Tidbits of Learning
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Posts posted by Tidbits of Learning
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I plan to continue with Singapore just not the all in one curriculum that led us to using Singapore Math;). I am really wondering about it b/c I saw a thread that said changing once you start 3a could leave you mixed up or losing topics or something like that and dd9 is doing 2b right now and was supposed to do 3a US edition when we finish.
Since I'm not doing the all in one curriculum next year that schedules US edition, I was thinking that maybe I should make the switch if standard is better or covers more.
I really like Singapore but want to get the HIG's instead of using this curriculum's schedule and was really debating going ahead and trying the standard after finishing 2b with dd9 even though I already have the 3a/3b US edition textbook/workbooks.
I think I will go ahead and get 3a standards and check it out and see the difference.
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I found that the teacher's manual was most helpful when remediating a child that has developed bad habits and has poor grip and formation. I don't know that I would have found it as needed if we would have started out without the bad habits formed.
It really helped me with the remediation and what to expect from my child. I have the newer teacher's guide for printing power and was very glad that I got the teacher's guide. It helped me to figure out all of my child's weak areas and bad habits and to correct them.
If you are using HWOT to remediate handwriting issues, I would get the teacher's manual. If you are teaching to write from the beginning with HWOT, then I think it is just a personal preference. I don't think I would get it if I weren't remediating.
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We started Singapore this year with the US edition of Earlybird k2a/2b and Primary 2a/2b with our kids based on the reccomendation of the curriculum guide we are using right now.
I am not planning to continue with this particular curriculum guide series after this year and I keep reading about how great the HIG's are for standard and that it includes more topics.
I am just wondering if it would be better to switch to the Standards series now or just continue along with the US editions. I had heard you don't want to switch after getting to 3a so that is why I am curious if anybody has used both standard and us editions and which do you like better or is it really not that big of a difference.
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I think curriculum swapping is bad for Language Arts and Math especially, but having 4 kids and just starting out I chose to go with a curriculum that worked afterschooling with my ds6. We decided to homeschool and I just went on and bought what I needed from that curriculum for my dd7 and dd9.
I didn't research anything else. I had no clue what my dd's learning styles were...they had been in public school. I wasn't a member on any boards and just thought this was great for afterschooling and really helped ds. I learned a valuable lesson. Not all kids learn the same way and afterschooling with some parts of a curriculum is not the same as schooling with all of it with 3 very different kids! So I do think that if you start off with a good program and it just doesn't work with your kid/kids that researching and figuring out what will work with your child is in the best interest of everyone.
I can't change right now b/c of money, but I do want to research and get feedback on the things I am looking at. I couldn't imagine changing curriculum every year. I want to find what will work and set a plan to make it work long term. Likewise, if something isn't working, I don't want to feel married to a curriculum b/c I made a bad choice that doesn't really fit dc.
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:iagree:
BTW, just yesterday I was showing dh the kids' schoolwork for the day and he read a word problem our dd got "stuck" on. DH (a mechanical engineer), said, "How do you solve that without Algebra?". Once I showed him the bar diagrams, it made sense to him, but it's not intuitive. At least, we don't find it intuitive here. :tongue_smilie:
Yep, that was me! I could only see Algebra to solve it and I knew that wasn't what they wanted in the 2a/2b books.
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I didn't read through all the previous responses, so someone may have already said this...but I really liked the method used at ds's Montessori school. They cut letters out of fine sandpaper and glued them on cardstock to make flashcards that ds could run his finger over to feel the shape of the letter. Of course, they said the name of the letter and the letter sound at the same time.
Yep, sandpaper letters are great! Polliwog Learning has a really good set that will stand up to the roughest of toddlers. I have pics of my 2.5 year old using sandpaper letters and a link to how to use them the Montessori way. I just don't know if I am supposed to do links yet and exactly how to put them in a reply.
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For 1st grade I started off with HOD's Little Hearts for His Glory, but as the months have worn on I have added so much and done it differently that I don't use the guide anymore.
Here was our schedule doing LHFHG as written
10:00 Singapore Earlybird 2a
10:30 R&S Workbooks and A Reason for Handwriting K
11:00 LHFHG Learning with History and Storytime (History, some science, activity box, rhymes in motion, Thornton Burgess books)
11:30 The Reading Lesson
Now that my son has taken off with learning LHFHG isn't really enough for him. We were doing some K and some 1st options and he is ready for all 1st materials now. He started off behind in reading, fine motor skills, and writing. Nine weeks in we have almost finished all of the k options and are moving into more 1st grade work. We are adding in more now (9 weeks in) and won't be using the LHFHG guide anymore just their book recomendations.
10:00 Singapore Earlybird 2b then moving on to 1a/1b
10:30 R&S Workbooks and about to start Abeka Writing with Phonics 1 (manuscript)
11:00 History for Little Pilgrims, Singapore Start Up Science, First Language Lessons 1/2, and we are continuing the Thornton Burgess books that came with LHFHG
11:30 The Reading Lesson
These are more blocks than real times. We do start at 10 and are done by 12, but a lot of times we are done earlier than the 30 minute blocks on some things and we move on to the next thing. I am also teaching dd9 and dd8 during these times. So sometimes when he finishes before I am ready to move on he will get a computer/video break.
I have noticed that he really had a moment about 6 weeks in when he blossomed and needed more than what I had originally planned and we started to go faster and do more pages than the guide called for each day. He made more progress in 6 weeks at home than a year at public school k. While I still use most of the books that LHFHG recommended, we have picked up the pace and really beefed it up.
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I agree that if she is forgetting the letters and sounds learned or not seeming to retain them without constant review that I would talk to my pediatrician.
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The reading lesson has a dvd that teaches the letter sounds. I'm not sure of putting links in a reply, but all you have to do is go to their site and under products it is The Sounds of Letters.
As far as flashcards go Brainy Baby flashcards are great b/c it has real pictures and I have taught both my sons with them. It only took a short time.
We use sandpaper letters to learn formation of letters. We also only teach the sounds not the name of the letters first. After they really have the sounds down and you are working on writing the letters, you can teach the name. After my child knew the sounds we started flashcards and I always did it showing the letter "The A says ___ (aa) then flip to the picture and say apple. That way they are getting the name and sound.
My son is 2.5 and we have used the brainy baby flashcards for the alphabet, numbers, shapes, and colors, and we have animals too. It is low key and we don't drill. Often he will dump them out and quiz me holding a card up and wanting me to give the sound or he picks them up and says the sound and then turns it over and says the name of the picture for that letter. We did work on it a few letters at a time when I was teaching the sounds though.
He has always just had access to them and he knew most of this between 2 and 2.5 just by playing.
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The only problem I have had is with the word problems and setting up their bar diagram method. I am doing 2a/2b one with each of my dd's. I don't have the teacher's guide and I had never used Singapore so I had no clue that we were supposed to be doing a bar diagram before going on another board and asking someone with a HIG how in the world we were supposed to set up a specific word problem. I would say if you know singapore's method it isn't a big deal, but if you don't know singapore's way of doing things the textbook/workbook approach doesn't always explain how they want you to teach them to set the problems up.
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Ok, went there and realized that I did check them out initially. I like the structure what I don't like is that they separate the ages into three different books so I would a) have to buy level 1 for the 2nd grader and level 2 for the 5th grader and b) it looks like they wouldn't be aligned and able to study their history (including the wonderful, but time-consuming read alouds) together.
Did you look at the try before you buy for History Odyssey? I looked at both the level one and level 2 and feel that using the level 1 with all of my kids 9,8, and 6 will work for the 4 yr cycle. It even says that some have used the level 2 successfully for high school. I plan to use the level one as well as the SOTW activity guides. I think it is plenty for a 5th grader.
Just a thought. We are going to do a term of MFW Adventures before starting with our history cycle. I was concerned about young earth as well, but I think MFW is set up where you can read and discuss it according to your beliefs. I will know for sure after we try it for Adventures.
I think going through the level 1 and then level 2 will be plenty for my oldest daughter. The level one uses SOTW and CHOTW or maybe it is abbreviated CHOW (Children's History of the World) and both have been recommended in these threads. I downloaded the try before you buy and there are 12 weeks worth of lessons (everything you need except the spines) and after going through it I really feel it will be enough for my then 10 yr old 5th grader after we finish our curriculum for this year.
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I'm doing Start Up Science with my almost 6 yo ds. It's a 4 book series from the Singapore Science people. It has some easy hands on stuff scattered through the books. We're doing circuits this week. :001_smile: I like it a lot, but I think it may be going out of print? Rainbow Resource didn't include it in their print catalog this year. I found them at Christian Book Distributors though. I ordered enough copies for my youngers. I hate it when things go OOP. I hope these aren't going OOP and RR not carrying them anymore is some kind of fluke.
I bought these as well to use with my ds6 and dd7. I hope they aren't going out of print. I didn't get enough for my youngest to use when he gets to this point. Looks like I am going to be buying some more this weekend :tongue_smilie:
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My son did Montessori as well with the sandpaper letters and he is doing well with A Reason for Handwriting K.
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I have found that our public schools drop the ball big time with handwriting. They basically give them the page and let them do their own grip and formation. I have already remediated one child and working on another one this year to break the bad writing habits learned at public school.
Also, even though they have Zaner-Bloser texts here that have appropriate size lines for children developing motor skills, the younger teachers print off the internet handwriting sheets that the lines are often too small for beginning writers which causes poor formation and penmanship.
I have found A Reason For Handwriting K to have a good amount of space and formation guides for teaching beginning handwriting.
I would also recommend using the fat pencils. It really does help with the tripod grip.
I agree with the previous poster as well. In ps kindergarten here, they really focus on the sight words and not phonetic reading. My son does not know how to sound out words. He just finished ps K in May and we are working with him right now on it.
I know if I could go back and work with my middle 2 kids on anything after school during kindergarten it would be handwriting and phonics.
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Your day definitely goes longer than mine does. I think doing MFW for a term will really give me a good idea of whether or not that is what I am wanting for us. It may just be that as we go through our homeschool journey that I will be pulling from this and that and no one curriculum will fit all of us.
Thanks for all the advise and suggestions.
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I have found it hard to let my dd read by herself for the history b/c then I have no clue when she is narrating. It isn't as if I have read all of these books. The amount of reading out loud for different history and science is part of why I am feeling overwhelmed.
Plus she will get sidetracked and not be reading and just sitting there with the book. She listens and participates when I am reading though.
I tried the book on tape approach with ds6 and he totally didn't listen to it. I don't know if it was the particular story or what but it didn't work out. I may try it again soon though b/c I am quite tired of reading aloud so much.
I have tried skimming while she is narrating, but I don't feel like I am truly evaluating her comprehension and her narrating skills when I haven't read it myself.
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IF you decide to go with MFW, I would suggest Adventures with the ages of your children. My dd will be a 9yo 3rd grader this year and doing ADV sets her up to go through the cycle completely through 8th grade. I like this. With a 9, 8, and 6yo, Adv will be more on ALL their level and make it even easier to combine. The youngers will certainly pick up if you choose to go the ECC route, no doubt, but starting with ADV would give the 8 and 6yo another year.
Just a suggestion. I could not do 3 different programs. In fact, this is the first year that I've had to split my girls. The younger has just been riding along till now. It should be an interesting year.
Good luck choosing!!
This is what I plan to do next term. I plan to do MFW adventures after Christmas break to get a feel for MFW and then I will be able to see first hand the differences and really be able to choose what I think works best.
I thought I could add in SOTW for my dd9 if she needed a little bit more.
Whether I will love MFW or not, I don't think I can do that many programs in HOD until 8th grade. It isn't that HOD doesn't teach but you do have to stay with their guides to reap the benefits of the curriculum and I am not sure I am committed to staying and doing 3 guides for the next 4-5 years at least.
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When I started HOD it was with LHTH for my ds who was just turned 2 at the time b/c he really wasn't talking and I thought some guided time spent with just him would help. My 3 other dc were in public school last year. Then when ps went south for my ds6 (kindergarten) and we didn't even know if he would pass, I bought LHFHG (afterschooling) and loved it and I credit starting it with helping him to pass the exit tests for kindergarten and ultimately pass. So I did like HOD when I was doing just 1 program with 1 kid. I automatically bought BHFHG for my oldest daughter because of how much I liked it with the boys one on one.
It isn't that I don't like HOD and it's concepts. I think it would be great if I was working one HOD guide with 1 kid or even 1 HOD guide with 2 kids, but doing 3 guides with 4 kids...it has just shown me where I want to try something else.
I am not saying if I go to MFW for a term that I will love it and never look back and I am not saying I will never go back to HOD. I may combine them all in history and hate it. In theory, it solves the problems I am having with HOD. Will I find different problems by switching? Maybe. When I bought BHFHG I was convinced that I would teach all of the kids up until 8th grade with it. I really didn't research anything else and I had no clue what CM, classical...all meant. I had no clue that there was a young earth debate in curriculum. That is how naive I was I thought all curriculum even Bible-based taught all the theories as theories not facts.
My oldest is advanced and actually placed in Preparing or CTC! I held her back to BHFHG to get a feel for HOD during the summer and to test drive homeschooling. I am glad b/c she had no experience with notebooking and narrating and it has been a good fit, but she couldn't have went any lower.
I guess with doing different things than the guide calls for I have gotten lost on what we have accomplished and what we still need to do to finish the year. This has really turned me off to HOD. I am not doing this as much with BHFHG as I am LHFHG.
As ds has made up for his appalling ps kindergarten year, he has really advanced quickly. He could probably do BLHFHG now, but in March or April when we started I couldn't even envision him in BLHFHG in a years time. So LHFHG has helped my ds and we have learned with HOD, but I honestly don't know if I am up to continuing this pace with the guides until 8th grade. In fact, the future is what made me start looking around. The more I thought about adding my youngest in a few years time, the more I came to dread our day to day with HOD.
We will actually finish our HOD guides around Christmas break which leaves me the opportunity to do a term of MFW (it will be gravy b/c we have technically finished our "grade" for the year with HOD) and really compare the two and what I want with the kids.
You are the first person that has responded that is actually doing several guides and not dreading adding more and not combining. I am going to read back through your replies and think about how you deal with doing 3 guides a little more. I think I need to stop thinking about next term and focus on where we are now and that is finishing LHFHG (tweaked b/c my ds made a vast improvement in a short time) and BHFHG (without DITHOR-I just couldn't hack DITHOR it overwhelmed me).
Here is how our schedule looks right now...
I start with the oldest and knock out her left side (except poetry)-History, Bible(we do catechhism not HOD's Bible), the Activity box, and storytime
The other kids are watching video/playing in rooms during this time
Oldest does Singapore 2b while middle dd does Abeka cursive workbook and ds does Singapore Earlybird 2a
Middle dd does Singapore 2a after finishing math ds does R&S and handwriting sheet (made vast improvement and needs to do both)
when oldest dd finishes math she gets a computer break while I do the left side of LHFHG-History, Bible (Catechism), activity box, our own science (singapore), FLL, and storytime
then both dd's have video/computer time while ds does the Reading Lesson (his hardest thing) We have to have no one else in the room for him to read
Then we have recess
after recess, ds is actually done for the day and the girls were doing R&S 2 together but it was too much writing for dd almost 8, so I have her doing FLL with ds and dd9 has R&S2 dictation and poetry...she doesn't seem to like R&S either so I am toying with the idea of getting FLL 3 for her.
then it is lunch
then dd9 does BHFHG science which we actually love! The notebooking is great and she really loves the one small square books so science is our favorite and that is why it is last so we can go off on bunny trails.
We are doing reading lists and a reading journal from Learn at home series in each of their grades and it is done sometime during the day. It isn't really scheduled right now. And normally I do LHTH before the big kids are even awake b/c youngest ds is a early riser.
Anyway, I know this is a horrible typed out schedule to show you how insane we are running in and out, but they really need one on one for the math and reading. It isn't so much this year that is killing me as much as I know that I can't add in another guide when my youngest ds gets school age...I don't know where I would be able to work with him and looking at the future if I don't get started on the 4 yr cycle my oldest dd won't be able to complete a 4 yr cycle before high school.
Now if I could get MFW's History cycle only and HOD's science only and add in FLL and LLATL with spelling power and english from the roots up. It would be great! Unfornately neither HOD or MFW offer just guides for one subject they are both all in ones. MFW does use most of what I like though except LLATL.
Anyway, since you are doing the same guides as me how hectic does my schedule look or does it look about right for doing these guides with 4 kids. My middle dd is actually partly in LHFHG (left side) and partly in BHFHG (right side) which confuses me sometimes as to where she is at.
Anyway, I appreciate the replies and look forward to reading any advise anyone can give.
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My ds6 is very spacy and reading has been a chore to teach him as well. He caught on to the letter sounds and such quickly, but after that...he has pretty much been on the same level for a year or better with reading. We are using the Reading Lesson now after a lot of different things that didn't work. It is simple and we don't do flashcards or extensive drill and such. It isn't colorful or anything. We read 3 pages a day and the first few lessons he knew b/c it was just the sounds of the letters and some cvc words. It really built his confidence. They have a computer cd to go with it, but I only have the book.
He also sees the first letter of a word and guesses. This has pretty muched stopped with the way the reading lesson teaches reading. He doesn't guess as much and now that we are on Lesson 6 he is starting to sound out words. There are 20 lessons. The lessons are about 20 pages each. If you have a beginning reader, you do 1 page...if you have a 6 yr old you are supposed to try and do 2-3 pages. 2-3 pages has not been too much for my reluctant reader b/c the first 3 lessons he already knew and it built his confidence up a lot. I have however stopped after 2 pages or even 1 if he says he is ready to stop.
Another thing we are doing, instead of reading chapter books right now, he reads Dick and Jane to me. It is pretty much all sight words and he can read a lot of it and well. I would really recommend getting some of the Dick and Jane treasury books. They have worked wonders on him wanting to try to read. He balked the first night I brought it out, but when he saw that he could read a whole story easily he started to not resent reading so much. So he has a lot more confidence.
We have started to pick back up reading some Thornton Burgess books as he really likes Reddy the Fox and the animal characters, but I just kind of summarize it after instead of trying to get him to narrate to me and leave off a word at the end of my sentence like...
None of the animals wanted Reddy Fox to be _____. (child should say caught or something to that point)
They didn't know that Reddy and Granny Fox had _____. (moved)
I guess you could call it guided recall. It is in his mind but he doesn't seem to be able to form the words into sentences after we read.
I also have a reading list of some picture/word books for 1st grade that we are getting from the library and reading through. We are building up to more no picture/chapter books.
Anyway, this is what I have done with my 6 yr old reluctant reader and unfocused listener and we have made great progress in a month's time.
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I have only bought the start up science for 7 & 8 yr olds, but I am looking at the 3&4 for my oldest dd. I can't wait to see what you share when you finish. I did buy an old 3a, but could only get the "textbook" part. I like it and plan to read through it with my oldest. I can't wait to hear about the new series though.
What is RR and do they have all of the Singapore Science?
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What are your kids ages?
My kids are 9,8,6, and 2
It took us a few months with HOD to really start moving along smoothly. It also took me sitting down with my husband, our school needs, and a schedule, and figuring out an order and plan for our day. In fact, this is what has seemed to help me the most.
I have a very strict schedule for HOD or else I would literally be teaching all day. We are schooling from 9am-2pm including lunch and recess. It isn't finishing HOD or scheduling that is making HOD hard for me. My school age kids are very close in age each one a year apart or almost the biggest age gap with my school-aged children is a little over 2 yrs not even a 2 1/2 yr age gap and we are doing 3 guides and 2 different history cycles that will be 3 different history cycles eventually. Being in different history cycles, I think it would get confusing for my 6 and 7 yr old to be listening in to American History while they are studying World History if that makes sense. The history cycle is what is frustrating about HOD with 3 kids in 3 guides and b/c of the skills required I can't just put them all in the left side of one guide. BHFHG would be too much for my youngers and LHFHG wouldn't be enough for my oldest.
For me, HOD is too light in science. So we add to that... However, it took me four years of home schooling and six children added to our family to really know that HOD is the choice for me and it is okay to tweak as I need.
I am already supplementing with Science for LHFHG. Well actually, we don't do LHFHG science at all. I prefer secular science b/c I am not young earth and HOD avoids anything that conflicts with the young earth theory. MFW doesn't do this as much and seems to give more freedom of whether you want to include other theories or leave them out at your own discretion.
I'm not really that big on tweaking. If I buy a guide and then I have to add here and there and don't use this and that and then all I am left with is say the math schedule or following their history, then I kind of feel I could have saved money and mix and matched all by myself.
I like that their math and LA are not included because then I can choose materials that work for them and go at each child's pace. I don't feel like we are behind if we spent extra time on a math lesson and it doesn't hurt anything if dd wants to do extra grammar lessons or memorize a poem early. I can make those building skills match their needs and still work as a family for the rest of it.
The other things I feel the need to tweak with HOD is with Language Arts. We are using First Language Lessons. I am not all that fond of Rod and Staff English for various reasons. We tried R&S 2 this year, but I have switched to First Language Lessons instead.
I find HOD's spelling lists to be really easy and the dictation so far is super easy also. I don't see it improving their spelling and grammer from doing HOD's spelling and dictation alone.
In Math, we are way ahead in our HOD guide and I have to keep tabs for each kid in different guides. This isn't too bad, but I wish I would have just bought the HIG for Singapore and used that instead to schedule our math. I have found the activities in HOD to seem young and do not really explain the Singapore Method.
If I take extra time one on one for our math or language arts to clarify or help, then my schedule is shot. We are schooling 5 hours right now and that is without my youngest in a "real" school year. Once we add him in, I can see it adding on another hour at least with HOD.
Here are my cons of using HOD
1. My oldest child will always be in a guide by herself
2. My youngest child will always be in a guide by himself
3. We will always be in different points on the history cycle with all the kids
4. Light spelling and vocabulary
5. American History in back to back guides BLHFHG and BHFHG
6. DITHOR is overwhelming and is used in all the guides from BHFHG on up-so I would be needing a different reading program.
I can't make a similar list for MFW b/c I have never seen it in person. I have only downloaded samples.
Now, my little one can get lost in the shuffle of the big kids' needs so I got LHTH for her so that she would have things scheduled daily. I am a bit frustrated with it right now. Having no supply list is frustrating. I am use to the exhaustive lists provided by MFW. I guess I have been spoiled because now I am reading through the whole darn thing making weekly lists.
I have made a supply list in word up to unit 14 I think from a template someone else used for LHFHG supply list. It would be easy to fill in the rest of the way if you want it pm me. We are on unit 9 and I have just been trying to keep ahead of where we are as I go with the list. Oh yeah buy stock in masking tape you will go through a ton of it.
What is drawing me to MFW-
1. The history cycle and keeping everyone on the same cycle
2. They seem stronger in Language Arts (spelling, vocabulary, and grammer)
3. They use SOTW and I am really intrigued by using it.
4. They don't avoid topics as much to stay young earth...it is your decision if you want to include it or avoid it or discuss it with your viewpoint
I appreciate everyone's replies and viewpoints. It is really helping me to see the differences in the programs by people who have done them and by some who have tried both.
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Anyway, I like the *idea* of HOD. It just didn't work out for our family, so we'll be sticking with MFW long term. Even if I'd used HOD with my two youngest, I'd be using two separate guides for them, at very different levels because they're so age/grade specific. Plus a 3rd program from somewhere else for my oldest.
Yes, that is what I have found out. I am actually using 3 guides right now with the 4 kids and there is no way to combine them any differenlty b/c of the skills required for each guide.
I also feel the activities seem younger than the history spine, but the children aren't ready for the older guides.
Oh and my kids are 9,8,6, and 2.
I have went to the MFW board and the HOD board and read, but to be truthful it was recommended to me to go to a non-affiliated board (by a friend) and see what kind of answers I got. I did get a wealth of knowledge from both boards. I liked the fact that no one with a vested interest in the curriculum could reply here. I think that makes a big difference. You are getting replies from people in the same position as you are and there is a different feel to a non-affiliated board.
It is a while before next term and I have to finish using what I already have and then I am going to make a decision. So I hope the replies, opinions, and experiences keep coming. I am going to make a more informed decision before purchasing anything this time.
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Hi,
I will introduce myself first. I am a SAHM of 4 kiddos. We just started homeschooling this last year.
We chose HOD and while I do like it I am having a hard time with this many kids. With my kid's ages, we are doing 3 guides between 4 kids and that is the best we will ever do with combining. We are doing LHTH, LHFHG, and BHFHG right now.
It seems as if I am playing musical children while we school. Send one kid out, bring 2 to the table...you get the picture.
I have been looking at MFW recently and like that I could keep all the kids together for history and science.
I have searched and read a lot of HOD vs MFW posts and such.
Has anyone done 3 guides with HOD and not felt overwhelmed? I know a lot of large families do MFW pretty well. Not that 4 kids is large :lol:
I have almost totally decided that we will try something else next term than HOD and MFW looks appealing.
I was just wondering if anyone had left HOD for MFW b/c of not being able to combine easily? or if someone had went from MFW to HOD and what your reasons were?
I guess I am just looking for some pros/cons here from somebody that has btdt. I am trying to research more before purchasing again and make sure that I am making the right decision.
Thanks for any advise/help in advance.
Handwriting help - please!
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted · Edited by OpenMinded
spelling error
My dd also had horrid handwriting after 3 years in public school. She had fine motor skills issues as well as grip, formation, and poor strength.
I would seriously remediate what is the problem before moving on to cursive. The first thing is to find out what is causing the poor penmanship. In our case, dd had never learned the tripod grip and instead had the strangest way of holding a pencil and hadn't built up her muscles for long periods of writing. To combat this we tried every pencil grip known to man until we found the claw and that helped with the tripod grip. ds uses a stetro grip and it works for him. The pencil grips make you use a tripod grip. For the strength and being able to write for longer periods of time, we got a slant board. I love the slant board. She still does her handwriting (learning cursive now) on a slant board. Different types, styles, and sizes of pencils until you find one that works for your child. She also had never learned proper formation of the letters in public school.
We did do HWT Printing Power to remediate her printing. We did not finish it. We didn't need to. Once I had read through the remediating poor penmanship in the teacher's guide and marked everything that she was doing wrong with penmanship, we tackled those obstacles one at a time. We did work through a lot of it though and she can write pretty good print now.
The bad habits will carry over to cursive if it is a grip issue or something with fine motor skills. You won't be correcting the problem if you just move on to cursive.
I have also heard that A Reason for Handwriting has suggestions for remediating poor handwriting in its teachers guide.
I think whatever you use should have specific guidelines and help to assess and remediate the causes of the poor penmanship. I think HWT is the main one OT's use and their teacher's guide is really helpful for someone who had no clue how to remediate all the bad habits that were causing my dd's penmanship issues.