need a formal writing program?

[Reebekah]

my ds, who will be 4 next month, has REALLY taken an interest in writing lately. he has known his letters and letter sounds for a long time, and now he wants to write them. a few weeks ago, he was only tracing letters.....then gradually he started writing letters on his own beside the ones that he traced. the last few days, he will get paper or a magnadoodle or whatever and ask me to spell a particular word (such as turkey), and then he will write each letter on his own as i say it out loud. he also started writing his first and last name on his own about a week ago. he progressed to this stage rather fast, and i'm feeling unprepared. he is doing REALLY well, but he is forming some letters incorrectly, etc. since he is clearly willing and ready to start writing, i'm wondering if i should buy a handwriting program. i want him to be a good writer. i dont want to un-do bad habits later. i was looking at the preschool handwriting without tears program (about $75 for booklet, teacher guide, cd, paper, wooden letters, mat). i would love opinions about if i need this, if it would be a waste of money, etc.
thanks!

[CariOfOz]

I haven't used HWOT personally, but I have heard a LOT of good things about it Hopefully someone that has used it will chime in personally.

[elizawill]

we use HWOT. i purchased the letters & numbers book & block paper only. i made my own shapes instead of purchasing the wooden tiles. they have the patterns in the book, so i made them out of cardstock and laminated them. i also have flashcards, but those aren't necessary honestly. we have a small magnadoodle that my ds uses as well. we also used play-doh in the beginning as well, so he could create the letters that way too. i bought my stuff used from www.homeschoolclassifieds.com - but even if you buy directly from HWOT, you don't need to buy all that you've listed imo. hth.

[BeanyMama]

Our writing program for 4 year olds is simply paper and writing instruments I think if they have a big desire to write, paper and a parent covers their needs for the most part.

[aran]

I bought the $75 package for my 5 yo DS. He started writing his name at 4, but only took a big interest in writing other words in the past few months.

I think the $75 package was overkill for us. The teachers guide has pages and pages and pages and pages of text about how to teach the material, and what activities to do. For us, many of the activities seemed too slow, incremental, and contrived, and maybe better suited to killing time with 20 kids in a classroom. We also haven't used the larger chalkboard. If I had it to do over, I'd buy the workbook and letter blocks to start, just to see if DS liked it. (You could do the small chalkboard exercises shown in the workbook using a crayon and blank paper, just as easily).

[MyLittleWonders]

We use HWOT, but only buy the student workbooks. The rest of it seems to be too much and also geared maybe towards classrooms instead of a one-on-one situation of parent/child at home. I would start with only the PreK workbook and go from there.

[Reebekah]

beanymama - i know you may just write free style when they are 4, but then do you do something more formal later? at what age?

[broodymama]

I got the $75 package from HWOT for DS (5) and it was overkill for us, too. I think the wood pieces will be good for DD1 (3) who wants to learn to write more letters, but for DS just the workbook would have been fine. I do like the program, and DS' writing is coming along well.

[BeanyMama]

Originally Posted by Reebekah

beanymama - i know you may just write free style when they are 4, but then do you do something more formal later? at what age?

I do. DS1 is 6.5, he learned his letters around 4 and started formally copying sentences just this year to spruce up his letter size, etc. I introduced cursive copy-sheets this year as well. Most of our stuff I've printed off websites but we do have a handwriting book as well. It's the Catholic Heritage 2nd grade book, which may not interest you if you're not Catholic

DS2 has just turned 4, he writes on ledger paper, usually just asking me how to spell the things he wants. I often have him write out the alphabet when he wants "work" like his brother. There is an alphabet chart on the wall he uses to check his letters if I'm not handy to ask. I think he'll be ready for more formal work about the same time as his brother. We shall see.