Charlotte Mason Beginning Printing

Published by Yen on August 13, 2024August 13, 2024

Teaching our children to read and write are probably two of the main concerns of the homeschooling beginner. Thankfully, in the Charlotte Mason method, we can find her recommendations even for teaching these two mechanical skills.

Printing is the first phase of actually writing with pencil and paper. Here is what Miss Mason says:

Printing.––But the child should have practice in printing before he begins to write.
(Vol 1 Page 234)

What is printing? Printing is being able to write each letter clearly and from memory. We repeat what Miss Mason says here, that a child should have practice in printing before he’s expected to write.

Printing Step 1: Teach capital letters first.

First, let him print the simplest of the capital letters with single curves and straight lines. When he can make the capitals and large letters, with some firmness and decision, he might go on to the smaller letters––’printed’ as in the type we call ‘italics,’ only upright,––as simple as possible, and large.
(Vol 1 Page 234)

Miss Mason advises us to teach our children to write the capital letters first, since they are made up of the more simple strokes, mainly single curves and straight lines.

For example, in teaching the letter “A” you might teach the child to make the following strokes first: / / \ \ and — —.

You might teach the letters in order from A to Z, or you may want to arrange the letters in order of difficulty of forming the strokes.

If you prefer to teach printing the letters in order of difficulty of forming the strokes, a suggested order is as follows (suggestions mine, based on CM principles):

Letters with all straight lines: A, L, M, T, N, I, F, H, E, V, X, Z, Y, W, K

Letters with all curves: C, S, O

Letters with straight lines and curves: D, P, J, U, G, Q, B, R

The image below shows suggested strokes to teach, how the letter looks on lined paper, and suggested stroke order. You may choose to use the upright or the slanted letters based on parental preference. (Note: For a left-handed child, writing letters slanting to the right may not be feasible.)

Printing Step 2: Teach the small letters next.

Once he masters the capital letters to some degree of firmness, then teach the small letters, but in an upright form and in large size.

Steps in Teaching.––Let the stroke be learned first; then the pothook; then the letters of which the pothook is an element––n, m, v, w, r, h, p, y; then o, and letters of which the curve is an element a, c, g, e, x, s, q; then looped and irregular letters––b, l, f, t, etc. One letter should be perfectly formed in a day, and the next day the same elemental forms repeated in another letter, until they become familiar.
(Vol 1 Page 234)

First teach the stroke (e.g. a downward line), and then the “pothook” or the curve in the stroke. For example, in teaching the letter “n,” we start by teaching the downward stroke, then the pothook, forming the letter “n.”

A suggested order is as follows:

Letters with straight lines and pothooks: n, m, v, w, r, h, p, y, u, z

Then letter: o

Letters with a curved element: c, a, g, e, x, s, q

Looped and irregular letters: b, l, f, t, d, i, j, k

Alternatively, you may also choose to teach the small letters in alphabetical order alongside their big letter counterparts. It seems that although Miss Mason has these suggestions, it may not necessarily be taken as an order set in stone; she also recommends A New Handwriting by another author who deals with the order of teaching the letters differently.

In our humble opinion, it may help to teach the letters in order of difficulty more especially if your child appears to have trouble forming the strokes and shapes. This way, you set him up for success by teaching the simpler shapes to form first. Otherwise, any other order might actually be perfectly fine.

Printing Step 3: Writing three- to four-letter words

By-and-by copies, three or four of the letters they have learned grouped into a word––’man,’ ‘aunt’; the lesson to be the production of the written word once without a single fault in any letter. At this stage the chalk and blackboard are better than pen and paper, as it is well that the child should rub out and rub out until his own eye is satisfied with the word or letter he has written.
(Vol 1 Page 234)

Once your child is able to write the letters comfortably and nicely, it’s time to move towards writing three- to four-letter words. Miss Mason recommends using the chalk and blackboard, because the goal is that the child should have the liberty to erase his work until he is satisfied with the word or letter he has written.

In the context of modern homeschool, this can be a blackboard or a dry erase/whiteboard; paper and pencil may also work, but paper tends to tear when writing is erased too often, so perhaps a dry erase board may work better.

Note that Charlotte Mason encourages children to learn to write words not as stand-alone words but in the context of ideas.