My mother, born around 1900 had a notebook full of penmanship exercises. The students worked on writing everyday. The work was incredible. Boys and girls both had excellent penmanship.
Yep, I learned to write cursive via a 1920s-vintage penmanship schoolbook. I recall being really keen on getting a head-start and writing in script before it was taught in class the following schoolyear. Of course, it taught the old style of writing “r” in script, along with the not-crossing the “t” when it ended a word. Which I had to revert to the more modern style at school.
I don’t know what became of that book. It was a small softback book, and I guess it just got so worn that my mother threw it out. It almost assuredly belonged to my grandmother. As a grade-school kid learning to read, I used to read many of her 1910s-era children’s books, along with my father’s from the 1930s/40s.
My grammar school days were in the mid-late 50’s. The blackboards in my day looked pretty much like that. The multiplication wheel is very interesting. Never had seen anything like that before. Yes, penmanship was taught in every grade. And you were graded on your penmanship. I’ll stop now, I’m beginning to feel old. LOLz.