One of the reasons I love homeschooling my girls is that I can make plans that are suited for their needs and are not just based off what the state has mandated each teacher teach per grade level. In other words, in homeschooling, grade levels don’t really matter and instead we have the freedom to teach our children where they are.

When I started planning for our new school year and really started to look at the Handwriting Without Tears Kindergarten curriculum we had bought, I realized even though this curriculum says my child will learn to write without shedding tears, I knew if I started the Kindergarten book with her in August, there would be tears! Tears from her and quite possibly from me, too.

Instead of sticking with it because Little Bug is in Kindergarten, I decided to take it down a notch and do the preschool book with her first. The preschool book leaves more room for error and it will be better suited for Little Bug as she is still working on developing her fine motor skills.

It was just this past summer that she truly gained interest in coloring within the lines in a coloring book. Before this summer, every time she was given a coloring page, she would scribble with no intent on even trying to stay in the lines. That was fine because I knew in time she would gain those skills and she did. Coloring is one of her favorite things to do now and she has improved immensely in her abilities and with no pressure or worry from me!

I’ve scratched my original Handwriting plans for Little Bug’s Kindergarten year and these are my new plans. We will still work on Handwriting practice three to four times per week and our handwriting lessons will include the following:

1. Get Set for School (Handwriting Without Tears Preschool workbook) – I was able to purchase from a Homeschool Classified Ads site the Preschool book and Teacher’s Manual for just $16. The student book was used but the exact parts of it that I want to use with Little Bug were not used at all! I was so happy to find this as I really didn’t want this decision to revamp my handwriting plans for Little Bug to cost us much money at all. As you can see from the pictures, the preschool book gives the student way more room for error, which Little Bug needs. (The book is now called My First School Book.)

2. The Measured Mom’s Handwriting Worksheets Level One – The Measured Mom is my absolute favorite for finding free internet resources to use in our homeschooling. The majority of Sweet Pea’s ABC School plans came from this site. These worksheets will again give Little Bug more space to write. She is just not ready to write small or to write with the constrictions of lines.

3. Handwriting Without Tears Kindergarten manipulatives  – As we did last year during PK4, we will continue to write the letters minus paper and pencil. These ways include using the Handwriting Without Tears Wood Piece Set (for making the uppercase letters), ABC Play doh mats, shaving cream, Little Chalk Board, Dry Eraser Alphabet Books, paint brush and water, Magnetic Alphabet Builders, and in salt with a popsicle stick.

4. Kuman Workbooks – I could get My First Book of Uppercase Letters and My First Book of Cutting on Amazon for $10 (and then I used Reward points, so I ended up not paying at all for them) so I purchased those for Little Bug to work through. The Uppercase Letters book will give her more practice in writing her letters and the Cutting book will help her strengthen those fine motor skills even further.

I feel very good about this decision and I am hopeful to see great improvements with Little Bug’s fine motor skills this year!

- Elaine