Handwriting; a lost art?

I read recently where someone said that teaching handwriting was a waste of time as most people will only use technology to communicate in the future. I found that really sad. Nothing beats a handwritten letter or card.

We do handwriting at least once a week. We used to do it more often but I think both girls are pretty neat writers and they tend to write more in other areas so there's not the same need as there was earlier on.  The girls also have pen-pals so spend time writing to them.

We use Targeting Handwriting books, which is from NSW (Australia). The writing in that seems to be the one that is most like ours in N.Z.  It is very good and has little activities for them to do every so often.  Agent Smelly (7) has recently started level 3 (she actually skipped 2 and it hasn't seemed to have made a difference) and The Fashionista (9) is on level 4.

A sample from The Fashionista's book.

A sample from Agent Smellys' book.

Further to the above comment about technology replacing the need for handwriting. With this in mind the girls also do typing practice on the lap top once or twice a week. They use Mavis Beacon typing tutor which they really enjoy. It teaches them the correct way to type and keeps a record of their progress as they go along.