Pentime vs R&S Penmanship 1 vs. A Reason for Handwriting K

[ktgrok]

My daughter is 5, will be 6 in february, and in Kindergarten this year. We're currently using A Reason for Handwriting K. I chose it because it doesn't have them writing words before they learn the letters IN the words, and several other programs did seem to do that. I don't want her practicing letters before she makes them properly in other words. That said, it moves slowly and doesn't seem to have review. 

 

We ADORE CLE math, but their handwriting is in their phonics, and we are not using their phonics. I'm thinking maybe Rod and Staff would be similar? They have a separate penmanship program, and it seems to incorporate review, some words as well as just letters, etc. Anyone use it and have an opinion? 

 

Or Pentime gets great reviews. It starts with just letters, like A Reason for Handwriting, but the second book has words/copywork. I also kind of like how they trace inside the letters rather than connecting the dots like in A Reason For Handwriting. 

[Susie in MS]

Not sure what your question is, but I adore Pentime! I find the writing beautiful, the instruction great, the pages pleasant to look at, the blurbs (varies with each level) fun, and the price right. Now once you get to, oh I forget, the 3rd book??, maybe Transition,  there is a flap connected to the back cover. It has diagonal lines on it. This is to be placed behind each right side page so the child can see the lines thru the page. It really helps them to learn to slant their letters/words.

[Susie in MS]

Oh and when my dd was that age, I would have her do only 1/2 page a day.

[ktgrok]

LOL, not sure what my question is either! 

[Mommy to monkeys]

We also like pentime. Inexpensive, good quality, and my kids like it! We like susie generally do a half page per day.

[ktgrok]

awesome. Ordered Pentime...it's cheap enough that even if I just use it as a supplement now and then I won't mind. 

[Ellie]

R&S's manuscript is WAY too big, such that children are actually drawing their letters instead of writing them.

[ktgrok]

R&S's manuscript is WAY too big, such that children are actually drawing their letters instead of writing them.

 

Thank you! Glad I went with pentime. 

[Clear Creek]

My kids use R&S penmanship in 1st grade, and then use both R&S and Pentime from 2nd-4th. I did not find the lines in R&S 1 to be too big; I thought they were developmentally appropriate. All of my kids have good handwriting that receives compliments (and they didn't inherit it from me, lol), so I think either choice is fine.

[Guest]

I used pentime for manuscript and switched to New American Cursive for cursive. Very pleased.

[Ellie]

My kids use R&S penmanship in 1st grade, and then use both R&S and Pentime from 2nd-4th. I did not find the lines in R&S 1 to be too big; I thought they were developmentally appropriate. All of my kids have good handwriting that receives compliments (and they didn't inherit it from me, lol), so I think either choice is fine.

 

I liked R&S's cursive penmanship (although I saw no reason for its slanted, transition stuff); I just think the manuscript was too big. :-)

[UCF612]

We are loving Pentime. I started my first grader on book 3 and my 3rd grader on book 4. Both had a year of Abeka cursive already. The price and style were what sold me but I like the content as well.

[AuNaturel]

If you want your child to have review continuously, I suggest making your own side practice words that only includes the letters she has practiced. At her age, she only needs to write the word once or twice.

 

Example: After a b c she can write cab. After d e f she can write dad, be, bed, fed, and bad. As she progresses, keep some of the old words and continue adding new ones to keep it interesting. Every week, she should be writing at least one of each letter she has practiced within one of your words to keep it fresh in her mind.

 

I had to do the above because my daughter would forget half of what we went over and I had to have her review them all over again.

 

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

[ktgrok]

So, an update. Pentime came, and after trying it I like A Reason for Handwriting better. Go figure! Glad it was cheap :)

 

It turns out A Reason for Handwriting DOES have review pages scattered through out! And it does the letters in an order that makes a lot of sense, having them do o, c, a, d, g, q, etc all in a row, because they all start the same way. Pentimedoes them in order of their phonics program, that we aren't using, so this just makes more sense. 

 

But thank you for the advice!