We discovered a series of copywork and handwriting instruction from Laurelwood Books called The Scripture Scribes during this season of being on the Schoolhouse Review Crew. As a busy Notebooking/Charlotte Mason style family, finding created copywork is always a find. We chose Men of Honor and Women of Grace from the Scripture Scribes Series.

My son is in high school, so I almost passed this series up. Looking into it we discovered that they had three levels: His Name is Wonderful, focusing on how the Bible came to us for elementary, One Another reminds upper elementary students to think about others and Men of Honor and Women of Grace aimed at middle and high school students focusing on biblical character.

There are two parts to this workbook to consider: Character Building and Cursive Handwriting.

The draw to me was the Character Building, beginning with a lesson in the Dictionary – and Biblical definition. The quotes following are from secular and biblical texts. They have found some great quotes from the Men of Honor and Women of Grace from the past to urge your student – or yourself – into standing firm and walking out lives of character.

Throughout the text the questions are asked – What is. . . Honor?  Here is a listing of the areas covered: Honor, Mercy, Compassion, Love, Justice, Grace, Joy, Peace, Truth Long-Suffering, Faith, Hope, Honesty, Trust, Patience, Humility, Gentleness, Kindness, Faithfulness, Loyalty, Diligence, and Purity. 

There are around 12 quotes and scriptures to trace and copy.

This sends us to the handwriting intention of the workbook. There is a cursive line, then a dotted line to copy. It was difficult to write this small. We had to spend time finding a writing instrument that had a fine point tip that would still write smoothly. We ended up using the Micron Pens from my study bible pouch. The first days were arduous. Trying to get big fingers to create tiny print. We found it easier to copy it into another piece of paper rather than the workbook for my son. This is intended to be a consumable workbook for one person.  I must be honest and say that I was the only one that could/ or perhaps wanted / to train my handwriting to be this tiny. However, had my husband or other friends used this workbook, their tiny handwriting would have fit well.

I have continued using the workbook and enjoy it.  I like that it is thin, yet of a good size as a regular sized book. The cover has a soft feel, however, the book is strong enough to write in without a table needed.

One thing I noticed with both of our writing, was that the daily practice of just handwriting was sorely needed. I can see that my lists are much cleaner and more consistent in size and style.  I have seen this for my son as well.

At the end of the book, there is a short lesson on copying the scriptures through the ages.  I thought it was a very nice touch to finish out the book.  There is also a small section in the middle about translating the scriptures, which both my daughter and I truly enjoyed.

It has been a good time being focused on penmanship with our homeschool studies, and for me as I love to doodle and draw. We enjoyed our conversations together saying the quotes out loud, pondering the person who said them, and also making conversation about why Laurelwood Books would have included that historical figure or Biblical quote to inspire a high school boy.  We spent so much time on Character Building when the boys were younger, it was nice to have a direct reason, outside of discipline or training after an incident to think about the qualities that these Men of Honor and Women of Grace had, and how to bring them into our daily lives.

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