Help Vlad! pass first grade

[Vlad!]

In addition to my other goals and objectives this year, I want to improve two things that I am terrible at. I chose penmanship and singing. I'm pretty bad at both, so my goal isn't to become good so much as to suck less.

I've found that my biggest problem with penmanship is that I never learned strokes. It's very possible that they tried to teach them to me and I never listened, but I just form my letters any old way. While the way I chose might be better, or at least equivalent, to the "prescribed" way, I found that it decreases others' comprehension of my writing. I've been trying to re-form certain letters and numbers.

The one I'm stuck on right now is d. I write it in one stroke, starting at the top of the circle, around to the top of the stem, and then back down to bring the pen into position for writing the next letter. Ideally the up and down motions on the stem form a single line, but more often than not they form a loop.

I've tried writing d two other ways: like a flipped b, by starting at the top of the stem, going to the bottom, and then looping up and around counter-clockwise for the circle, and by the same way I write it now but without the downward line on the stem. There's also a fourth way, starting at the top of the stem and then looping clockwise from the bottom for the circle, but this ends up looking pretty much identical to the third way, and it's more annoying.

The official way to write 'd' appears to be with two strokes, one to form the circle and one to form the stem. Nuts to that, say I, unless there's no avoiding it.

So here is my writing practice:


My questions:
1. Which way do you write d? Note that we're talking about manuscript; I know how to write a cursive d.
2. Which of the above is most legible to you? Least legible?

Those sorry souls who have to read my handwriting thank you

[enemy anemone]

1. your first description, but mine don't form much of a loop. or I use two strokes. or something in between, with less pressure going from the loop to the top part of the stem so that it doesn't show.

2.  the ones that are most legible are the ones that form a closed circle with the stem so it doesn't look like c and l. if the stem is looped, that is okay as long as the circle is closed.
the ones in last row look more like music notes, so maybe they can help with your other endeavor.   but the ones that are more closed get the message across.

here's my sheet.



(ugh, this blue looks bad here.)

[NewDimension]

I've tried writing d two other ways: like a flipped b, by starting at the top of the stem, going to the bottom, and then looping up and around counter-clockwise for the circle, and by the same way I write it now but without the downward line on the stem.

I probably write "d's" most like this, but I don't always bother bringing the stem all the way to the bottom before I make the counter-clockwise turn. Sometimes I'll start with the stem and then make a counter-clockwise turn near the half way point and loop it back around to the stem, and sometimes I'll bring the line down again-- just so the letter doesn't look like a music note.
                                                                                                                                                               

2.  the ones that are most legible are the ones that form a closed circle with the stem so it doesn't look like c and l. if the stem is looped, that is okay as long as the circle is closed.
the ones in last row look more like music notes, so maybe they can help with your other endeavor. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 
I agree with this.             


The way you write "a" in the first line of "read" is a bit similar to how I write small "a's".           
                                                                                                                         

[Vlad!]

I tried writing the d like Schil suggested. It would take some getting used to. I think it looks OK when I do it right, but I still occasionally have the problem of missing the circle and looking like cl instead of d.

Probably as a result of this my brain will get confused and never write d the same way twice (this has already happened with lower-case p, which sometimes has a loop and sometimes not, depending on what the surrounding letters are. Bother.)

[RedcoatJones]

Since my name is David, I get to write lots of "D's." And I write my lowercase ones the way you do, in one stroke, beginning at the top of the circle. I found however, that I was much more consistent in the circle and stem closing (only 1 out of 10 didn't connect), which would help legibility.

Of course, take into consideration my Mom thought I was going to be a doctor because my handwriting was so bad as a kid....

[Vlad!]

In actual first grade, the grading scale was O (outstanding), S (satisfactory), and N (needs improvement). I got straight Os in everything except penmanship, where I got S in three out of four quarters. The last quarter my teacher gave me an S+ and wrote "Nathan has such a great attitude and tries very hard, so even though his penmanship hasn't improved any I'm giving him an S+" (or something to that effect; I don't have it here with me obviously).

I was looking through memorabilia after I moved to North Carolina and saw this. My mother tried to encourage me by telling me that her kindergarten teacher wrote on her first report card "Sara tries hard, but there's just nothing there", and then she went on to become valedictorian of her senior class. I said, "great story, mom, but my handwriting still sucks".

[enemy anemone]

I don't remember anything related to assignments and report cards from first grade and don't have any memorabilia. :\  I vaguely remember that around 2nd and 3rd grade the girls in my class were rather competitive about penmanship. it was considered impossible to get an A+ on an assignment, but one girl got one once. (this is true! I was there! I saw it! ) I think she got an end-of-the-year certificate for best handwriting, too. (one year all the students got some sort of superlative award for something or other to boost our self-esteem, I suppose. mine was not even a superlative, but a generic "academic achievement". whatever. other people got "neatest handwriting" or "most improved" or "best attitude".  ) (clearly I have not won nor will ever win any "best attitude" awards.)