Do you remember how you were taught your handwriting skills?

Yes, we had lined paper - heavy line to mark where the top of the letter should be, and a fainter line where the middle of the letter should be. The middle line was also used for lower case letters and the heavy line for upper case. We used pencils and did the loops and lines until we were proficient, and then ... the big event ... we moved on to ink. Each desk had an inkwell that was filled each day. While learning to use ink there were a lot of blots and spills, but eventually we got the hang of it and after that we were allowed to use fountain pens. We were taught to use a sloping forward style of handwriting, backward sloping was frowned upon and using circles to dot the letters 'i' and 'j' was virtually a death penalty offense. We were taught that the whole point of writing was to communicate and if your handwriting were illegible then you would be failing in one of the most basic needs.