HWT starting at the bottom vs top

[give_me_a_latte]

We're almost finished with HWT Pre-K and my son is doing a really good job forming capital letters. However. He insists on forming his letters from the bottom up, no matter how many times I redirect him. Is this really something I need to work on or should I let it go? The HWT manuals make it seem like it's a huge no-no but I'm not sure I see the harm.

[SonshineLearner]

Well, it makes for ill formed letters. I treated it like "disobedience" and told him that he (my son) needed to obey. I also got dinosaur stickers to reward him for "trying his best" and let him put the little stickers on his "best letter". I also cracked down on "holding the pencil correctly". For him... it was only a few days... and presto... done :)

[Ellie]

Yes, it is something you should work on. It does make forming letters more difficult; you might be surprised to know that some children who have directionality problems (as in writing their letters incorrectly) are helped when they have to learn the correct left-to-right/top-to-bottom formation of letters.

 

Some methods work on this more than HWT--Spalding and its look-alikes, and Zaner-Bloser.

[boscopup]

It's easier to correct now than it is to correct it later. I am correcting this in my 6 year old. I have to watch every letter he makes and sometimes just start singing (from the HWT book) "Where do you start the letters? At the top!" It helps to remind him *before* he starts writing the letter. We especially talk about problem letters before he starts them (his are mostly lowercase).

 

For my 4 year old, who isn't doing formal handwriting yet (but when we do reading lessons on the whiteboard, he insists on copying my letters), I give him "starting dot", which is of course at the top. ;) HWT also gives starting dots when introducing the letters.

 

Unfortunately, 4 year olds are stubborn, which is one reason why many of us try to avoid much, if any, formal teaching at that point - they just aren't ready for it. I'm trying to hold my 4 year old off from formal handwriting instruction until at least this summer or next fall, but I will correct him when he tries to write letters on his own, as I want him to learn the correct way before he develops bad habits like my oldest did. My oldest copied the pictures of the letters before going to KG (I did nothing formal for preschool), so he knew how to form all his letters, but just didn't do it the "right" way. It made for messier handwriting, weird letter spacing, letters running into each other, size issues, etc. Writing is just so much easier when they form the letters in the correct direction and such. For example, his 'e' was starting at the end of the bottom part, then looping around and back to itself. Now that he's learned to "hit the ball, run the bases", his e's are much more legible, the spacing is better, and I think they're also easier for him to write. It will also be good for when he transitions to cursive, as the cursive 'e' is formed much more similarly than the way he was doing it.

 

And cursive might solve some of our problems, but *I'm* not ready for cursive yet. :lol: I plan to introduce that this summer or next fall, whenever we start our "second grade" year officially.

[momto2Cs]

I'm going to go against the flow here. My ds, now 9.5 yo, used HWOT for K-2nd. He often started at the bottom, no matter what I said. Today, he still does letters that way, frequently, and has lovely handwriting... actually the best in most of the family. And for my left-handed daughter, starting at the bottom of some letters works better for her than starting at the top. So I am not certain that in the long term, starting letters at the top is that important. We all write differently... look at your own writing. Do all of your letters follow the "correct" format?

 

Just my two cents.

[give_me_a_latte]

That all makes sense. I'm a definite "pick my battles" kind of mom so I guess this is a battle I'll have to choose. Everything you all say definitely makes sense.

 

I decided to bring out a small dry erase board and markers and he was so excited to get to write on it that he started his letters at the top when I corrected him. Usually on the slate he gets aggravated and gives up when I remind him to start at the top. But I guess the thrill of using markers gave him a little extra patience ;-) I'll have to switch things up every so often.

[boscopup]

Oh, and for a future look at what could happen... A homeschooling friend of mine has a son in public high school now (she homeschools until high school), and her son wrote exactly like my son did - starting a lot of letters at the bottom, doing the right side and then the left side, starting the 'e' at the end, etc. He had some OCD issues they had to work through at the time, so she let the handwriting issue go (she just couldn't work on both at the same time), and while she thinks she made the right choice (better to improve the OCD issues), the boy now has trouble taking notes in school because he can't write very fast. In college, he'll likely have to have a netbook or something so he can just type the notes instead of writing them. It's been a huge struggle for him.

 

Now I'm not sure why cursive hasn't helped him (or maybe he doesn't try to take notes in cursive? I didn't think about asking when I was talking about this with my friend), and I could see it making things easier for a kid that wants to start at the bottom. Though I must say *I* can't write fast in cursive, but I can print fast... I print the "proper" way, starting at the top. For cursive, I think my brain just gets stuck on forming the letters. :confused: I'm practicing though. I do my Bible class answers in cursive now, so I'm working on it before I teach my son cursive. I hope for my cursive to at least be legible before I start to teach it. :tongue_smilie:

[give_me_a_latte]

I'm going to go against the flow here. My ds, now 9.5 yo, used HWOT for K-2nd. He often started at the bottom, no matter what I said. Today, he still does letters that way, frequently, and has lovely handwriting... actually the best in most of the family. And for my left-handed daughter, starting at the bottom of some letters works better for her than starting at the top. So I am not certain that in the long term, starting letters at the top is that important. We all write differently... look at your own writing. Do all of your letters follow the "correct" format?

 

Just my two cents.

My son is left-handed as well. I wondered about that.

 

I agree with you too. It's definitely not an issue I'm going to get anyone worked up into tears over. I'll keep reminding him to start at the top and we'll see where it goes.

 

I distinctly remember one summer in my middle school years I decided I wanted new handwriting. I designed each letter and practiced them over and over until they were natural. I still use that style today! So yes, we all write differently ;-)