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We started lhth with dd just as she turned 4 last fall mostly b/c she wanted to go to school like her friends. My original plan had been to wait another year. She would be a k4 next fall by ohio school ages and one of the many reasons we are choosing to hs is I'm of the slow gentle early years philosophy

She is wiggly,strong willed and very easily distracted but since I have no problem hanging upside down off of a couch with her to read Bible stories if that's what it takes we made it work. Shortly before Christmas we had a shift in behavior that made us think she was bored. She knows her numbers,colors,shapes,basic kitchen math (we need 4 tsp. we've put in 2 how many more type stuff) and most of her letters and sounds. She had voiced an interest in learning to read. While I was in lhfhg looking at options I took a good look at the math and decided she was already doing about half of it. So,after Christmas we added The reading lesson and Singapore 1 page a day. Much improved behavior.

All this as background to the real question. Just after Christmas she started showing a huge interest in writing. She's actually even written a couple oh simple words. In watching her some of her letter formation is incorrect. What do I do? I feel confused clueless and as little crazy. Do I just let here play (read this more as how hard will it be to break her of bad habits latter). Since I wasn't,t planning on even doing a " formal preschool year" till next year I feel a little crazy even contemplating adding handwritting workbook.

I'm sure you can tell I,m a first time he mom. Right now I'm having flashbacks to chose early newborn days when I was always worried about how much she was eating, pooping and not sleeping. Words of wisdom would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

Sherry

Why don't you just find a workbook or print pages off of dashed letters/words that she can trace? Don't make her do them, but just set one out every now and then and explain that you trace over the letter/word.

Writing habits are hard to break especially if they choose to write bottom to top. I have had to remediate poor handwriting with 2 of mine that learned it in public school. I would suggest the HWOT pre-k. My youngest son did the pre-k level and enjoyed it a lot. It is very easy going and covers capitals.
You do not need everything they suggest for pre-k. We had the workbook and a slate and I bought a sponge from the dollar store and cut it into triangles.

Links removed by board moderator per board rules.

I really like this pre-k book and we did the pre-k/k one the year ds did kindergarten. He then did the A Reason for Handwriting K book and his writing is really pretty good for a 7 yr old boy. I wouldn't let bad habits form though b/c it took us 2 years of remediating incorrect pencil grip, incorrect formation, and it is bad on their muscles and straining if they continue some bad handwriting habits.

My now 7yo daughter was an early writer, too. At 4, I didn't really give her any instruction--just plenty of workbooks with plenty of tracing and writing. (She loved the Rod and Staff workbooks and did them all.) I didn't nitpick about form. Her handwriting was and is beautiful. She did A Reason For Handwriting very quickly when she did Little Hearts, and we worked on proper formation then. We're just doing lots of copywork now with plans to start Cheerful Cursive next year. She can start early if she wants to. This is just what's worked for us. I know you'll figure out what's best for your little one, too!

Tidbits- do you mind sharing why you switched to A Reason for Handwriting instead of staying with HWT?

I wouldn't stress too much about perfect form. I second the suggestion of HWOT, though it is a bit daunting to teach perhaps, but I used it - just the workbook and teacher's guide was all I had - it is quick and easy and fun. Successful. Though I didn't quite use the method "fully" I guess.

Tracing is all she should be doing at her age.

I would emphasize top to bottom and left to right for sure when you are doing handwriting practice. Workbooks are OK but they don't necessarily teach proper formation, but if you are with her and make sure she does top to bottom and left to right, gently, make it fun, she will hopefully develop those good habits.

Also even though she is interested now, if you need to drop some of these things later, or slow down to maybe reading one day, handwriting the next, go ahead and do it. That's a lot of work for a 3 or 4 year old! But if she loves it and wants to keep doing it great!

Tidbits - I just have to ask - how did you fix your child's grip? My middle child struggled with fine motor skills tremendously up until recently. He has been taking piano and that has seemed to help. I would like to work on his finger grip but every time we try, he then struggles with the new grip. I was thinking about working on it for the rest of school year since we are a little bit ahead anyway right now. So I was just curious how you helped your son.

My dd12 was my child who came home from public school struggling with grip, hand position, and poor muscle tone for writing. She was finishing 2nd grade at the time. We used a slant board, several grips but the one that really worked for us was the claw grip, and HWOT. Link removed by board moderator per board rules.

I would suggest getting the sampler and finding a grip which works for your student and then purchasing 5-6 of them as they meet with wear and tear easily. The claw, the crossover, and the grotto worked for my student's issues. Link removed by board moderator per board rules.

This is the slant board we have, but I do not like the paper holders on it. I would get one with a clipboard style paper holder if you can. We started with HWOT Printing Power that year and then switched to cursive the next. It took a solid year to a year and a half to remediate her handwriting and grip.

As far as struggling with the new grip, you just have to persevere. You have to sit with them while they are doing their handwriting so you can correct incorrect grip. It takes a bit more time but it is worth it.

Thanks for the feedback and ideas. I see a couple of good options here. I like the pre work book linkedf to above. I,m also considering just a slate and wet, dry try for the letter of the week. I think that's what I'm leaning toward. Since we have just recently added phonics and math workbooks. The coloring part caught my eye though. Her letter formation is not bad but she is still a scribbler.

Is she doing "Little Hands to Heaven?" I'd probably do that with her! I bet she would love it, and it covers Bible history chronologically from Creation to Paul's Missionary journeys. It also covers the following, which you can see fits your dd's needs quite well...

Little Hands to Heaven is a complete preschool program that includes:
letter recognition
letter formation
letter sounds and motions
early math skills
Bible activities
devotional topics
art projects
dramatic plays
active exploration
finger plays
music

Another reason I am suggesting this is I think she will be ready for Little Hearts for His Glory at 5 yo. The slow gentle approach is wonderful, but for some kiddos, they are just raring to go, and it's a lot easier and more enjoyable just to start with preschool then! I think what you may find if you don't start Little Hands to Heaven now is that she will have surpassed some of it in a year. Then, you'll end up placing her in Little Hearts for His Glory, but that will be a lot compared to what she has done so far. "Little Hands..." is a nutshell school day, having a super balance of history, Bible, devotions, hands-on things, music, projects, letters, etc. - it's a preschool that lays great groundwork for the balance of subject areas in Little Hearts Kindergarten. You could easily keep doing "The Reading Lesson" and Singapore Essential Math (though I'd personally get the LHFHG guide for all the extra math skills covered in the hands-on activities). Anyway, just one more thing to consider for your blossoming little honey!

In Christ,
Julie

We are actually doing lhth now; just at a very casual pace as I figured we had 2 years to fill and I wasn't sure with what. Julie, you are probably right, she probably will be ready for lhfhg next year. Guess it's time to start planning for that. What we are doing is kind of a hybrid version right now since we added Singapore and trl. I've got some questions about that too. I think maybe I'm doing it wrong as it only takes 15 to 20 min. That's probably best as a separate post though. Maybe just emphasize top to bottom, left to right during letter formation activities?

I think I'd start full-speed LHTH now. From experience with our oldest ds, trying to slow him down only resulted in me adding more things of my own creation, because he needed more, and that was just silly because what he really needed was just to do an entire HOD guide (which is what we ended up doing anyway, and he was then very happily challenged ). If you do full-speed LHTH now, your dd will be 5 yo when she starts LHFHG. This is in the target range and sounds like a super fit for her! Especially as she is beginning to write, it is key that she learns the right way so you don't end up having to undo bad habits learned earlier on. The handwriting in LHFHG will come at a good time for her. The Essentials Math from Singapore is new and the new LHFHG guide has hands-on math plans that are wonderful that coordinate and extend it. The reason they extend it is because there were more skills in the old now out-of-print Earlybird Kindergarten Singapore Math. HOD made sure to include those skills, even though they are not written in the Essentials Math workbooks. For this reason especially, I would recommend using the LHFHG guide to teach Essentials Math right now. If you do purchase the LHFHG guide, just let HOD know next year (when you want to buy the LHFHG Economy Package), that you already purchased the LHFHG guide from HOD. They will look up your order and credit you the package savings back. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

thank you all for the advise, I really appreciate it. Your wisdom has helped me kind of focus and recenter my thoughts and figure out how to get us back on track. I appreciate you all.