This may be of interest to those who like to make their own worksheets and other materials. If you are looking for fonts that will help with your language arts teaching, specifically with penmanship (manuscript or cursive) you might want to check out Educational Fontware, Inc. They offer a set of 19 TrueType fonts that look similar to those you may be seeing in your textbooks and other teaching materials. Examples are the DN font which mimics the D’Nealian ® font, the HWT font for those familiar with the Handwriting Without Tears ® system, and the AB and CCU fonts for those using Abeka ® or Bob Jones University © curricula. Others include fonts that match materials from publishers like Steck Vaughan, Harcourt Brace and Seattle School District.

The fonts come on a CD-ROM that includes both Mac and PC (Windows 3.1 to Vista) versions of all nineteen fonts, plus a set of bonus specialty and decorative fonts useful for things like certificates and diplomas. All but two of the nineteen fonts include both cursive and manuscript versions. A user guide is included, and explains how to get the cursive version of the fonts to link together properly. (Note: There are known issues when using WordPerfect and OpenOffice or if you have a Linux OS - manuscript fonts should work but cursive may either not work, or not link properly.) Fonts include accented letters for foreign language writing, and with markings for teaching phonics (i.e. long and short vowels, etc.)

A single teacher license (good for homeschoolers as well) costs $49.95 USD, shipping and applicable taxes included. The company will ship internationally, and estimates a CD will arrive in Canada within one week of ordering. Purchase by printing out the order form and paying by credit card or cheque. If you need a font right away, you may choose to buy online with your Visa or Mastercard. This option will allow you to select a single font family for immediate download after the credit card payment is cleared. The full CD containing all fonts will be shipped to you by post.

Replacement/upgrade licenses are available for return customers, and may be necessary after a computer or software upgrade. The cost is $20 USD and the CD contains the full font package. For schools and businesses, a site license is available at $300 USD. Any single font can be converted to PostScript format for publishing purposes, free with the purchase of a site license. The fonts can be used for commercial purposes, as long as they are in a format that does not allow access to the full font itself.

Samples of the fonts can be viewed online & downloaded in PDF format for printing. EFI says the fonts do look much better on paper! Wander over to Educational Fontware, Inc. and see if there’s something you could use!

This work was created by Ruby of Freehold 2, and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada License.

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