Calligraphy Lessons: the Palmer Method

The boys, and I, have begun learning calligraphy, and a few weeks ago I went on an expedition for teaching materials. I thought they would be easy to find – but I was wrong. I did find a handwriting workbook at Barnes & Noble which, for lack of a better solution, we immediately started using. However, my suspicion was that it lacks incremental technique building exercises, that it is deficient in fundamental motor skill exercises. I was right. It became immediately clear the boys needed to first master the component strokes before attempting to produce whole letters.

My Wife to the Rescue:

I didn’t know quite what to do about this little penmanship issue. The boys need quality lessons, but it’s a dying art; nobody teaches it anymore. Enter Mely: “Hey! Look what I found!” And she produced this book:

Do you want your kids to learn the sort of calligraphy that impresses people? The Palmer Method is for you! I’m so impressed by the lessons, and the general attention to fundamental strokes that I committed myself to learning right along with the boys. The book we have is in Spanish, and it was printed in 1949. “But, Keith!” you say. ”We want our own copy!” You’re in luck because I happen to have found a scanned copy in English too. To see the entirety of the books in PDF format click on the cover of the language you desire. The exercises in both books are identical. The only differences are some illustrations and the print date.