Handwriting Question-HWT or Zaner-Bloser?

[Tatt2mama]

Currently we are using HWT-the K book Letter and Numbers for Me for ds, 5, and the prek book for dd, 3.5. They seem to like it-dd is almost done with the prek book, she's flying through it-she knows all her letters by sight, but doesn't know how to write all of them, so HWT is helping as an introduction to correct letter formation. Ds just started the K book, and he seems to like it as well-he can write all of his uppercase letters, and mostly they're correctly formed although rough (we haven't gotten into a lot of hw practice yet-I'm not a big stickler-y person for that kind of stuff, although as he's getting older I'm realizing that it's more important)-he doesn't know how to write all of the lowercase letters, but most of them.

 

(We're also doing the LLATL Blue, which gives them a little bit of lowercase letter practice as well.)

 

But here's the thing-HWT doesn't seem to have very much practice in the books. I have the teacher books and know that I could do all the hands-on things, but we don't really need to-I'd rather they practice actually writing the letters than using the stamp screen or the wooden letters.

 

I'm getting ready to order dd the HWT k book because she'll be done with the prek one soon, and I want to teach her to write all her letters correctly, and continue that practice (as well as continuing the practice with ds). Would I be better off with the Zaner-Bloser k book? It looks like something my dd could move into-is there more practice in that one? Would it potentially last us all year? Or do I need to also order paper and just give her additional practice? Or should I just do that with HWT-get the paper and/or journals and give additional practice that way?

 

Also, with Zaner-Bloser-do you need to get the teacher book? It's awfully expensive, but it had some nice teaching tips when I looked at the samples. But is it really necessary?

 

You guys have already given me TONS of great advice in other areas! I really appreciate everyone's input!

 

Thanks in advance!

[Tatt2mama]

If there's something you'd recommend for this age/ability level, other than HWT or Zaner-Bloser, I'd love to hear about it!

 

Thanks!

[Twinmom]

I use Zane Bloser and have never ordered the teaching books. I find that the student book has all the information I need in it do work the program. Good thing, because those teaching manuals are priced ridiculously high! We started with Grade 1, so I can't really offer you any info. on K.

[Ann@thebeach]

I haven't used anything else except HWT because it works so well for us. I think how much practice you need is dependent on the child. My 6 yr old DD picked it up right away and hasn't needed more practice than the book. The other bks she does has writing and she hasn't had any problems with the lines being different or anything. She's in the "My Printing bk" now.

 

My son needed a bit more practice so I just got him the HWT paper and had him do some copywork on those lines for awhile. I still have him go back to those lines sometimes since he can get "out of practice" and his handwriting turns sloppy-but I think that might be a boy thing for him ;)

 

I can say that the transition to cursive has been pretty good for my son. We tried another program and he hated it. The HWT is easier for him even if it's not as "pretty" as other cursive writing.

 

Can't hurt to try both for a month and see which you/your child likes better.

[Mrs Mungo]

We use Zaner-Bloser (and have since eldest was 5) and we've never used the teacher's manual. There is a book on their site called the self-guided instruction book or something like that. If you feel you need a little more guidance then I would order that.

[Julie in GA]

The "self-guided" book is geared more towards adults. You won't want it for the primary levels because the font size is smaller. We love Z-B and had very easy transitions to cursive using their books. I never purchased the teacher's manuals and did just fine.

[Guest]

Start Write software has a HWT and a ZB font. it can be used to create your own extra practice pages. check it out. It is worth the price.

[Mama Anna]

We've really enjoyed Zaner-Bloser K. It doesn't have tons of practice - each upper- or lower-case letter has one line of tracing, one line of writing it from a starting dot, and a couple of words that include that letter. Then, every 3 or so letters you do a review of them, using both cases. I ordered the a ream of the K-sized paper and asked for a few more letters without the starting dot and then (as she learned more letters) a word to copy each day. I feel pretty confident that she'll be able to move into copywork smoothly this way.

 

I didn't mess with the Teacher's Manual - the student book and paper ream (of which I've used maybe 1/4) ran me about $20 plus shipping.

 

The only down-side I've seen is that they do their number 8 strangely.

 

HTH!

 

Mama Anna

[Laurel]

I like the look of Zaner-Bloser Handwriting much more than HWT. It's just prettier. (And I like pretty.)

 

Echoing pp here, but you definitely don't need to Teacher's Manual.

 

As for practice, I do think it has more practice than HWT. For the easy to write letters, I think the amount of practice is sufficient, but for some harder letters (lowercase d or g, for example), we have needed a little extra practice. I wouldn't recommend ordering the paper, (I don't think you'll use enough for it to be worth it - we certainly haven't), but rather, printing off some extra practice pages from the internet.

[Tatt2mama]

I haven't decided what I want to do yet...I may just get more paper and do practice for the time being. But I also learned today about a great site, that will let you create your own handwriting practice pages with a variety of fonts (including both Z-B and HWT, among others). It also has all kinds of other things on the site-word searches and crosswords, literature stuff, math-loads of different things. It's ABCTeach (www.abcteach.com) and it's $35 to join for a year-but there's lots of free stuff on there too. So I might just do that...

 

But thanks so much to all for the advice!

[Mrs Mungo]

The "self-guided" book is geared more towards adults. You won't want it for the primary levels because the font size is smaller. We love Z-B and had very easy transitions to cursive using their books. I never purchased the teacher's manuals and did just fine.

 

Just to clarify-I suggested the self-guided book in place of a teacher's manual. It has specific directions on how to form the curves, where to start the letters, etc. I didn't mean to imply the child should use that book at all. I use it as a reference when helping the kids, they never see it.