How do you do HWT?
 

And what do I need to buy? Do I need the teachers' guide? Anything else? How long does it take? Is it hard to do while taking care of littles?

My ds will be in 1st grade and still writes mostly capital letters but really just intermixes them in his writing. None of his letters are all that awesome. But he reads on probably a 3rd grade level.

Re: How do you do HWT?
 

i've used it with my 4 year old but um only sorta. we have the magnet doodle board and wooden capital letter pieces, the preschool book (except i lost it :scratch) and i have the IG but i dont find it super useful at this age. interested to see what others say.

Re: How do you do HWT?
 

I would buy the HWT teacher's guide, as that's what makes it different from any other program, IMO. There are all sorts of multi-sensory activities, songs, etc, as well as the "phrases" for describing each letter formation. (I have the PK and K teacher's guide and didn't buy it for grade one. I'm assuming the grade 1 guide is similar).

I love the wooden pieces for younger kids, but they only form capital letters, so they may not be the best choice for 1st grade. Buy or print some two line paper. We love the K CD, but your son might already be too "old" for that. There are samples on the site that might help you decide. I would buy or make a two line chalk board.

Then I would just go through the lessons more or less as laid out in the TG. It really is so much more than a printing workbook! But still only 15ish minutes per day.

HTH,
Heather

Re: How do you do HWT?
 

We do the letter pieces, then chalkboard, and then do it in the workbook. Generally all in the same day if they are picking it up quickly. A page a day.

Re: How do you do HWT?
 

I started out with a homemade version of the wooden straights and curves. I also had some HWT letter cards with the capital and lower case letter printed rather large with arrows and a picture of an object that begins with the letter. I put those in page protectors and ds practiced those with wipe off crayons for a while. I think both of those were Pre-K.

For Kindy, we did the capitals with gray block paper and continued the wipe off crayons with smaller cards. I found a website that would let me choose the words or sentences and print out traceable letters and lower case boxes to guide his writing. I printed words that related to whatever subject we were studying.

For 1st, I used the same website to print out the copywork sentences from his writing curriculum so he was knocking out 2 things at once. Also, I would use a yellow marker and write out his spelling words on the 2 line paper as he spelled them to me. Then I'd have him trace what I wrote.

I have the first 3 teacher's books, and I used those to get the tips on how to teach the letters. I wish I'd just gotten the little writing books, and I think I'm going to get the one for 1st and 2nd grade for this upcoming year.

Re: How do you do HWT?
 

I used HWT this year both with my 7 year old, who needed to work more on her lower case letter formation, and my 4 year old, who started learning to write capitals.

I bought the wood pieces and mat, as well as the slate (all from a GCM :) ). I also ordered one of their cds, which the kids have enjoyed. The songs give some nice playful ways to help them remember the right formations.

The teachers guides are a good idea. I didn't buy one, but I have a friend who showed me the ropes.

I ordered the preschool book for my 4 year old and the 2nd grade book for my 7-year-old.

Re: How do you do HWT?
 

Ds did 1 year of public (1st), during which they let him learn any which way. Almost all were incorrect formation and pencil grip. I felt like k was more recognizing, which he knew. So we bought 1st workbook and teacher guide with special paper. We did caps review on a white board first, then in workbook. A letter or two a day, making up silly sentences or phrases to copy on the paper as he accumulated letters. Took us 6-8 mths, but I'm happy to say he forms letters correctly and has a good grip. :)

Meanwhile, fine motor strengthening should happen, lacing, clay, snaps, fishing little things out of pasta, monkey bars, etc.

Re: How do you do HWT?
 

So far, I've just handed my kids the workbooks. :shifty I do spend a bit of time at the beginning making sure they are forming their letters correctly, but I find the workbooks are really good at teaching the letter formations all by themselves. :shrug If they were struggling at all, I would have backed up and done some of the activities, but my first two haven't needed it.

I do plan on doing some of the pre-writing stuff with DS2 (almost 4) during this coming year, though. I own the K manual and I think I will just do the activities from that, even with the preschool book. I never even used the preschool book with my first two (just went straight into the K book) but my DS2 is really itching to have his own books like the big kids and seems to like sitting to draw/write even now at 3.