Handwriting for K

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

So far dd has learned to print most capital letters and a few lowercase letters on her own. They look okay but she doesn't form all of them correctly. I'm looking for a program to use with her to teach beginning handwriting. What do you suggest?

Thanks!

[JESSICAinMD]

I really like A Reason for Handwriting. I prefer the shaping of the letters to other programs. I know a lot of others on here love Handwriting with out Tears.

[proverbs356lady]

I loved using Handwriting Without Tears with my youngest for printing. It was easy to use and just the right amount of practice for us. This year I'm switching to a Reason for Handwriting for 3rd grade. I like the idea of using Bible verses to practice handwriting and my older children did well with it. These are my favorite two programs.

[willowlynn2]

I'll second a Reason for Handwriting. I ordered that for my oldest and Handwriting Without Tears for my youngest. For HWT I do like the letter blocks and the chalkboard for introducing letters in a fun, hands-on way (necessary for my youngest), but I HATED the way the letters are formed in the workbook. Anything you choose will be a personal preference, but mine is definitely RFH. Once my youngest gets a feel for the letters with the beginning manipulatives of HWT we'll be going directly to the RFH K workbook. I'm using RFH A with my older.

[MamaAkins]

I will put my vote in for A Reason for Handwriting, as well! We have used everything from K all the way up through level F and have been pleased with the results.

[Aurelia]

We used Handwriting Without Tears and Ariel's handwriting is really nice. (When she chooses, anyway. :tongue_smilie:) She doesn't mind/sort of likes the workbook. It's definitely been worth the purchase.

[MeAndTheBoys]

We did RFH-K and are now doing HWT1 with that child, and HWTK with the next one.

 

RFH is very basic and very nice. In the K level, the back of each sheet has an animal coloring sheet to go with the letter, and the teacher's guide has interesting facts about the animal--and my son could not have cared less.

 

So I felt like I wasted half the book. If your child is into that, it's a good program; HWT has short and sweet lessons. and although the examples look terribly weird, it doesn't mean your kids will write like that--it has been great to work on formation and neatness; I will use HWT from here on out to teach handwriting; we're about to start HWT cursive this fall (again, don't let the ugly example fool you; it's all about basic formation and each child will write with their own flair).

 

I also got an inexpensive copywork book from Christian Light called I Can Write! after we did RFH; it was great--started reviewing letters, then copying sentences and Bible Verses, then info about animals, then entire poems. all for about $5--

 

Betsy

[Guest]

I like McRuffy's Handwriting books. Lots of tracing first then copying.

 

I have used HWT with my older 2 TWICE without legible results. And, yes, I did use use it just the way the TMs said to.

[jetzmama]

Just a curve ball here... I'm starting my 5yo on Cursive First. He seems to have the same issue as my middle one in determining where one word ends and another begins at times. My middle struggled mightily with this, and could not quite grasp reading, until we picked up Cursive First in 2nd grade. Made an almost immediate difference. :)

 

It may not work with my youngest, but since he is familiar with the print sounds, not so much the writing, I'm hoping it will help the reading along ( I did introduce and have him memorize the SWR phonograms that come with the CF pack, which was helpful, but we did not do the SWR program). Also, CF did an amazing job of correcting reversals (as do all cursive programs, I suppose).

[meldamo]

We've been using Peterson Directed Handwriting, and I really am amazed at the difference it made in my daughter's writing. It truly even helped my husband's writing! I chose it based on the description in the Rainbow Resources catalog, so you may want to check it out.

[Sahamamama]

Zaner-Bloser Teacher Manual -- to teach you how to give the student more guidance and verbal instruction (where to start, how to move)

 

Any K/1st grade level "writing" paper (with a head line, mid-line, base-line)

 

StartWrite -- If you want to make up your own, personalized "copy sheets"

[skaterbabs]

My aunt is a former special needs teacher, and she highly recommends Handwriting Without Tears because it teaches children not just how to form each letter legibly, but how to form each letter correctly to aid in future learning (cursive). She told me she's used HWT in the past to re-teach children who were taught using other methods how to correctly form the letters.