4y/o writing

[Jzsnow]

What do you all recommend for me to start my 4 year old son out with? I need a solid program that will teach him to write letters and number correctly. Thanks!

Jessica

[Zelda]

I loved Handwriting Without Tears.

[Ellie]

which is the manual for the Spalding Method. He'll be learning letter sounds along with the correct formation of his letters and numbers, and you can just continue doing Spalding as he matures; IOW, you won't need anything else to teach him to read and write and spell.

[JudyJudyJudy]

I don't do structured handwriting at age 4. If I did, I'd use Handwriting Without Tears.

[Ann@thebeach]

I normally wouldn't recommend trying any formal handwriting at this age...however, I have an almost 4 yr old that is trying to write letters now. He loves to make letters on the paper and then shout out what he wrote-I'm really quite amazed at what he can do!

Now that he's been doing this for a few months he's starting to make some of th e letters wrong so I'm going to start VERY SLOWLY with HWT. I like how they do the letters in the boxes and I'm going to use the wood pieces that I never tried with my first 2 kids.

I think using the wood pieces will be a good start then I can move to the magna doodle thing and the workbooks as he's interested.

Sounds like this might work for you too with a young one.

[Jzsnow]

Thanks everyone. He can write his letters, they just are all sideways and odd looking. He's starting to write them with incorrect form. Like, he starts down and goes up, or goes the opposite way when making a 0. I'll look into these.

 

Jessica

[arcara]

I started my ds with HWT because he was writing his letters, but not properly. I wasn't planning to start him so young, but I didn't want him to practice doing it wrong for 2 years and develop bad habits. We do it when we wants to. I think HWT is as enjoyable as a handwriting program will get with the wooden pieces to build the letters (some people make their own out of foam) and the chalk board. I love how it emphasizes where to start each letter, and it teaches them according to their starting position.

[keptwoman]

We use the whiteboard to practice writing with DD. It works well because the bigger movements help cement the letter formation in their minds.