Getty-Dubay Italic Handwriting Series Book A Fourth Edition

The Getty-Dubay Italic Handwriting series is a popular, logical homeschool handwriting program that teaches a beautiful, simple italic style. It is faster to write than traditional manuscript and much easier and more legible than looped cursive.

The biggest advantage? The transition from print to cursive is effortless. The basic italic letterforms never change — students simply learn to join them with entrance and exit strokes. This makes the shift to cursive feel natural instead of like learning an entirely new alphabet.

The Seven Books (Kindergarten through 6th Grade)

• Book A (Kindergarten): Introduces basic shapes, lowercase letter families, capitals, and numerals with plenty of space for drawing.
• Book B (1st Grade): Practices lowercase and capitals through fun short words and sentences.
• Book C (2nd Grade): The transition book. Reviews letters by families, then teaches the first five cursive joins while practicing days, months, modes of transportation, and U.S. cities.
• Book D (3rd Grade): Begins full cursive italic practice with energizing content including tongue twisters, phonograms, prefixes/suffixes, and poem forms.
• Book E (4th Grade): Science-themed practice (biomes, solar system, DNA, etc.) while continuing cursive italic.
• Book F (5th Grade): Explores figures of speech, synonyms, word origins, Greek & Latin roots, and more.
• Book G (6th Grade): Focuses on the history of writing and papermaking, with an introduction to calligraphy using an edged pen.

Each book builds on the previous one using letter families for efficient learning. Students are taught a “look, plan, practice” self-assessment method to improve their own handwriting. Books C–G also include a short supplement to help students read traditional looped cursive.

An Instruction Manual (one book for the entire series) provides detailed teaching guidance, scope & sequence, and tips for left-handed and right-handed students. Two desk strips (basic and cursive) are also available.

Companion Resource

Getty-Dubay Italic Calligraphy: for School and Home can be used alongside the series or as a stand-alone program for ages 7 and up. This hands-on book teaches edged-pen calligraphy, formal capitals, history of the art form, and includes practice with poems, quotes, Greek & Latin roots, and the 50 most common English words. Free online instructional videos and DIY worksheets are available to support it.