I have been using Handwriting without tears for both my boys. Weston started at age 4 and is now done with the first book. The problem is that he won't be ready for the second book yet- he is not in Kindergarten and is really not coordinated enough.

I really want to just do the Pre-K book with him again but he is upset about it. I don't actually "do" school with him, and I just bought that workbook because he was begging to do school with his brother.

He wants to start a new book, but for several reasons, I just don;t think it wise to start him in the second HWT book.

Any advice?

I did the K book with Erik at 4. He was already writing all of his letters though, in very unconventional ways, and I just decided to give it a go. He liked it, but we need to do it again, because he definitely didn't want to make his letters THEIR way after we finished the book.

Is he 5 now? Have you seen the K book? It's pretty "gentle", you could do it slow.

Which one is actually the K book? He just finished Get Ready for School.

ds #2 is still working on Letters and Numbers for Me and I don;t think Weston would be quite ready for it as well as we are having a HUGE issue with sibling rivalry right now.

Weston just passed up his older brother in several other things. This woud be too much of a blow to Marcus- and not worth it.

Oh. Yes, the "K" book is letters and numbers for me. I would probably wait in that scenario. How about a math workbook? Singapore Earlybird? Or even just a workbook from the store with preschool or K skills (whichever is more appropriate for his age).

Do you have to use a workbook with him? What about getting some lined paper and letting him continue to practice his letters without using a workbook. I do this with Eli and it works well. E is really more advanced that G with his handwriting but I think mainly it is because he likes to draw and such and G doesn't care that much about it.

I would go ahead and use the workbook - feed his desire to learn. And when he gets a little bit older, you guys can go back to where you think he should be and he will be able, hopefully, to understand why.

DS is starting 2nd grade and ready to start the cursive book - BUT, I think that his print could use a little more work since I believe cursive is a dying art (He needs to be able to read it and write his name) and print will stick around. Thus, though he wants to do cursive, we will only play with it a bit for the first few months of school and practice print with letters and daily work.

HTH!

I've recently started HSing my 7 yo daughter. She started w/the most horrific handwriting! We tried HW w/o T and we had LOADS of tears. Sinead didn't enjoy it at all. I found a program called "Write On!" - a DVD that guides the child in stroke development. At first, Sinead thought it going to be too young for her cuz it uses puppets. However, after the video began, she got super interested and now watches it ALL the time! She LOVES practicing her handwriting. I've learned the hard (and expensive) way that what works w/some kids doesn't necessarily work for another.

Good luck!

Lynn

I have a question about this program. Those who use it. Did you purchase everything that they suggest you get on the website? Like for instance, do I really need the megnet board and the dough roller board? I like the idea of the wooden capital letters. But I'm not sure I want to purchase all of this stuff.

I didn't purchase anything but the workbooks and the teacher books. I think the program would have been more fun with all the extras, but it was great even without them.