Handwriting Without Tears for the past 8 years

by Jennifer Z
(New York)

Product: Handwriting Without Tears
Subject: Handwriting
Levels Used: PreK through 5th grade
Dates Used: 2000-2008

Likes: I like that Handwriting Without Tears is easy to use and student and teacher friendly. It is the only curriculum that I purchased the first year of home schooling with our oldest child that I still use with our youngest children.

When my children were in Pre K and Kindergarten I made my own "wood blocks" out of craft foam. My oldest daughter used these to help teach her little sisters the basics of handwriting when she was in 2nd grade and they were in Pre K. My children have always had very neat handwriting.

It is very easy to transition from the print to cursive. Even my daughter who had the hardest time with handwriting made the transition easily, and she has nice looking writing. I am thankful that the publisher has written a book, Can-Do Cursive, for 5th grade. My 7th grade daughter started using it at the end of 6th grade to help her keep her skills fresh. It is working. She does very well with any penmanship exercise that I give her.

Dislikes: I wish that it filled up the whole year. I have learned over the years how to keep the children writing through the year, but it only takes us about 10 weeks to complete one book. Some people do not care for the vertical cursive, but it is not an issue for us. We prefer the neat handwriting to fancy script.