What handwriting program do you use?

[TKDmom]

I have been using Getty-Dubay Italic with my 8yo and 5 yo dc because I like the way it looks and the cursive is very similar to (but prettier than) the cursive that I adopted once they stopped making me write in cursive in elementary school.

 

But recently, I looked at a friend's copy of HWT. I like the way they teach letter formation. I do not like the way the handwriting (esp the cursive) looks, but I think it would be good way to teach my 4 yo and 5yo, since they are just learning to form letters. ds(5) has a lot of trouble with letter reversal and ds(4) is left-handed, so I forsee him having more difficulties learning.

 

So now I'm undecided. And I'm being a curriculum junkie. What program do you like?

 

I'm only including programs that I can think of off the top of my head in the poll. I'm sure there are tons of others out there that I don't know about.

[FairProspects]

We tried HWOT and I love their additional materials like the playdough & wood letter blocks, but it just did not work for us. Introducing only capitals first and not both capital and lowercase at the same time was confusing to my ds. The 2 line paper was also very odd and ds didn't get it. We have gone over to Abeka workbooks with the "house" concept paper and it working much better. HWOT does seem to be a favorite though!

[Aletheia Academy]

We are using GDI. I love: the way it looks; the approach of teaching in letter families; the easy transition to cursive; the quality of the workbooks; etc.

 

I do not the the workbooks offer enough practice, so I supplement them with worksheets I create on StartWrite. I can make worksheets for letters, Latin vocabulary words, copywork and narration, etc.

 

This approach is working well for us.

[JenneinCA]

I voted for Handwriting without Tears and D'Nealian because I am using both of them. But for two different kids. I am using HWOT print with my five year old and it is working great. I am using D'Nealian with my eight year old because his HWOT cursive is unreadable so instead of trying again with HWOT we are trying italic (and typing) and hoping that at the end of this school year he will be able to write legibly.

[HSMom2One]

I'm right there with Nancy. I love the combination of GD and Startwrite! Dd has been with GD for two years, but we are now adding StartWrite. I chose this because it has a nice comparable version to Italic and Italic Cursive style (included among other styles HWOT, Modern and Palmer methods), and it allows me to create our own customized copywork sheets. I really love StarWrite now that we're using it. It is an awesome, flexible program.

 

Blessings,

Lucinda

[LadyAberlin]

We are using Hooked on Handwriting and I really like it. Once we finish we are going to try Scott Forsman D'nealian handwriting because it is colorful.

[Aloha2U]

I voted other... Cursive First.

[funschooler5]

I avoided HWT at first because I didn't like the way it looked. I'm sorry I did. We started with ZB, which was okay, but it wasn't very "instructive". Then my son started HWT in his occupational therapy (for motor-skill issues, including handwriting problems) and his handwriting improved so much, I started using it at home. What's interesting is that even if you don't like the look of it, your child puts their own style into their handwriting, so you hardly even notice the difference (at least, I don't).

[Annabel Lee]

I voted "other" and "I use multiple programs". I use Abeka penmanship books, and teach from those. I modify some of the manuscript letter formation to be a smoother, one-stroke movement for forming a letter (for ex. lowercase d) rather than teaching to make ball, pick up pencil, then make a stick - this would not transition well to cursive. So I guess I borrow a little from Zaner-Bloser's idea on that, but I don't own any of their materials. I do, however, go to the ZB site once in awhile for their free make-your-own printable worksheet feature. The ZB style & Abeka's are so very close (esp. since I teach to make a letter w/ as few strokes as possible) that this works for us. I can type in whatever I want my kids to trace/copy and print it out on K - 6th (I think?) lined paper in manuscript or cursive.

I also sometimes just hand-copy a Bible verse or something else onto blank student-lined paper and have the kids copy it. My kids do best having a model of exactly how theirs is supposed to look as opposed to copying directly from the Bible or another book.

As if that wasn't enough, I also just this year bought Presidential Penmanship in Abeka-style (Zeezok pub. sells it in many, many styles), but haven't so much as popped the CD into the computer yet. It was nice in theory; maybe we'll get to it one of these days, or years. The CD has k-8 on it.

I would never do all of this at once. In fact, I sometimes allow copywork from another subject (usually WWE) to double as penmanship when it comes up. They only have 1 penmanship assignment per day, in which they are to concentrate on correct formation and neatness.

[sagira]

I use Getty-Dubay too. Ds is doing well with it, and I like the letters. We only do Penmanship practice twice a week (really focusing on formation), and the rest of the week we practice with copywork. I laminated the alphabet strip so he can look at it all the time, as well as the number group. It's no fuss, he can do it in 15 minutes, and can still practice his letters every day. Works for us. I agree with what a PP said about the quality of the workbooks. Ds thinks they're attractive too, which is a plus as we're both visual :)

[8filltheheart]

I don't use a handwriting program. I simply teach them how to form their letters correctly and handwriting is from copywork assignments.

[Heidi]

I'm using HWT right now, but plan on switching when we get to cursive (zaner-bloser?). I've read other's doing that and it has worked well for them. I don't like HWT cursive either.

[TKDmom]

I am thinking that I may just use HWOT for the pre-k and K levels for my boys, then switch back to GDI. ds#1 always complains when he has to write lowercase letters, so it will be nice for him to have capitals first, and I think it will be a better intro to writing for ds#2. Then when they are a little more proficient at writing, we can work at making it look nice. . .

 

I had been concerned that I might confuse them by switching styles, but kids are smart, right?

 

Thanks for all the input, everyone.

Edited September 12, 2009 by bonniebeth4

[Aurelia]

We started with HWT and switched to Zaner-Bloser. HWT was good for teaching my then-4-year-old to form her letters, but ZB is prettier and uses a relatively similar method. I had also chosen HWT and bought a bunch of the extra stuff to make it more "fun", but all we ended up using were the student workbook and slate, so I figured if all I'm going to be using is the workbook, the font might as well be something I prefer to look at.

 

There has been very little confusion since we switched. Ariel has a little trouble with 2s and 6s because they are so different, but the challenge is definitely not overwhelming.

[Truscifi]

I taught ds5 basic manuscript handwriting last year and he did realy well with it (he has surprisingly good fine motor skills for his age). This year he wanted to learn cursive, and I also like the look of the Getty & Dubay Italic. Also it is less poofy than standard looped cursive, and the cursive letters are less different than cursive letters in looped cursive. That seems to be easier for ds.

[coffeegal]

I've used multiple programs and didn't care for any of them. This year, looking for a handwriting program for ds 6, I discovered Pentime Penmanship in the Rainbow Resource catalogue. It has workbooks for 1st through 8th grade, starts with print and transitions into cursive in the 2nd grade. Currently, all of my school age children are using their grade level and I love it. Why didn't I find it 7 years ago? ;)

[patchfire]

We used Handwriting without Tears for manuscript, but dd switched to Spencerian for cursive. Ds is also using HWT for manuscript, but I'll switch him to something else as well, when it's time for cursive.

[Satori]

We are happily using HWT but not sure what we'll use for cursive... I have some time before we tackle cursive, she's already trying to type on keyboards, so maybe we'll do keyboarding before.

[Crimson Wife]

We're going to be starting Peterson Directed Handwriting as soon as my Rainbow Resource Center order with it arrives. I picked it mostly because it was the cursive style I learned growing up :D but it also got mostly positive reviews by the TOS Homeschool Crew.

[MyLittleWonders]

We use HWT for both manuscript and cursive. Both my older two are doing so very well. Ds#1's cursive is beautiful (I'm biased ;) ) and though the look of the HWT cursive in the book is a bit too "functional," it does a very good job of developing very nice cursive writers. :D I've also been slowly transitioning my oldest to 3-lined paper (his copywork paper that I make on the computer is 3-lined) yet he also still uses the 2-lined of HWT in the cursive workbook. He's never had a problem with switching - I explained once that the light gray line in the paper I made is the same line as the "top" line on the HWT paper.

[CookieMonster]

I am using A Beka's Handwriting series, starting right off the bat with cursive.

 

I've looked at HWT, too. The instruction is cute and the work load is nice and light. But I cannot stand how the finished cursive writing looks. It reminds me very much of my European family's handwriting: you can't tell a w from a u from an m. Annoying!!! And I cannot at all stand their lowercase cursive r - I had several adults try to read words that contained r's in HWT cursive and they all stumbled on them.

 

I decided to just use the kind of cursive I was taught. I had terrible handwriting, but I still managed to learn standard cursive. My handwriting improved greatly when I was required to practice it regularly. Up until fifth grade, 'penmanship' was just the teacher showing us once how to form letters (whether manuscript or cursive) and then a few weeks of practice. Viola! we were supposed to 'know' how to write and then just do it. My fifth grade teacher made us practice our handwriting weekly. It made a huge difference. I never had perfectly pretty handwriting, but the legibility went waaaaaaay up. Legibility is the most important factor for me.

[Donna T.]

My oldest son used HWOT through the 2nd cursive book. His handwriting is very pretty. It almost looks like italic really. His handwriting does not look exactly like the HWOT models. It looks much nicer looking than that. He struggled with handwriting when we first started. That's why I chose HWOT for him. I am happy with the results. His transition to cursive has been slower than I expected but I don't know if that has had anything to do with HWOT. He doesn't use a handwriting curriculum at all anymore.

 

My youngest son didn't have the same problem with getting started. He taught himself his letters when he was quite young. Our curriculum (Heart of Dakota) schedules GD Italic plus I thought it may provide a simplier transition to cursive, so I chose that for him. He really likes it and his printing is very pretty.

 

If I had to pick a favorite, I'd pick HWOT.

[Philothea]

I use Seton, for fine tuning, but the rest of the practice came from copywork. We begin learning with the Kumon books too. DD has enjoyed practicing her letters on one of those write and wipe boards-- I can't remember the name of it.

[AngelaNYC]

We never needed a program. Ds wanted to learn and I showed him how to do it. That's it. It took him about a week to learn all the letters and how to connect them into words. Now it's a year later and he loves writing in cursive - and has beautiful handwriting!

[Lovedtodeath]

I started with Getty-Dubay for the reasons that you listed. After doing some pages in cursive we switched to Zaner-Bloser. Getty-Dubay cursive is actually very cumbersome to write in, and DD was not happy with it because she wanted real cursive.

 

I like a continuous stroke. I think that for the problems that you mention, you may want to try cursive first.

[FO4UR]

I started with Cursive First with ds6, used Abeka K cursive last year, and now he just practices with his daily work.

 

I bought Peterson Directed Handwriting about a month ago ... I haven't found time in our day to use it to it's fullest (or as intended at all:001_huh:), but I really like the way the letters are illustrated with the green/brown/red. Dd4 sits with the book (mainly by herself after a brief explanation that we start with the green, etc) and she practices letters. She's my kid who just loves writing...I keep an eye to make sure she's forming letters correctly, but then just let her go. I bought the 2nd grade book b/c it teaches both the slant print and cursive.

[Mama2two]

another HWT fan, but we just used it for learning letter formation. We had problems with the two lines and once the kiddos learned letter formation within the bourndaries of the box/rectangle we switched to three line paper and do copywork for practice

[SilverMoon]

I voted for A Reason For Handwriting, and None. For initially learning to write I just used cheap department store workbooks. *shrug* I taught them to make the letters in continuous strokes instead of the ball/stick method regardless of what the books said.

 

For extra practice for kids that aren't ready to move on to plain ole copywork sentences, the early ARFH books are perfect, and for moving to cursive I really like the ARFH cursive transition book.

[AnointedHsMom]

We use Abeka handwriting. I sure wish we would have started with cursive from the beginning for the 10 year old. I will start cursive first with the 3 year old.