The Palmer Method of Business Writing · Lesson 4 · Part 2: First movement drills
4. Drill 1: straight lines and the traced oval
Goal: Your child makes slanting push-pull lines and a traced oval two spaces tall, using the arm rather than the fingers.
You'll need
- Wide-ruled lined paper (several sheets)
- A sharp pencil or a smooth gel pen
- The book open at today's page
- A watch, clock or phone timer that shows seconds (only for the optional speed check)
What's in the book
Lesson 4 starts the real practice with drill 1: a line of straight push-pull strokes and a line of ovals traced over and over, each two ruled spaces tall. It explains counting the downward strokes and gives the speed of two hundred downward strokes a minute.
The lesson, step by step
Warm up
Sit in the writing position from Lessons 1 to 3. Without the pencil, run the "writing machine" for a minute: fingers closed, forearm resting, the wrist sliding forward and back inside the sleeve. Then hold the pencil and do the same with the point just above the paper.
Look at the model
Open the book page. Look at drill 1. The top line is a band of straight, slanting strokes drawn up and down over each other. The second line is a set of traced ovals with a straight line inside each. Both fill two ruled spaces.
Don't practice before you know how.
Air first
With the pencil point just above the paper, your child pushes and pulls the arm on the slant, toward and away from the middle of the body. Then they let the point touch down without stopping the motion.
Push-pulls
Mark the line into four parts with dots. Your child makes a band of push-pulls in the first part, then moves the paper left with the left hand and does the next part. The book asks for one hundred downward strokes in each quarter; for a beginner, a good full band is enough.
Traced ovals
Now the ovals: go round the same oval six times (the book later says ten), then move along and start another. Sometimes make the straight line first and the oval round it, sometimes the oval first.
Optional speed target: the book asks for two hundred downward strokes a minute, counted 1 to 10, 1 to 20, and so on. Count only the downward strokes.
Watch for
Shaky lines mean too slow; the book says:
It is not Palmer Method if the lines are tremulous.
Scribbly, uneven ovals mean too fast:
Too much speed is just as bad as too little.
The drill should be two spaces tall. If it is too small, practice in the air until the arm moves more freely.
Gentle check and finish
Look for the smoothest oval on the page and draw a star by it. Then have your child write their name once, keeping the hand light and the wrist off the paper.
Afterwards
Do drill 1 for three or four minutes a day until the lines are smooth and two spaces tall. The book suggests a whole week on these two drills for younger pupils.
Tip
A few minutes in the right way beats a long session in the wrong way. Stop while the arm still feels loose.