Many homeschoolers use "copy books" for handwriting practice. The copy book can be a three-ring notebook filled with the appropriate handwriting paper or it can be a blank bound book. Copy books not only allow the practice of handwriting; they also give children the opportunity to copy from good literature and fill their minds with great themes of the past.
Many famous men were taught using this method. Alexander the Great treasured his copy of Homer's "Iliad" which was corrected by his teacher, Aristotle. George Washington copied rules of civility into his copy book, which is still being read in our day. Isaac Newton used a large blank book to copy scientific facts as well as his own questions.
Homeschool Tools provides a large amount of material for copy work. Bible verses, poems, hymns, patriotic quotes and famous documents lend themselves to copying. They can be printed directly from Homeschool Tools. For young children set your browser to the largest font so that the material will be easier to read. You can also copy the material and paste it into your word processing program. These programs allow even larger fonts. In addition, some teachers have found that certain fonts more closely resemble the handwriting forms used in their school. For example, Lucida Casual is similar to the italic handwriting style. When you import a document into your word processing program, save it in a special homeschool folder so that you can use it again. When you use copy books, encourage your children to do their best. They are creating a book that they will enjoy reading again and again. Alexander the Great kept his book in a beautiful Persian box that was always with his sword beside his pillow. Perhaps one day your copy books will be one of the treasures of your school.