My two cents: Computer keyboard typing and cursive writing shouldn't be mutually exclusive abilities. At home, our children learn cursive writing at age 7 or 8 (which is late by some standards) and two-hand touch typing by age 10. My middle son found cursive writing easier to learn than block printing.
My mother says that, years ago, children were taught cursive writing first before block printing.
My oldest son did too! (He's 11.) He taught himself how to write in cursive. I told him I'd provide the curriculum, but I'd taught him how to write once and wasn't gonna again! Heh heh.
He prefers cursive when he has to write (fill in the blanks and such) but when he has to write a paper, he types it.