Free Printable Handwriting Worksheets are a resource that homeschooling families and teachers can use to help students learn to write clearly. This is particularly useful, because learning how to write is one of the core skills students need to help them succeed in life.http://www.ldonline.org/spearswerling/10521

According to the IES National Center for Education Statistics, when tracking the percentage of adults Lacking Basic Prose Literacy Skills (or BPLS) "The national direct estimates of the percent ... are 14.5 percent for the 2003 (National Assessment of Adult Literacy) NAAL and 14.7 percent for the 1992 (National Adult Literacy Survey) NALS. In comparison, the national direct estimates of the percentages Below Basic in prose literacy are 13.6 percent for the NAAL and 13.8 percent for the NALS." http://nces.ed.gov/naal/estimates/overview.aspx

When teaching children the basics, learning how to read and how to write is a top priority, for literate children grow into literate adults. Therefore, the key to teaching your child how to read and write successfully is through practice. While reading and writing go hand-in-hand, teaching children good penmanship may take a little more practice since it involves showing them how to properly put words down on paper.

This task can be done through the aid of handwriting practice worksheets. While there are many websites that provide these free worksheets, this page lists several websites that parents and teachers can avail themselves of.

• Softschools.com - provides parents and guardians with free handwriting worksheets for preschoolers and kindergarteners that include consonant sounds, short vowel sounds and long vowel sounds http://www.softschools.com/handwriting/alphabets/

• Tlsbooks.com - provides free printable handwriting worksheets that include tracing and printing A to Z - letters, copying sentences, following directions, lower and upper case alphabet printing practice, cursive alphabet practice, and counting, tracing, and printing numbers. In addition, themed handwriting worksheets as well as several font variety practice sheets are available on this site. http://www.tlsbooks.com/handwritingworksheets.htm

• Handwritingworksheets.com - allows the parent or guardian to personalize the free printable handwriting worksheets by typing in the child's name or short sentences to create their own practice worksheets. http://www.handwritingworksheets.com/print-1/make-p.htm

• First-schools.ws/theme/handwriting.htm * provides parents with many printable handwriting worksheets that include color words, days of the week, months of the year, blank story paper for drawing and writing and more. http://www.first-school.ws/theme/handwriting.htm

• Worksheetfun.com - provides parents with free printable handwriting worksheets for preschool to fourth grade that include contractions, antonyms, synonyms, compound words, math, dot-to-dot, and much, much more. http://worksheetfun.com/