Handwriting Success Reviews 48

Wonderful and easy system to help with handwriting success :)

Very nice books on the practice of handwriting. Clear and thorough

My handwriting sucked and now I like it!

It all started when, a couple of months ago, I picked up an old journal of mine, one I started ten years ago. I tried to read its entries, but they were too hard to read.

That was a sad moment, realizing I couldn't connect with a past version of myself because I couldn't clearly write my thoughts and feelings. I decided to fix that.

I started searching for handwriting systems or programs, and the best one, by far, was Getty-Dubay.

I liked that Getty-Dubay is pragmatic. It felt as if other handwriting systems were absurdly ornate horse-drawn carriages (perhaps popular within a silly elite, but wildly impractical in daily life). On the other hand, Getty-Dubay felt like a solid, stylish, and speedy Toyota (or Lexus, if you wanna write particularly pretty letters).

It just made sense to choose Getty-Dubay. That's why I bought Write Now and the fonts.

So how did it go? Well, for starters, Getty-Dubay isn't entirely utilitarian. It becomes a work of art when you want it to. At baseline, my handwriting is now pretty, and I've had people compliment it. However, I can also write with a fountain pen and write beautiful calligraphy in Getty-Dubay. This to me is insane, given that a couple of months ago I couldn't read my own writing and today I can write astoundingly beautiful letters in fountain pen.

More broadly, I like that the company behind Getty-Dubay, Handwriting Success, doesn't feel like a face-less, profit-obsessed company. Yes, they charge money for a product and they are not a charity, but they don't feel like publicly traded companies that are trying to suck the soul out of every living thing to make a profit. Instead, they feel like a company made by humans, starting with Getty and Dubay!

This doesn't mean their product is perfect. I do think they could have a better user experience in their website. For example, I wasn't always sure what to buy to practice more: should I buy the Getty-Dubay fonts? Should I buy another Getty-Dubay book? Should I buy the Getty-Dubay teacher guides? Should I write pangrams again and again, as Write Now suggests? I suppose it would help Handwriting Success to have better customer segmentation and, for each segment, have better user story mapping. For my segment (an adult who wanted to improve their handwriting on their own, without a teacher), maybe doing something like what Gold Medal Bodies does with its curriculum guide could help.

But, you know what? In the grand scheme of things, all of this segmentation and user story thing is trivial. You're reading this right now because you're wondering if Getty-Dubay is any good. And it is. Buying Write Now and the fonts has been one of the best things I've done for myself and for the people that read my handwriting. I fully recommend it.

I homeschool my four children and the fonts will be used for creating copywork books. It is so nice creating books for my children that have the handwriting we have practiced and loved using.

They made purchasing easy and straightforward. The product was exactly as advertised. And shipping was prompt.

We love Getty-Dubay. The sample font is perfect for custom worksheets.

Love the scripts! That is, both the regular cursive and Italic cursive. I have traced a few letters and it is easy enough to use these scripts. I am an "old timer" and grew up using cursive in school, but over the years, my handwriting has gone to pot (as we used to say). My handwriting is legible, but very uneven and I personally do not like the way it looks. This script is right up my alley as it has regular cursive and Italic cursive. I like that the letters start off "large"; i.e. that is in a large format so it is easy to see how to form the letters. Then, the letters gradually reduce size so that the writing looks more "adult" and not like child's writing. Of course, this works for adults, but at the same time, children can still use the scripts to learn cursive. I am working on "fixing" my handwriting and with practice, I hope to achieve that by using both of these scripts. Thank you for developing these scripts and sharing with those who love writing by hand!

I had a question about product suitability. I received a helpful answer and made my decision to buy on that.

Simple & straightforward

My kindergartener got so excited about her new book (level B) she did 10 pages in a row! This is the same curriculum my mother, a calligrapher, used with me as a kid, and I'm thrilled to pass it on to the next generation.

Just the type of handwriting practice I was looking for. Prompt shipping.

I unfortunately have the handwriting of a kindergartener due to my unique upbringing, this book is helping me rapidly improve my handwriting. Thank you.

The greeting cards came to me very promptly. I really like the colors of the pictures on the front of the cards. The paper takes ink very well, no smearing.
I love the envelopes too. They receive ink well and dry quickly.

I just found out

I found the beginning booklet confusing because the double sided pages are confusing. It goes through the book, then you flip the book over and go backwards through the book, but you don't do both sides of one page in order. I tried to return the products, but they never made it clear what the address was to return them too and they charge a significant restocking fee. Overall, I wouldn't recommend buying these unless you know exactly what you're getting into and know that you want it. I'm stuck with a product I'm not gonna use because I couldn't deal with the hassle of the returns after having just had a baby. I also find this curriculum too expensive for a family that has many children. $100 per child to learn all the levels - I've found better elsewhere.

Liz helped me through a bump in the road of my early homeschool journey.

Great handwriting system and they're very helpful if you have any problems too.

Ordering with Apple Pay was seamless and efficient. The order arrived more quickly than expected and it gave me an extra day to prepare to teach. Thank you!

Order came quickly. It was in good shape and what I ordered.
I have used these books in the past and they are great: simple and work well.