Then one day I found a really cool program called StartWrite. This nifty little program allows me to create and print handwriting worksheets for them. Not only can I print worksheets for them, I can print plain paper for them as well.

Want cute graphics? Go for it! While there are some included with the program you can use your own as well, just browse to the file and choose it to add to your page. Large fonts? sure! Small Fonts? why not! Dotted fonts? Dashed fonts? Starter dots? Directional arrows? Yes. Yes. Yes. and Yes.

Let me take a list off the website itself and show you just a few things it can do.

• Choose Handwriting Fonts including Manuscript (similar to Zaner-Bloser), Manuscript-Simple (similar to Zaner-Bloser, Simplified), Modern Manuscript (similar to D’Nealian) and Italic (similar to Getty-Dubay or Portland Italic).
• Use Cursive Fonts that correspond to the above-mentioned educational fonts, for the advanced student.
• Expand Font Sizes anywhere from 1/4″ to 2″.
• Choose Shading of Fonts from Dark to Light for all levels of learners.
• Choose From Four Guide Line Options: Top, Middle, Bottom and Descender. Change any line to solid or dashed and colors to red, black or blue.
• Type dotted, dashed, or solid letters.
• Starting Dot to help in your child’s learning of letters.
• Stroke Arrows for proper letter formation.
• Clip Art Included or import your own JPG or BMP clip art to make pages fun…
• Print Worksheets on Plain Paper from your own printer–no hassle and no expensive special paper needed.
• Print in Landscape or Portrait for your convenience and creativity.
• Custom Lessons are included (or can be downloaded free from Homepage) for quick and easy lesson preparation time.
• Use Startwrite’s other Standard Word Processing Functions like cut, copy, paste, new, open, save, print, zoom, etc. for extra ease in preparation.
• Utilize 100,000-Word Spell Checker for accurate worksheet preparation.
• Save Lessons for future use to create your own curriculum in minutes, and save time and effort when repeating lessons.
• Use Spanish and Math Fonts* for even more learning potential.
• Create a Variety of Pages like phonics pages, spelling pages, a letter to a friend, scrapbook pages, etc. for more practice and fun while learning handwriting.
• And much more.

Here’s the full list of available fonts: Manuscript, New American Cursive, ManScrip2, Cursive-Simple, Modern Manuscript, Modern Cursive, Italic, Italic Cursive, PLMR, PLMR Cursive, HWOT, HWOT Cursive.

Along with each of these fonts and all the available variations for printing sheets with these fonts you can add text boxes that will utilize any font already installed on your computer. So if you want to type up some instructions for your work sheets you can use any font on your computer for that. You can even use multiple options on the same page simply by creating a new box to format. And the formatting is as easy as clicking an option button right at the top of the screen.

This program is available to both the PC and Mac markets and is currently priced at $39.95US. I bought this program a few years ago for my PC (you know, back before I was a cool kid with a MacBookPro). I e-mailed them about switching the licensing code to my Mac OS and the customer service they provide is spectacular; not only was the e-mail reply speedy, but the response was personal. I needed to follow up with a phone call for making the switch (requested by company) and Ms. C. (I did not get permission to use her name) was very courteous and helpful.

Get yourself a FREE TRIAL

The Free Trial Version of Startwrite is a Fully Functioning, Complete Program. You are allowed to use it 1 time with all the features. After the first time, then several of the letters and the Spell Checker are deactivated, but all other functions will still work.