everything he does be well done.” Charlotte Mason