Logic of English has developed a style of handwriting that is developmentally appropriate for young students and to aid students who struggle with handwriting, and we have had a custom font developed to match our requirements.
Each letter is designed to require a minimal amount of fine-motor skill, with attention to developing rhythmic handwriting.
Cursive Font
Highlights
- All lowercase letters begin on the baseline.
- Uppercase letters only connect to the next letter if they end on the baseline.
- The capital Q has been simplified to reflect the manuscript version.
- Letter formation is closely matched to the manuscript font to facilitate ease in transition from one to another.
Why didn't you use a clock face for forming a, c, d, g, o, and q?
Each of these letters rolls up to the midline, a clear stopping point for young students.
Stopping at the midline facilitates better rhythm to the handwriting, as going beyond it to 2 o'clock is less natural for the hand.
Forming perfectly rounded letters is more difficult than forming oval letters. This shape fits more naturally with the slant of the paper and natural movements of the hand.
When writing quickly, most people are not able to maintain the perfectly round letters. This is because the elongated shape of the oval with a stopping point closer to the midline facilitates faster writing.
Using the midline as the stopping point reduces the need to have a shape imposed upon the paper and facilitates more clear directions for instruction without an additional image.
Manuscript Font
Highlights
- Lowercase letters primarily begin on the top line and midline to minimize the number of starting places. The exceptions are b, e, f, h, k, l, and t.
- Letters are formed with the minimal amount of picking up of the pencil. Picking up the pencil for strokes requires more fine motor and increased instruction on where to place the pencil before beginning the next stroke.
- Letters are slightly slanted, which is the most natural position for writing.
- Letter formation is closely matched to the cursive font to facilitate ease in transition from one to another.
Font Development
Mar 29, 2012
In developing Logic of English curriculum we knew that models for handwriting would be important for struggling students. Since we are convinced that cursive is the best way to teach handwriting we began our search for a cursive font to use in our program.
(You can read more about our reasoning at Why Begin with Cursive?)
Font development is a very expensive venture, especially for a cursive font. In order to create smooth connections between letters, a font developer must develop a new ligature or character for every combination of letters. This means developing a true cursive font could cost more than $30,000 or $40,000. However, we found a state-of-the-art font developer, David Occhino, who already wanted to serve the educational community and create the best cursive font on the market. This provided us with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create a font unique to Logic of English at an affordable price.
The Logic of English font is modeled after D'Nealian. However, we made several changes. First, we ensured that all the lowercase letters began on the baseline for ease in teaching. Second, we simplified a few of the capitals and made sure they consistently connect to the next letter only when they end on the baseline.
When you type with this font, the words are automatically connected correctly at the baseline or midline. This font can be blown up to poster size and still look perfect! It has options with bold, guides, midlines, and more.