The Draw Write Now books for penmanship? Stand alone or supplement?

[amselby81]

Do you use these books as your only penmanship practice, or do you do penmanship practice, then the Draw Write Now books as a fun supplement?  It looks like there's copywork in these books too, which I think I plan to use FLL and WWE this year, so I'm wondering if it would be overkill to use a penmanship curriculum, plus FLL and WWE, PLUS the Draw Write Now books?

 

Thank you for your input!

[mumto2]

I bought the whole set when they were little and used them extensively. Truly probably the most used and versatile home ed product ever at our house but I never really used it for penmanship by itself. We used it with history, geography, and science. We generally did the copywork although sometimes they wrote their own to go with the pictures. Each child must have drawn each picture at least once. Most of them 3 or 4 times minimum. Some of the animals graced the front of thank you cards for years.

 

Draw Write Now worked particularly well with the Galloping the Globe curriculum just in case you are considering that in the future.

[Holly]

Quite a few moms just use them for the drawing lessons.  They personally aren't my favorite copywork source...we prefer to use poetry, Bible verses, literary passages, etc.  

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

I bought the whole set when they were little and used them extensively. Truly probably the most used and versatile home ed product ever at our house but I never really used it for penmanship by itself. We used it with history, geography, and science. We generally did the copywork although sometimes they wrote their own to go with the pictures. Each child must have drawn each picture at least once. Most of them 3 or 4 times minimum. Some of the animals graced the front of thank you cards for years.

 

Draw Write Now worked particularly well with the Galloping the Globe curriculum just in case you are considering that in the future.

 

This.

I have the set and it is used on a regular basis for many different subjects and drawing projects but it was never used as a handwriting curriculum.

I agree 100% with the bolded.

[LaCEmom]

We just use it as a fun supplement. My kids really do enjoy it, but it's not enough for a handwriting curriculum imo. I haven't used WWE so I can't comment on whether that combo would be overkill.

 

Pentime is a cheap and straightforward penmanship curriculum if you're looking for one.

[SilverMoon]

We used it for the copywork for a time. No, the sentences aren't on par with high quality children's literature, but for the season my DS was hooked on the drawing lessons it worked beautifully. I've never used WWE though.

[Bear23]

I used it as part of our busy work during the day.  If I could find pages that went with what they were studying I'd put a little tab on them.  I use FLL/WWE and I don't find adding these books as too much.

[coralloyd]

I use them as penmanship/copywork for first grade. I think the sentences are perfect length and difficulty for that age. It is a good transition to other copywork. I started with my middle daughter because she loves to draw and not to write. The picture to go with her sentences was the perfect motivation. My son is now using them too and enjoys them also. They love having their finished book with all the things they have drawn. I don't use penmanship curriculum till we hit cursive. In the beginning I just sit near by and make sure they are forming their letters correctly.

 

I do think it might be overkill with FLL and WWE. We don't use those since we don't start grammar till 2nd and narration is done orally based on the things we read. So I would not do all three.