DIY handwriting worksheets with LaTeX
There are several handwriting fonts already designed in METAFONT - the native font engine for TeX and family. Most of these are German, one Austrian, one French - that’s just the ones I know of.
So there you have Lateinische Ausgangsschrift, French Cursive, Vereinfachten Ausgangsschrift, Österreichische Scholschrift and TW Cal 14. Makes a change from all the US based handwriting worksheet generators which provide variations on Zaner-Bloser, D’Nealian and Getty Dubay. It’s still a far cry from the Australian Foundation Handwriting that I grew up with (italic, but taller ascenders and descenders than Getty).
That’s part of the fun of DIY homeschooling - so many options.
And how I made the sample sheet:
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{la}
\usepackage{frcursive}
\usepackage[cm]{fullpage}
\usepackage{xcolor}
\usepackage{va}
\usepackage{oesch}
\usepackage{twcal14}
\begin{document}
\renewcommand{\seyesDefault}{\color{gray}}
\setlength{\parindent}{0mm}
%\setlength{\baselineskip}{12pt}
\setlength{\parskip}{10pt}
\huge
\lahuge
Lateinische Aushangsschrift:
\seyes{The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog \quad}
\seyes{\phantom{The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog \quad}}
\begin{cursive}
\acadshape
French Cursive
\seyes{The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog \quad}
\seyes{\phantom{The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog \quad}}
\end{cursive}
\vacalfont
Vereinfachten Ausgangsschrift
\seyes{The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog \quad}
\seyes{\phantom{The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog \quad}}
\oeschfamily
\"Osterreichische Scholschrift
\seyes{The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog \quad}
\seyes{\phantom{The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog \quad}}
TW Cal 14
\twcal
\seyes{The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog \quad}
\seyes{\phantom{The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog \quad}}
\end{document}
Theoretically it should work for any fonts - maybe next thing is to try using it with Christopher Jarman Handwriting Fonts (make sure you download the PC truetype fonts - unless you have a RISC/Acorn computer and know what you’re doing).
Update: Briem Handwriting includes an italic font which has a lined variant.
Veronica Brandt
Technician and Tutor
My research interests include Gregorian chant, knitting, constructing long skirts with pockets and taking over the world.