Teaching children how to print in ABC order is needlessly confusing and frustrating for everyone involved--teachers, parents, and students. Finally, there is a system of handwriting sheets that teach printing in a developmentally more appropriate order with better visual cues. EZrABCs has downloadable teacher's manuals, and student workbooks all based on mastering 10 Exercises and 11 progressive directional groups.

1. Why a capital A should not be the first letter a child learns to print.
Why “Practice makes Perfect” falls apart when teaching kids to print.
Handwriting sheets that teach a child to make a capital A as their first letter is blatantly unfair. The opposing
incline left and right slant lines of a capital A require a skill level that is far beyond most beginning printer's skill set. It's
like teaching a child to memorize their times tables out of order. As if that's not unfair enough, to introduce the
uppercase B next, with its complex set of directional cues and new shape control cues, children see no relatedness to
the skills they just tried to master with the uppercase “A.” Since the letters are not directionally related, learning one
letter does not help the child make the next letter or build their confidence . By the time the C is practiced, with its
unique "under the top" start, most kids are justifiably confused and frustrated. Sadly, by this time, a child gets the idea
that learning to print is very difficult, frustrating, and not very satisfying. Unfortunately, for the last hundred years, most
teachers have blamed their students as well. If we want children to be enthusiastic about literacy, shouldn't we give
them a learning to print experience that is fair and respects their budding skills so they can embrace it and eagerly want
to do more? EZrABC's solves this curriculum problem by providing a letter teaching system that builds skills and
confidence by teaching the letters in progressive directional groups—from easiest to hardest.
One of the question we frequently get is: "Why are the normal three lines – Top Line, Bottom-Line, and dashed
Middle Line – not enough to teach beginning printers how to make their letters and numbers?" The answer is: Of the 52
upper and lower case letters, 26 do not start, or and, on the line – making their proper formation a matter of guesswork.
In other words, the lines don't help a child who is anxiously looking to master this very difficult task. In educational
terms, these letters required the "skill of approximation," which is the ability to abstract the amount a letter is drawn
above or below a line. Unfortunately, children don't develop this skill until they are 3 or 4 years older than 5. Pre-K and
Kindergarten children are concrete thinkers – what they can see, feel, and touch they know. The more a learning process
involves them, the more success they have. Figuring out fractional pieces of space and consistently placing their pencils
there is rudely beyond their skill set. Show them a line where a letter starts and they can do that. Tell them about a
place that isn't marked and, unless they are artistically gifted, they will not be able to find it consistently and that will
frustrate them. Or, as most adults will tell you, they will fake it (make up a place) and if no one corrects them, they will
have sloppy handwriting for the rest of their lives. Consider how you would tell someone to make a capital O. Does it
start below the Top Line? If it doesn't, it looks like an egg. Just look at all the adults who have sloppy handwriting, they
all learned how to print as Kindergartners and first grades and they never got any better because the curriculum wasn't
any better. Practice does not make perfect, if it is improper practice.
At EzrABCs we solve these problems by teaching the easier to make letters first, in progressive Directional
Groups, and we use a 5-Line paper-- so nobody has to guess where the curved letters start or end.
EZrABCs Handwriting Sheets and downloadable teaching printing products are available online.