LHFHG Handwriting choices

[SarahAngeline]

Hi everyone,

I've been on here a lot lately asking questions and I so appreciate all the wonderful help and feedback! Thank you so much! =)

My current question: I'm looking for feedback regarding which handwriting program I should choose for my 5 year old who will be starting LHFHG in the fall. Any thoughts on A Reason for Handwriting vs. Italic? A little background on my son.... Drawing and coloring has never appealed to him, he sees it as a waste of time. Last summer he drew his first "person", and it has only really been in the past year that he has been drawing much of anything. He doesn't see the point of drawing, he only draws when he has to at preschool. Love that kid! Anyway, he is still not very good at writing his name. Some people would probably be of the opinion that he has fine motor issues... I don't know if I agree with that. He can peal an orange, put pennies in his piggy bank, etc (those were some activities suggested to me to strengthen his hands... I don't know that they need strengthening. I think it's more an issue of him needing a reason to write and color). Anyway, I would love to hear your thoughts! Thank you so much!

Sarah

[lucsch]

I really liked ARFH K. I bought the teacher's manual to go with it, and it explained exactly how to tell the child how to make each letter. My dd had some fine motor skill delays, so handwriting was a struggle. She did well with ARFH, though. We started using it when she was 5-1/2yo.

I have no experience with italic. I preferred something "traditional."

In retrospect, I wish I'd started with Pentime. I did not discover it until my dd started cursive. We used 3 & 4 for that, and her cursive is beautiful!

[raindrops]

I would suggest ARFH the Kindergarten option. I purchased the 1st grade option and my son is a LOT like yours. (He will draw, but color a pre drawn picture? Haha, no.)

The 1st grade option would be perfecr for a child who likes to write, probably my little girl will use it in Little Hands.

[mom23]

I used both options (with different children) and also recommend ARFH. There was nothing wrong with the Italic book, in fact I'll probably use the Italic cursive when we're ready for that with him, but at the LHFHG level I think he would have enjoyed ARFH much more. My current K'er is using it, and it's his favorite "subject" . It took him a few weeks to really get into it, but now he begs to do it every day, and wants to do more than 1 page.