Handwriting practice..tell me what is next

[HIU8]

4 yr old DD just finished the pre-K HWT workbook. She literally did the entire book in 2 weeks. DS has the next book (the first K workbook--the orange one). I don't think DD is ready for that yet. Does HWT have anything DD can do (other than the blocks and the chalkboard--which we already have) in between the pre-K and the K workbooks? I'm going to start her using the chalkboard. She is really enjoying practicing writing letters and numbers, but I'm not sure how long I can keep her interest with just that. Any ideas/suggestions?

FWIW, DD is the one driving this. I'm just going by what she is asking to do. I didn't want to push anything on her.

[maydaymommy]

I have no answers, but some questions for you!

Could you tell me what you purchased and what you found to be most useful? I want to start it with my 4 year old. He wants to write letters and I want to show him in a way that will be helpful to him, and consistent.

A cousin of mine has materials she uses in her pre-k & k classes, and said I could copy some things, but I don't even know what to ask her for.

Any advice for using Handwriting Without Tears at home would be appreciated!

[WatchingThemGrow]

There's a lot more to the program than just blazing through the workbook. Did you guys do the exercises and recite the "how to" of everything? I find the teacher's manual for K to be verrrrrry helpful.

[daisymommy]

There's a lot more to the program than just blazing through the workbook.

:yeahthat: Practice. Practice. Practice. I would buy some of the block paper they sell, and have her do a whole page of each letter (not all in one sitting). Keep working on each letter of the alphabet until they look great.

[Gena]

There's a lot more to the program than just blazing through the workbook. Did you guys do the exercises and recite the "how to" of everything? I find the teacher's manual for K to be verrrrrry helpful.

:yeahthat:

Also, there are the "Mat Man" activities that are part of the HWOT program. DS really enjoyed the Mat Man stuff.

http://www.hwtears.com/gss/learning-lounge/matman/meet-mat-man

[JTsMom]

I'm a fan of the teacher's manual as well, and it's really affordable. They list tons of activities. Both kids love the CD. The manual tells you which songs go with which letters, and activities to do with them. Have you done the Roll a Dough letters? I just posted in another thread about them. I made my own. I also made the wooden letter pieces out of cardstock.

I love HWOT. I think it's just an all around excellent program. I hated handwriting in school, and I'm so thrilled that it's one of DS's favorite things to do. :)

[maydaymommy]

I also made the wooden letter pieces out of cardstock.


Lori, I wanted to do the same thing - make laminated cardstock versions of the blocks. How did you do it? is there a template available?

[JTsMom]

There's a sample of the letter cards on the HWoT site. I printed it out to get an idea of the sizes I'd need. Then it was just a matter of making a couple of big lines, a couple of little lines, a couple of small curves, and a couple of big curves. One thing to keep in mind is that the laminate will hang over the edge, so you'll have overlap. We never had a problem with it, but you could just not laminate them, and re-make them if need be.

After I made the pieces, I made each letter backwards on our scanner using the pieces, and photocopied them to make the letter cards.

[Katigre]

I'd move over to Kumon dry erase cards and workbooks for now - they have a lot of inbetween steps to fill that gap in HWT :). (And they qualify for Amazon's 4-for-3 promotion so you can buy three get one free).

[HIU8]

DS's school does the HWT program which is how I knew about it. I didn't see everything they used though. The company is local to me, but you cannot buy at the warehouse (just online or from a distributor). They happen to sell a good amount of the material at several teacher supply stores and specialty kids stores around me. I just went and bought the pre-K and K workbooks. We already had the chalkboard the mat and the blocks for letters (which DD has used before).

The website is www.hwtears.com

[HIU8]

Thank you for the suggestion of the teachers manual and the matman things. Those we don't have and I bet DD would enjoy doing them. She uses the blocks to form letters now.

Of course, DS could care less, but maybe if DD does the activities he will also (although I need the K teachers book for him).

[MommyAllison]

Lots of good suggestions from PP! Also wanted to mention that if you have a Teacher's Guide, you can access the worksheet maker on their website for free to make and print your own custom worksheets.