learningathome Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 I am pretty set on using AAR next year for my 5yo who will be in kindergarten. The only hesitation I have is that it does not incorporate handwriting. This year we used the ZB workbooks for handwriting and he was not into sitting and practicing his letters, so we stopped them. I do want to make this a fun experience for him so if he does not like practicing letters in a workbook would you recommend any other way to teach handwriting to a boy who does not like to sit? I know other reading programs incorporate handwriting but Im pretty set on AAR due to cost and time spent on the lessons. Any advice on what to use to teach handwriting if not through a drill workbook? Or, can they pick up handwriting skills later than kindergarten? How can I make handwriting fun? Thank you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommie_Jen Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Mine is turning 5 next month and we are starting K in the spring when church pre-k is done. HWOT all the way. I'm not getting the entire program, but it's quite hands-on. 4 is pretty young to be writing anyway. If he's not into a pencil or crayon, maybe draw in shaving cream or paint. Spread out rice and trace through that. Use play doh. That's how we've managed to make it fun so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KristenR Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Personally, I never cared for the font in HWOT. For my oldest daughter we started right out with All About Spelling because they didn't have the reading program available yet. We had just kind of done our own thing with random workbooks and such. Nothing really structured but it worked really well for her. I am really glad that All About Reading is out because I just got this for my middle daughter who is a perfect candidate for it. I am thrilled with what I see so far- but literally today was her first day with it. :D Since her older sister is learning cursive, my middle daughter wants very much to write. I ended up purchasing StartWrite and I make worksheets catered to them. This way I can do cursive on one sheet and print on another. I can also add pictures or designs based on their specific interests. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 I never used a program with my younger 3 and all have taught themselves correct manuscript formation starting with Uppercase just from seeing a poster. My advice? Get some blank paper, that's right, no lines, and a dry erase board. Show him each letter on the board and ask him to try writing/drawing 3 or 4. Tell stories for the letters, be silly. Fables are great then 'find' the letter in the story and draw it. One of my kids favorites was The 3 Bears with the big B being a bear and the lowercase Goldilocks face. Walk the letters. Chalk them out on your driveway and walk them keeping your body facing forward. Use his toys and build them, make them out of bread dough and eat them, Make them in shaving cream, out of Play-Doh snakes, JELLO granules in a pan, sand, write them with a highlighter and he traces yours, use colored pens and pencils when you write. I am sure more ideas will occur to you as you teach AAS and you can make the lessons blend together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acrosier Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 It was recommended to my by a good friend who also happens to be a children's ocupational therapist. My DD and I both love it. We used the teacher manual for the first two levels, for the fun games and ideas. In the early days we used a write erase board, because it's more fun. HWoT is really inexpensive. I got my TM's used on eBay and sold them back for the same price minus shipping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shellers Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Handwriting Without Tears Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plink Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 (edited) Any curriculum will do imho, but I would make sure to teach your child to form b from the top and d from the center (at the top of the ball then curving down, cursive style) to prevent reversals. ETA: We did most of our practice in salt, pudding, or the frost on the windowpane. Erasing mommy's letters from the mirror or white board is fun too. Edited February 14, 2012 by LibertyH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SunD Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 My DD really likes dry-erase handwriting workbooks even though she hates others. You can find them pretty cheaply at Walmart, Target, sometimes even Dollar General and the like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
didadeewiththree Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 I have a Wiggly Willy boy myself, and we have found that the handwriting has worked best when explaining the detailed mechanics of it, instead of just giving him copywork and asking him to reproduce it free handed at other times. I have discovered this in our Phonics Road program, but you don't need an expensive program like this to teach handwriting. The directions to teach each letter on lined paper are also in the Writing Road to Reading. it explains how an "a" is to be drawn by describing where to start on a clock. The directions say to start at the 2 on the clock and to go around the clock counter clockwise, back to 2 and pull a line straight down and touch the baseline. Everytime we go to make an a, I say the same instructions and it really sticks. My son has such pretty handwriting at 5! If youd like more sample stuff, pm me and Ill send some over to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
learningathome Posted February 18, 2012 Author Share Posted February 18, 2012 Thank you for answering my question about handwriting for my 5 year old. Can you tell me which parts of the HWoT program you would suggest getting..My son would love playing games to learn handwriting. Would you suggest purchasing all the wooden pieces and such from the program? Here is the website that shows the different products http://shopping.hwtears.com/category/HWT Thanks for your help!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
River notes Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 I am not sure what penmanship style you are looking for, but if you are just looking for ideas here is a cute website. It shows all the types of scripts in an animated motion. http://www.handwritingforkids.com/handwrite/cursive/animation/uppercase.htm :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandylubug Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 You mean at age five a switch doesn't get turned on and they just automatically start writing correctly?!?!?!?!?! Ha ha.. j/k. I actually started homeschooling my first son when he was 4 and gave up because I didn't understand why he couldn't sit at the table for four hours and write his name and do worksheets..... yeah, took me four years before I came back to homeschooling but handwriting was a "chore" for me that I was obviously clueless about. We are now tackling cursive with a struggle daily. Best wishes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abacus2 Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 HWOT is our favorite, too. I would get the student book and the teacher manual. However, once you understand the HWOT approach, I don't think additional teacher manuals for future years matter much. The board with chalk has been great for my five year old, but she has been uninterested in the wood pieces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ByGrace3 Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Thank you for answering my question about handwriting for my 5 year old. Can you tell me which parts of the HWoT program you would suggest getting..My son would love playing games to learn handwriting. Would you suggest purchasing all the wooden pieces and such from the program? Here is the website that shows the different products http://shopping.hwtears.com/category/HWTThanks for your help!! I also suggest HWOT, it has been great for dd and I will use it for ds next year for K. As for what I would get, minimum, I would get: workbook, TM, slate chalkboard and double lined chalkboard. You could certainly be fine with that. However, we also really liked the wooden letters, roll a dough letters and the stamp and see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.