Handwriting without Tears Prek

[happycc]

I have been reading everyone's posts and suggestions for my active 3.5 yrs old son. I have a few of the curriculums and tried them out but none of them will work with my son's need for hands on. We tried Reading Eggs..that didn't work. He kept randomly clicking things. OPGTR not enough stimulation for him. Phonics Pathways---no.

 

The Handwriting Without Tears Pre K seems right up his alley but seems like a pain to implement for a homeschool mom of lots of kids and there are a lot of teachers guide. Which to do first? What to get? What have you tried? He has been diagnosed with pdd-nos.

[LilBearsMama]

I have a son with ASD and fine motor delays. Honestly I used a chalkboard and whiteboard. He refused anything with shaving cream, etc though he would make letters out of playdough. We mainly did a good bit of work on the whiteboard. I'd model a letter and he would go for it. He can write all his letters now.

[Arboreal TJ]

My crazy active boys couldn't handle HWOT. There wasn't enough repetition in the workbook and the stories from the TM were too goofy and set them off to crazy land. I gave up on HWOT several months ago, my boys still can't write an M without saying "stinky" then descending into an uncontrollable fit of potty related laughter.

 

I've since jumped on the cursive first bandwagon and started Pentime cursive. Pentime is a much better fit for our family. My guys love cursive or maybe just the fountain pens :-) Their cursive, though slow to learn, is much neater than their manuscript.

[LilBearsMama]

I was wondering about Pentime. I do have the Teach Me Joy version of cursive, which I plan to use soon. Pentime keeps drawing my attention though - is there a reason you use fountain pens instead of pencils?

[Arboreal TJ]

I read a thread on here that suggested fountain pens for kids that push too hard on pencils. It works! No more broken pencil lead and tired hands, their writing is significantly neater too.

 

I really like Pentime! We are using Pentime 2, my boys struggle to read the words (they aren't great readers) they write, other than that, Pentime is working well for us....much better than HWOT!

[LucyStoner]

This is just what happened with us so ignore at

your will but I would not press a 3.5 year old with PDD-NOS into any sort of handwriting just yet. My son was initially diagnosed PDD-NOS and later with HFA. Writing early was not very good for his writing habits later and what he did at ages 3-5 all had to be corrected later on and poses challenges to him even now at almost 10. Once he picked up bad habits with strokes they were hard to break. I think active boys will get more out of the same sort of programs once they are a bit older and have more manual dexterity.

 

My younger son (just now 4) can write his name in caps, knows his letters and sounds and is a very very new reader but other than letting him scribble letters, I've opted to wait till much closer to, if not, 5 for writing instruction. He does not show any signs of a developmental concern but I'd rather he learn good habits when he will be old enough to utilize them.

[happycc]

I want to be sure people are reporting about the Preschool program Getting Started for School Handwriting Without Tears program. It is not the regular Handwriting without Tears program.

Ironically my son with pdd-nos is writing earlier and easier than anything else.

[happycc]

Ok I broke down and bought the Get Set for School program....

 

which includes the guides:

 

1)Word Time with the word flashcards and puppet Squacker

2)Readiness and Writing

3)Language and Literacy

4)Numbers and Math

 

I also purchased the letter wood pieces and Mat Man books as well as the two CD's and My First School, Book, My Book and I know my Numbers books.

 

I already have the chalk, sponges, blackboard from my older kids. I am tempted to purchase more items from the company that goes with the curriculum because it seems to really click with my son. it almost makes me want to have more special needs kids to make the purchase worth it.

 

My son who is an active 3,5 yrs old (diagnosed with pdd-nos when he was 20 something months by regional center and now just has speech articulations issues by the school district) is completely obsessed with Mat Man right now. He asks to build and sing Mat Man everyday and read his books. After first presenting Mat Man he went and drew Mat Man with great detail. My husband and I were both shocked. Next he wanted to make Mat Man's mom. We just made Mat Mans body out of regular paper and the hands and eyes and nose we used round math counters rather than buy the letter mat.

 

Word Time is setup to be used Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Basically the puppet is introduced each day and placed somewhere like on a chair and the kids learn prepositions that way. Then two words are introduced using the word cards. The book may tell you to gather some props to demonstrate the words better. The puppet reads the words on the word cards and then spell the words out and the kids repeat. Then they may repeat two sentences using the words introduced.

Mondays teaches words that are verbs, Wednesday adjectives and Friday nouns I believe.

There are monthly themes such as social behavior, School, My Body, Sky, Animals. It is really easy to adapt to use at home.

 

The other guides have activities with various materials. Some you have to purchase through the program or you can adapt it to what you have at home. In the back of each book is a lesson plan. It tells you what activies to do each day, page number etc. The program is extremely multisensory.

There is the use of the music cd's and the hands on materials as well as crayons and chalkboard and flashcards as well as playdough. There is a variety of daily activities.

 

The activities will keep the focus of my son. It will appeal to him. Unfortunately he will not be my OPGTYTR child, He is going to need a lot of coaxing and prodding and props and multisensory methods.

 

So if you have a child that needs a lot of bells and whistles to keep his/her attention and focus, then this is it. This program would have worked for my oldest who is now 18yrs old and for my 6th child too. These three (including my current 3.5yrs old) are my hardest to teach kids. They have attention/focus issues as well as motivation issues as well. Retention is tough for these kids and may need a lot of repetition.

 

Over the years I have tried many many many curriculums...None that truly fit kids like these without a lot of tears. This is definiltey the closest curriculum I have found to work with these types of kids.

 

For my other kids who are quick to pick up concepts and retain them easily, this program would be overkill and bore them to tears!

[lea_lpz]

I have been reading everyone's posts and suggestions for my active 3.5 yrs old son. I have a few of the curriculums and tried them out but none of them will work with my son's need for hands on. We tried Reading Eggs..that didn't work. He kept randomly clicking things. OPGTR not enough stimulation for him. Phonics Pathways---no.

 

The Handwriting Without Tears Pre K seems right up his alley but seems like a pain to implement for a homeschool mom of lots of kids and there are a lot of teachers guide. Which to do first? What to get? What have you tried? He has been diagnosed with pdd-nos.

 

I use HWT as a supplement and don't even bother with the teachers manuel. When we start a new letter, I use the roll a dough and wood blocks. The next day we do practice writing the new letter on the chalk board before actually writing on paper with our mfw k handwriting sheet, using the little song from our work book. Then as an end of the unit review we do the letter in the HWT workbook. My k'er uses her k level and my 3 year old has the pre-k book. He does the roll a dough, wood letters, practices writing on chalk board, and his work book but none of mfw k worksheets through out the rest of the week. This seems to work well for us. I will let him repeat HWT pre-k next year at 4 years old. I have considered getting the stamp and see. We have the cd's which I haven't used much lately but our actually nice. We sometimes bust them out on car rides or our "light" day 6 of mfw k.

[MeaganS]

We're using HWT with my HFA 4 year old daughter right now. I'm using the Get Ready for School portion PreK part. I have the Teacher's Guide (the new one), workbook, and chalkboard. I made my own "wooden" letters out of laminated card stock. I've used it mainly for ideas on how to teach and am doing my own thing. Most days we take out the "wooden" letters and I have dd make some letters for me. Then we practice them on the chalkboard and sometimes make them out of playdough. I've discovered that for her, she first has to figure out how the letter is shaped, which is not the same thing as recognizing the letters. The wooden letters are fantastic for this and I'm glad that we are using them. We also usually do a page out of her workbook. This is working so far, even though she has fine motor delays. And she enjoys handwriting time.

 

You also might be interested in a blog post I just wrote about how I do OPGTR with my HFA daughter. It is working really well and she is impressing me with how quickly she is picking it all up. Here's the link.

[happycc]

YES. I am planning to stay away from workbooks right now for him. He is just not ready for that kind of work. We spent a good 30 minutes working on same and different. ARGH!

I had to finally get an older child to model it for him. I had put out 3 orange squares and then a green square and he still couldn't give me the different one. After getting his sister to come and sit and model it he got it but then I put three orange squares and a pair of scissors and asked him for the different one and he gave me the scissor and I asked him why that was different he said it was black not because they were scissors. ARGH!

 

So workbooks are out of the question right now and no! he is not per se ready to write letters yet. That comes along when it comes I just want him to just get the basics down like same and different and recognizing his right hand etc. Sound discrimnation and his speech and getting to speak in full sentences.