Our HWT order arrived yesterday

[Mandylubug]

I have looked over the books and TGs and I must say; they make me want to snore :/ Hoping the kids like them better than my little eyes do. I am also shocked at how little bit of work is on each page.. How many pages are your children completing?!

[pitterpatter]

Did you buy K? Originally, we worked on one letter per two days (Wet, Dry, Try one day, pencil work the next). It creates muscle memory. After a while, we did one letter per day. If your child is brand new at writing, you don't really want to do more than that. You want him/her to remember how to create the new letter and not confuse it with others.

 

With HWT, the idea is to make each letter as perfect as possible. Quantity isn't the goal. Quite frankly, it was totally enough for my DD.

 

DD enjoyed the K book. She liked coloring the picture every day. However, the first grade book is so much like the K book that we switched to Zaner-Bloser 1 after a couple of weeks in HWT 1.

 

PS - We also used the CD and wood pieces. DD greatly enjoyed both of those. She didn't need the wood pieces, but she still liked them. She totally responded to the music.

[Mandylubug]

sorry, I purchased 1st grade and Cursive

[NicAnn]

We are using the K book and we do 2 pages at a time. I agree with the other poster who said the goal is quality. So she does 1 letter page, then does it on a white board if she's struggling, and in something like rice or with wood pieces if she knows the letter well.

[Mandylubug]

yeah, I suppose I was expecting to get excited about handwriting ha ha. After receiving MCT and other curricula... not everything can just make me giddy with excitement and these books are just to refine their writing skills, lol... not sure what I was expecting ha ha

[swellmomma]

There is very little on the page because of the way it is intended to be used. This is NOT the kind of program designed to assign a page to each child and use as independant work. When used correctly each of those page lessons actually takes 15-20 minutes. Along with all the extra multisensory activities it is to be taught with a "Your turn, my turn" method. So You write the letter or word perfectly on the board, they copy it perfectly in their books. Then you do it again etc. THat is why there is only 4 per page. BEfore you do those 4, you are doing gross motor work, slate board work etc. The workbook is actually the LEAST important part of the whole program and yet it is the only part that most homeschoolers use.

 

To answer yout question about how many pages being done we use the schedule in the back of the TG as laid out

[sewingmama]

My DD finished the K book and is now using the Year 1 book. She only does 1 page a day. I agree it takes a while if you use all the extras -which we do. It's more about learning to form the letters correctly then practicing a lot. My DD is left handed so it's been great for her -she had a lot of trouble with reversing letters

 

My 4yo just started the K book. After we use the chalkboard and the magic erase board he is tired and usually only does about half a page practice or 2-3 letters. So he does half a page a day.

 

I don't plan to use their cursive though - once we reach that we will switch to Australian handwriting.

[mudboots]

We're doing the slate (for the younger) and chalkboards (for the olders), plus the workbook. I agree that the books aren't much without the gross motor work. I bought this program because of the method they use to teach the letters (e.g., starting with magic c and building other letters from there, and all the other little reminders about forming the letters - helicopters, slides, frog jumps, etc.).

 

If you don't have a chalkboard, you might be able to do the same thing with a dry erase board or something similar. You'd just have to draw the top and bottom guide lines first. That way, you could still use their methods, but with your own materials for practice.

[raceNzanesmom]

There is very little on the page because of the way it is intended to be used. This is NOT the kind of program designed to assign a page to each child and use as independant work. When used correctly each of those page lessons actually takes 15-20 minutes. Along with all the extra multisensory activities it is to be taught with a "Your turn, my turn" method. So You write the letter or word perfectly on the board, they copy it perfectly in their books. Then you do it again etc. THat is why there is only 4 per page. BEfore you do those 4, you are doing gross motor work, slate board work etc. The workbook is actually the LEAST important part of the whole program and yet it is the only part that most homeschoolers use.

 

To answer yout question about how many pages being done we use the schedule in the back of the TG as laid out

 

I agree. By the time they get to the w/b they should be able to write it fairly well because they've already did it several times.

 

If you didn't buy a chalkboard (and don't want to), I'd at least use dry erase crayons so there's some sensory going on when writing vs a dry erase marker.

 

HWT might not be exciting, but it's an excellent program. One I am very thankful to have found from the beginning.