eloquacious Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 My little man will be four in February, and is reading at about an early to mid 2nd grade reading level. He is on track to have completed the first five levels of the Sam Books and Funnix 1, as well as reading all manner of other stuff. We will continue our reading instruction, but I would like to begin introducing handwriting, too. The dilemma is that I know I will not be homeschooling, unless we don't get a spot in one of the charters we will be applying to. (They are all part of the Great Hearts AZ schools, classical charter schools.) My husband is really committed to the charter school / afterschooling path, so in a year and a half he'll be entering Kindergarten. These schools teach Riggs Phonics, a Spalding spin-off, which teaches printing first, using the Spalding clock face letters. In 3rd grade (2nd? Not sure) they also begin to introduce Palmer cursive. If I knew I was homeschooling, I would probably prefer to teach cursive first, though even here I am undecided between Cursive First, which uses the rounded clockface style letters, and Peterson Directed Handwriting, which would theoretically lead to a more adult-style hand. Which brings me to the current dilemma: I don't think my son desperately needs to learn to write, as he's doing well with reading on its own, and for now our spelling is done with letter tiles and magnets, and iPad apps. (LOVE the Preschool University and Simplex Spelling apps!) However, I would like to do the Raising Rock Stars Preschool/Kindergarten program from 1+1+1+1=1, at least inasmuch as working with the ABC Bible Verses book is concerned. The letters/numbers/colors are all a bit too low-level for my son. I think we'll work through the book A-Z, as the K program does. (The Pre-k program begins with "easy" capitals like L and K.) We will do the Cuisenaire Alphabet book and a few other math things (building letters with pattern blocks and the peg board, etc.) That being said, this program uses traditional American printing, and she has a lot of tracing pages. As much as I would like to teach cursive first, it would pain me to teach that for a year and a half, only to have to drop it for printing in school, to be followed by a somewhat different cursive style later. It seems like it would be a waste of effort. Then there is also the D'Nealian style font used by the Brits in all the sparklebox materials. I really like the look of this, and it's tempting me, too. If I know (as much as anyone can know these things) that my son will "have to" learn Spalding-style printing in school, do I just let him to the tracing copywork from the RRSP/RRSK and Confessions of a Homeschooler? And would such tracing-based learning then hinder him later when they teach the clockwork letters? What would you do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eloquacious Posted January 7, 2012 Author Share Posted January 7, 2012 I should also say that I really love the printables from Confessions of a Homeschooler (previously BFIAR printables, now Literature Based Printables) ... which also use the traditional printing, with traceable pages. Maybe I should just accept that he'll learn this printing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zenjenn Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 I believe in child-led in the preschool years, so if it were me, I'd just make materials of interest (his or yours) available and follow his lead. If he has an interest in learning cursive and seems to have the motor control to do it, by all means, but I certainly wouldn't push it or make it a priority. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonshineLearner Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 I suggest teaching him Handwriting Without Tears for the first part (cursive, 3rd grade) You need the Teacher's Guide and the student. Then... just go with the flow. If he ends up in school, fine. If not, fine, too :) You can get the Teacher's Guide for 3rd grade and modify the preschool writing book to cursive with a pen :) The advantage to that would be that the letters are bigger. I liken this to.... I would still teach phonics if my child were going to a school that didn't... I'd teach math differently, even if at school he's be taught a more mainstream way. Kids are smart! He'll be fine :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eloquacious Posted January 7, 2012 Author Share Posted January 7, 2012 Hmm ... well, he really likes tracing things. I've read that that's not the best way to learn letter formation, though. So many decisions. Blech. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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