bttrflyvld Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 I'm looking to find a program for my kindergartener. What would you recommend? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
umsami Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 I loved Handwriting Without Tears--especially the teacher's guide. Gave me so many good ideas. In retrospect, I didn't need all of the wooden letter pieces, etc. The key parts for us were the teaching guide, workbook, and songs, although I had the entire kit. You can do the trace/erase in a cookie sheet filled with stuff, shaving cream, or on a dollar store chalk board. For the letter shapes, play dough snakes work great...pieces of string....cut outs of construction paper...etc. DS1, however, was never good at printing, but really took to cursive. We're not going back to do GD Italics so he has a printing font that looks good for when he doesn't want to write in cursive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hsmom2011 Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 I have tried several, and like Zaner-Bloser best. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stellalarella Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 I've used HWT to teach 4 children. I like it very much. Right now Handwriting WIthout Tears has a kindergarten kit on sale. They only do this once a year. We use the slate, chalk, workbook, wooden pieces and laminated letter cards beginning in Pre-K. I also really enjoy the pre-K music CD. I prefer it to the Kindergarten CD because the Pre-K CD is not so "loud" sounding. Some don't like the look of HWT, but I've found that each of my kiddos develop their own style of writing. I am happy that they have neat, legible handwriting. I've found it easy to start this program in preschool because the methods used are so appropriate for little people. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chelli Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 I like Getty-Dubay Italics (or any italics program really) for K/1st and then move onto New American cursive in first/second. I've done this with my oldest dd and she is turning out some beautiful handwriting now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 I like getting one of those tablets with all the letters on them, and writing a capitol and a lower case letter to be copied repeatedly, and writing a sentence to be copied perfectly, every day. The sentence should have spaces between the lines so it can be copied easily. Simple, cheap, effective. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest DsnyMama Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 Is there a need to start with the HWT preK program (get set for school), or is the K version of HWT simple enough to start with a preK student? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samba Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 Zaner-Bloser has been a good fit for my typical dd and special-needs ds with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aspasia Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 I like getting one of those tablets with all the letters on them, and writing a capitol and a lower case letter to be copied repeatedly, and writing a sentence to be copied perfectly, every day. The sentence should have spaces between the lines so it can be copied easily. Simple, cheap, effective. This is a good idea. I think that, unless your child is struggling with handwriting, HWT can be overkill. My dd loved writing from an early age, so I just printed off handwriting worksheets (free all over the Internet) for awhile, and now we just do copywork. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elfknitter.# Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 Zaner-Bloser. I like how it teaches the student to evaluate their own writing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nansk Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 It doesn't matter what my favourite program is. You should take a look at the various handwriting styles and pick the one you like. Then come back and look for suitable resources/methods to teach your chosen style. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SewingMom2many Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 (edited) I agree about looking at the styles first. I didn't do this and started with HWT even though I didn't care for the way it looked. The look of the print is one of the reasons we switched mid-year. I had heard such great things about the program (HWT), I just thought it would work for us. It was definitely overkill for our family - way too many extras with it, I couldn't keep up. I ended up switching about halfway through the year to Getty Dubay Italics and now I'm very happy with my choice :) I really wish I would have checked out the print styles first and gone from there. Edited August 23, 2012 by SewingMom2many Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ladydusk Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 Cursive First! You don't have to use SWR as your reading program to use this. I don't. 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.