Handwriting without tears - how to implement

[MaryMak07]

How did you implement HWOT with your DC? Did you follow it according to the teacher guide? Did you do all the "extras" - wooden pieces, stamps, roll dough Mats etc?

 

Would love to hear what doing this curriculum looked like in your home!

[Kiara.I]

I read the teacher's guide for precisely two pages, decided there was NO way I was doing all that extra work to teach letter formation, and never looked at the guide again.   :lol:   I also couldn't bring myself to buy the whole array of manipulatives.  So I bought the magnetic set, and that's it.  I kind of wanted the wooden pieces but didn't end up missing them.

 

So for the Kindergarten book (the orange one) I flipped open the page in the student book, looked at the pictures at the top to double-check my understanding of how they wanted them formed, we stamped the magnets on the magnet board, child traced them with me coaching formation, and then I handed the child the book and pencil and let them do the page of practice.

[Hobbes]

We bought the student workbooks and used them. The top of each page shows the letter formation they use and I go from there. Never had a teacher's manual or any other manipulatives. It worked well - I would have checked out some of the other options if we ran into delays with handwriting.

[Eagle]

We used the little slate for practicing capital letters in K. The teacher's manual was not worth the money and I didn't buy it past the K level.

 

If you have an iPad there is an app called Letter School where children can trace letters and numbers. One of the available fonts is HWT. My dc LOVE the app and in just a few days my 3yo is getting quite proficient at writing the letters with his finger. I won't be starting him in the HWT books quite yet, but he will be very familiar with the steps to write each letter by the time we start. (and for anyone with an iPad Pro, yes the Apple Pencil does work for tracing the letters).

[Recovering Sociopath]

It depends on the kid. For my oldest, who hates the act of handwriting, I used the wooden letter pieces and went through the preparatory exercises in the teacher's manual *every* lesson, because that's what he needed. With my middle child, who loves writing and drawing and has great fine motor control, it's sufficient to just demonstrate letter formation once and let 'er rip.

[wathe]

I used the K teacher's guide and on of the cursive level teacher's guides (forget) which.  You don't need a new teacher's guide every year - they repeat themselves.

 

I used manipulatives.  Older DS really needed them.   But I made them myself quite cheaply:

 

"Wooden" letter pieces cut from cereal box cardboard.

 

Slate and larger lined chalk board from MDF and chalk board paint.  I got six slates and 4 large chalkboards out of one 4'x6' piece of MDF and a can of chalkboard spraypaint.  Home depot cut the MDF for me for free.  For lines, vinyl pinstriping meant for cars. 

 

Broke my own chalk, cut up my own sponges. 

 

The slate and chalkboard work was really valuable.  We still go back to the chalk board from time to time (now age 8)

 

 

[smudge]

Umm, I just got the workbook and said do a page a day  :blushing:

But when I started both kids were writing without trouble- though they do still have a habit of getting too much hand around the pencil. The cursive books have been good for them. I did not use any teacher guides.

[hollyhock]

Umm, I just got the workbook and said do a page a day  :blushing:

 

This is exactly how I have always used it, too.

[rebcoola]

We started out using the slate but it was obvious it just wasn't need for my DC so we just did a page a day.

[pitterpatter]

We used the wooden letter slats, both kinds of chalkboards, the songs CD, the workbook, and teacher's guide for K. There wasn't any dough mats, stamps, etc. then...not for the K level anyway.

 

The letter slats were not essential and could be made out of cardstock. DD liked and looked forward to them. The songs CD was not essential, but DD liked it and looked forward to it. The chalkboards I would say are essential if you adhere to the ideology of the program. I do think using them helped discourage reversals. DD responded very well to the wet-dry-try method. DD was four when we started. I think we split every letter into two days...one day we used the manipulatives and chalkboard, the second the workbook. If you're new to the program, get the teacher's guide so you don't feel lost. The verbal cues for letter formation are wonderful. Definitely focus on those.

 

I bought the sponges, broke my own chalk, and cut down regular pencils with a saw.

 

When I used HWT, it was our first year homeschooling. It's easy for seasoned homeschoolers to say certain pieces of a curriculum are not essential and to just wing it, but that first year, it's nerve-wracking. Buy as many pieces of a curriculum as you can afford. It will build confidence and help you feel comfortable. The extras are what makes the curriculum fun too, which can motivate a small child. I still pretty much always buy teacher's guides. Who wants to waste time puzzling out a curriculum? Plus, you're left wondering whether you're missing something/doing something wrong.

[Josh Blade]

Umm, I just got the workbook and said do a page a day  :blushing:

 

Same. Our DD3 just does a page or two a day. She's generally excited to 'get a new letter' and her handwriting is about as good as mine is now (kidding, but I do have awful handwriting...). It's pretty neat to see her progression from the first page to about the middle of the first book where she is now. She took to holding the pencil properly pretty quick and is excited about writing, otherwise we wouldn't have her doing it right now though. 

[Vida Winter]

Dd did a page a day, no teacher manual here.

[My3Munchkins]

I used HWT with my older children and plan to start the program with my youngest in the fall. I bought pretty much everything with my older two - student workbooks, teacher manual, CDs. wood pieces, roll a dough, stamp and see, slate, large chalkboard!

 

I one thing we used consistently, along with the workbook, was the little slate. The wet-dry-try method was extremely helpful for both of my DC and something they looked forward to when I introduced a new letter. 

[waa510]

We used the wooden letters, stamp and see, the little chalkboard for wet-dry-try and the workbooks. I found the teacher's manual helpful in wrapping my head around teaching letter formation for 1dd but only skimmed thru it. It'd be something I'd pick up used for the first foray into HWT and not bother with again for higher levels. Also, we only used those manipulatives b/c I got them used for nearly free. I'd buy the chalkboard again as that seemed to really help as the size is perfect and the smiley face at the top really reinforced everything for my kids. 

 

ETA: Didn't talk about how we'd implement!! OK, so we'd open the workbook to the next page, check out the letter, make it with the manipulatives and then end with writing it down in the workbook. We'd go for one page a day but sometimes they'd get fatigued and could only manage half-a-page. I tried to keep it light and fun. Oldest struggled to do all of the above in one siting as she had fine motor issues. Younger had excellent fine motor for her age and sometimes wanted to do 2 pages a day. I'd recommend really tuning into your kid to see how much they can handle and adjust as needed. It was more important to me to get it solid than to rush through. 

Edited July 14, 2016 by waa510

[vonbon]

Same as a few other posters here...Just used the workbook (K, 1st).  Read the teacher's manual for 1st but never ended up using it.  If I recall correctly, quite a bit of it seemed more geared towards teaching a larger group?  

 

I think with second DD, I'll bring out the slate and chalk and have her try the letters like HWT shows (filling the whole slate).  Just saw it online the other night and it looked like a good way to teach letter formation. 

 

A friend had the wooden pieces and I think they'd be cool to use, but not necessary for all children.  I did not want the expense for something that would be so short-lived around here.  A larger family or students with developmental delays or different circumstances might get more use out of them than we would have.

 

I have a box of writing "manipulatives" with a bunch of things I can pull out easily on a whim or as I'm planning for the week: letter blocks, letter stamps, letter magnets of different styles, a Ziploc filled with gel, a can of shaving cream for impromptu letter forming on the kitchen table, letter beads for stringing the alphabet, dot markers and printed letter sheets or blank paper, carbon copy paper, a slate and chalk / wet Q-tips for tracing, a large tile for using wet-erase markers on...I just pull out something that hasn't been used in a long while and use it alongside HWT to make things more interesting.

 

ETA: Window markers are fun too!  And the letters can be made in larger sizes.  DD's like to clean the window when they're done!

Edited July 14, 2016 by vonbon

[ReadingMama1214]

We are also in the "here do a page a day" camp. Dd is 4.5. We typically use the workbook and then practice on the HWOT paper. Her handwriting is pretty neat.