Handwriting Without Tears

from jujsky:
We use HWT K. We bought a bunch of the stuff, but I don't think it's all really necessary. I would definitely get the Teacher's Guide and the workbook. The wooden letter pieces are nice, and I'm glad I bought them, but they have a template for them in the Teacher's Guide. I've heard that a lot of people make the shapes out of poster board.

The roll-a-dough set isn't really necessary, but I really like it. My DS has sensory issues, and this works well for him. You can use it with beans and rice too, and have him trace the letters.

I would also get the chalkboard. There is something about the friction of writing the letter on the board that ingrains it in their memories.

The blue mat for the letter shapes -- nice, but not totally necessary. You will need it (or a similar-size piece of cardboard) if you want to make Mat Man. I bought the letter cards to use with the wood pieces. I really think you EITHER need these, or the blue mat. I don't think both are necessary.

I didn't bother with the music cd, though in retrospect that would have been really good for my DD who is doing the program. She learns well by using songs and rhymes.

from jennyberm:
We really liked the Pre-K/K books, Get Set For School and Letters & Numbers For Me, along with the slate boards. The slate boards are really, really great because they help them to start the letters in the right place and keep them a uniform size. After that, I haven't bothered to do anything else with the program... just some random copywork when I see that their writing needs some practice. I may go back to something formal for cursive, but I'm not sure if it will be HWT or something I piece together like copywork.

from treddlesewingmachine:
If the chalk boards are not real slate, (that is, just wood painted with chalkboard paint) I got a set of three for about $3-$4 from American Science and Surplus. They aren't as nice as the rock, but they work ok.

We used HWWT last year for cursive for my daughter. I had some pre-K and K stuff given to us by our OTs, but didn't do it much with my son. It was just really hard to get him to do it. Now that he has grasp down, more strength and better attention, he can do it. He is now getting to the point where he needs to write sentences, so until our books come I am just using cheap writing paper with lines.

One OT traced the (wooden) templates on colored magnetic sheets - she gets the kids to do the letters on the refrigerator.