Handwriting for a pre-K/K-er?

[Heidi in AK]

Ok, I have to say I have NO CLUE what is necessary to teach my daughter how to write. I will say that we have TONS of workbooks that we have gotten from Nana and others which go over how to print her letters. She's marginally interested in handwriting, but would rather color. She will be 5 in July, and we are doing LHTH full-speed and supplementing with some other curriculum so I can stave her off from LHFHG until she's 6 (July 2012).

In Math, she is off the charts (IMHO). She counted to 150 by herself today in the car unassisted. I am sure writing them will, again, be a different story.

Her workbooks also have numbers writing in them.

I am thinking that what I should do while we're doing a modified K with LHTH is just take her through the workbooks I already have? I thought about getting ARFH K, but I wonder if I should just save that for her, for later? Or not get it and see where we are when I'm ready to start 1st with her with LHFHG?

We are new to HSing; the grade appelations seem totally arbitrary now! That's kinda weird for this PS graduate to deal with!

[holyhart]

Skills like writting can take more time to develope for some children than for others. You will know best if she is ready for a writting program or not. I do have to say that the ARFH-K however is a little different than the standard handwritting workbooks you will find in stores (like Dollar Tree, Walmart etc., although I'm not sure which ones you have). The lessons are short and use a tree-house as a diagram to help teach children about the lines and where each letter fits on each line, as well as a picture to color for each letter (the picture is of an animal that starts with that letter). if you get the teachers guide (completely unnessissary at this grade, I just happened to have found it used at a book sale for $0.50), it shares a neat little tid-bit about the animal and how God created it. The pictures are fun to color and I've had my dc use a crayon to trace the letters which was a bit more fun for them. On letters that they had a harder time with and I felt they needed more practice with, I had them "rainbow trace" the letters which they have loved doing (go ever each letter with multiple colors). Here is a sample of ARFH-K to see if it is indeed different than what you have already. http://www.areasonfor.com/site/1/docs/A ... SAMPLE.pdf

[blessedmomof4]

Hi,
Another option is to add to Little Hands just some of the K options from Little Hearts (Little Hearts guide, ARFH K, The World God Made-but save the activities in the Little Hearts guide till next year with the Grade 1 science book), Singapore Earlybird Math, and the Rod and Staff fine motor skills books. Then the next year you will already have the Little Hearts guide and would use it as written with all the grade 1 options and a reading program.

[hollyh]

I second the idea to add in ARFH, Singapore and Rod & Staff. It will not affect your program the following year at all as you could still do the 1st grade options.

[Heidi in AK]

Hi everybody, thanks for your responses. I actually have the K options, but I ask all this because before I settled on HOD, I got all these workbooks. Since then, I've asked Nana to either stick with HOD materials or consult us before getting books. I probably need to consider how to use all I have. It is hard for me to part with the workbooks. One is a "BrainQuest" book, another is Kumon, and another is a big K-1 (seems to be more pre-K to K, though). I just tend to err on "you have it, so find a way to use it." Hmmmmmm....

[Heidi in AK]

Oh, Lourdes and others, the only book I did not get was ARFH, because I had all these workbooks. Now I feel directionless. To the PP who added the link, thank you! As soon as I finish laundry, I'll pull it up & look at it!

[rockhouse]

Here's my .02 worth. If she's not wanting to write, don't make her (she probably knows that she is not ready). Let her do lots of pre-writing activities. (Link removed by moderator per board rules). Also, let her write her letters/numbers in salt sprinkled in a cookie sheet, put shaving cream in a ziploc bag for her to "write" on, use sidewalk chalk, etc. Keep encouraging her to color since this is great for fine motor skills. (Link removed by board moderator per board rules).

About halfway through your school year, I would start gently introducing writing the letters/numbers (she may start asking to learn before then!). Most children are able to excel in math and even reading before their fine motor skills are caught up to their cognitive abilities. This is normal and not a big deal. Just make sure if you use a reading program that requires writing to not make her do it, but she can still learn to read.

Blessings,
Chelli

[Heidi in AK]

That's helpful. I think she'll turn the corner soon, actually. She'll be 5 in July and she completely has the drill down. One other thing we are not doing now is reading consistently.

[Heidi in AK]

I think what we'll do is use what we have because we have it and join up with ARFH A for first grade options. Anyone think we need to go ahead and purchase ARFH for kindergarten? Reason we don't have ARFH K is because we bit-and-pieced it for K based on what I had.