kls126s Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 OK - so if I decide to do HWT with my son, what do I actually need? I'm looking at Rainbow and see the teachers guide, a student workbook, a cd, roll a dough letters, and stamp and see letters. Surely I don't need all of that to do this, do I? The roll a dough letters would be easy to do with play dough and laminated letter cards, I'm assuming. Is the CD necessary? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurelia Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 The only thing you need (at least for the K level, which is what we used) is the student workbook. The TM has some nice tips, but it's not mandatory by any means. I wouldn't bother with the roll-a-dough things, just use playdoh, and you basically make "snakes" that you put on a little cookie-sheet-type "slate" to form the letters. If your child is an auditory learner, you might consider the CD, but I don't feel we missed anything by not getting it. We ended up with the capital letter cards and wooden pieces that were barely used. The only extra that actually got a fair amount of use was the little slate, we had our own chalk that I broke into 1 inch pieces and got some golf pencils for the workbook. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sasharowan Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 The studentworkbooks is all we used, along with cheap laptop blackboards from the dollar store. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kls126s Posted July 6, 2009 Author Share Posted July 6, 2009 Two of you wise mommas with the same answer - fabulous. Thanks for the help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gr8tcook Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 It may actually be cheaper to purchase for htwt website directly. All we used was the chalkboard and a small sponge and I did use the small pencils. The cd is more for a classroom setting as are some of the manipulatives. I would still do the stamp with a magnetic board(ie magnadoodle) and playdoh (with the laminated letter cards) some little people need the work to get their small motor muscles ready for handwriting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dobela Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 My son would have really benefitted having the music CD. The songs are cute and teach needed skills in a fun, easy to remeber way. I bought it all except the CD and we used the roll a dough least. My son preferred to use playdoh and make the letters on the wall chart that I bought. The magnadoodle magnetic board thing he loved expecially since it came with smaller wooden pieces. We took it with us for fun practice and reminders. It fit perfectly in my purse. You could do without this and use a large magnadoodle with magnets covering the backs of your large wooden pieces if you want. Unless you are buying lots more from Rainbow Resource, I would highly recommend buying directly from HWT. I just priced the cursive sets and they are much cheaper thru HWT (including shipping and handling) by at least $3 on the books and by as much as almost half on some other items. The shipping at HWT is $6 up to $50 and then 10% after that. When I looked online, RR also didn't have the newer, updated editions for all levels. The newer editions have more practice provided than the older edition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satori Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 This same post was brought up on another forum. Most agreed that the little slate chalkboard was a worthwhile buy. The wooden shapes can be made from cardstock, a mom just did that (on the other forums) and posted pictures! I'm a perfectionist geek and bought everything. But we definitely don't use everything, maybe once or twice only. You can make or use your own play dough, make your own shapes as I said above, use your own broken crayons/chalk... The Stamp and See Screen isn't worth it IMO, we don't listen to the CD particularly much, but other may love it, we just don't use them much. The only thing we're really using is the student workbook. I do not refer to the teacher's guide very much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs.W Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 We never used the slate, but loved the magnadoodle-ish toy. For us, it was also helpful to get an extra package of block letter paper. We also love to use the Startwrite software to make our own copywork pages (it has the HWT fonts). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kls126s Posted July 7, 2009 Author Share Posted July 7, 2009 Thanks, all! I went ahead and ordered the student book and the slate. I did go ahead with the teacher's manual too, just to make sure I understand the approach. I will just make the play dough letters or letter parts as others have mentioned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenmamato3 Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 i know you already made your purchase. just wanted to add my $.02 i started doing this with my DD when he was 3 and in OT for sensory integration (his OT walked me through it and was using it during their weekly session): use those flimsy craft foam sheets of stuff that they sell at joann and michaels for the cheapy craft projects (ok, i totally don't know what it's called... but do you KWIM?) and make the "wooden" letter forms out of that: big circle, little circle, big line, little line. as long as they are in proportion to each other, it will work just fine, even if they are not the exact size that the wodden forms are. this is a critical step in the HWOT approach b/c it allows a not-so-great writer, or one who struggles with frustration to be able to make the letters without worrying over pencil grip and posture and such. i started casually doing this with my DD (4.5 now) last year during big bro's homeschool times, and she was TOTALLY able to do it, even though she can't write well at ALL . . . and i'm continuing to do that now more formally with her, though she LOVES using the $1 chalkboard i have, too. i never did the small pencisl -- just make sure they are regular diameter pencils, IMHO. so all in all, we used the workbooks with no TM, the foam letter forms, the slate, and i just said the "frog jump capital" type of thing to him aloud, with no CD oh, and and i think i bought all mine from amazon last summer when i was ordering other things anyway. can't remember for sure, but i KNOW i didn't purchase them on RR or HWT's site. {MAYBE i bought one of them from SL??? i bought 4 or 5 all at the same time for various levels} i purchased a pack of the HWT 2-lined writing paper and was GLAD i did. worth it. didn't know about the startwrite thing. furthermore, MAKE PHOTOCOPIES if you can of the pages for extra practice if you see that you might need to repeat. i WISH WISH WISH i'd done that! HTH, even if it's a bit late in coming. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pamela H in Texas Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 My mother ( an OT) would suggest the book, the slate, and the wooden letter pieces. You could make the letter pieces out of sturdy cardboard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kls126s Posted July 7, 2009 Author Share Posted July 7, 2009 ...use those flimsy craft foam sheets of stuff that they sell at joann and michaels for the cheapy craft projects (ok, i totally don't know what it's called... but do you KWIM?) and make the "wooden" letter forms out of that: big circle, little circle, big line, little line. as long as they are in proportion to each other, it will work just fine, even if they are not the exact size that the wodden forms are. Yes, I know exactly what you mean, and I even have a pile in our craft stash. Great advice. furthermore, MAKE PHOTOCOPIES if you can of the pages for extra practice if you see that you might need to repeat. i WISH WISH WISH i'd done that! More great btdt advice! Thanks for taking the time to share. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satori Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 I have to second the StartRight software! It has a variety of fonts, including HWT and HWT Cursive. I love it and have been using it a lot this week. :) It allows very customizable practice handwriting sheets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetfeet Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 We've used the HWT paper, slate, student workbook and TM. I refer to the TM to see if there is a neat or different way of showing her how to make a letter, but it's totally unnecessary imo. I do plan on making the letter pieces for my little guy. He likes to construct things and I think that will give him another dynamic to letter forming that my daughter didn't need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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