Title: Peterson Directed Handwriting
Author/Publisher: Peterson Directed Handwriting
Target Ages: those just learning handwriting and for adult remediation
Format: Download from Peterson Directed Handwriting
Price: available to review on-line, but a printable version can be purchased for $19.95
This is a program to teach children to form their letters correctly. The program integrates large and small motor skills to form the letters. By seeing the letter, forming them in large motions using the whole arm, and then with just the fingers, the student will learn to write the words. Tips for collecting and tracking fluency are also included.
While using the program, students and teachers are encouraged to give words to the letter strokes as they are making. For example, to make an uppercase letter “A”, students say and write the strokes “slant left”, “slant right”, and “slide.” These same strokes are used throughout the alphabet with letters of similar strokes. As the words are being said, the student times their stroke to start and stop with the words.
Review copies can be found through this page. This is a complete document for your review. You will not be able to print and use these, but you can buy a license to print them.
The Queen’s Overall Assessment:
The unit is directed towards multiple ages. Since the prince is 7 and the princess is 4, I base my assessment on those ages.
I found the program to be a little difficult to follow. By using just the downloads that we were given for review, I was confused. The word cues and printed pages only told where to start the first stroke of the letter. For example, for the lower case letter “e”, we did the “hook around” command, but didn’t know whether to “slide” left or “slide” right. There were no guidelines on which letter to do first. Most handwriting programs that I have seen say to start with the stick letters as opposed to curved letters. Since this was mostly review and practice for the prince, we just went A to Z.
The prince did not want to participate in this assignment. He didn’t want to learn a new way of doing the something that he already knew. He found fun in the process along the way. The program indicates to draw the letter in the air with your arm. Then, you are to use your elbow. We added a little more practice by using other body parts. Air writing the alphabet with your backside does look kind of silly!
The princess, on the other hand, is just learning to make a lot of her letters. So, when she participated, she enjoyed the assignments. She found a lot of pride in making some letters that she hadn’t made before. Watching the prince air write with his backside was pretty entertaining! She said she wants to learn to write with the words I tell her.
If this had been the program that we used with the prince from the beginning, I think it would have gone over better. In my assessment, I think it is fine as a beginner program, but not for review. Some old dogs just don’t want to learn new tricks.
Be sure to check out other reviews of this product at The Homeschool Crew Blog.
Disclaimer: This was a review of my experience with the product described. I tried to give a complete and honest assessment. In order to review the product, I received a free download version with no additional compensation. This in no way influenced my review of the product. The opinions expressed are my own and were not affected or reviewed by anyone prior to publishing.
The grass is green. It’s good to be
Author/Publisher: Peterson Directed Handwriting
Target Ages: those just learning handwriting and for adult remediation
Format: Download from Peterson Directed Handwriting
Price: available to review on-line, but a printable version can be purchased for $19.95
This is a program to teach children to form their letters correctly. The program integrates large and small motor skills to form the letters. By seeing the letter, forming them in large motions using the whole arm, and then with just the fingers, the student will learn to write the words. Tips for collecting and tracking fluency are also included.
While using the program, students and teachers are encouraged to give words to the letter strokes as they are making. For example, to make an uppercase letter “A”, students say and write the strokes “slant left”, “slant right”, and “slide.” These same strokes are used throughout the alphabet with letters of similar strokes. As the words are being said, the student times their stroke to start and stop with the words.
Review copies can be found through this page. This is a complete document for your review. You will not be able to print and use these, but you can buy a license to print them.
The Queen’s Overall Assessment:
The unit is directed towards multiple ages. Since the prince is 7 and the princess is 4, I base my assessment on those ages.
I found the program to be a little difficult to follow. By using just the downloads that we were given for review, I was confused. The word cues and printed pages only told where to start the first stroke of the letter. For example, for the lower case letter “e”, we did the “hook around” command, but didn’t know whether to “slide” left or “slide” right. There were no guidelines on which letter to do first. Most handwriting programs that I have seen say to start with the stick letters as opposed to curved letters. Since this was mostly review and practice for the prince, we just went A to Z.
The prince did not want to participate in this assignment. He didn’t want to learn a new way of doing the something that he already knew. He found fun in the process along the way. The program indicates to draw the letter in the air with your arm. Then, you are to use your elbow. We added a little more practice by using other body parts. Air writing the alphabet with your backside does look kind of silly!The princess, on the other hand, is just learning to make a lot of her letters. So, when she participated, she enjoyed the assignments. She found a lot of pride in making some letters that she hadn’t made before. Watching the prince air write with his backside was pretty entertaining! She said she wants to learn to write with the words I tell her.
If this had been the program that we used with the prince from the beginning, I think it would have gone over better. In my assessment, I think it is fine as a beginner program, but not for review. Some old dogs just don’t want to learn new tricks.
Be sure to check out other reviews of this product at The Homeschool Crew Blog.
Disclaimer: This was a review of my experience with the product described. I tried to give a complete and honest assessment. In order to review the product, I received a free download version with no additional compensation. This in no way influenced my review of the product. The opinions expressed are my own and were not affected or reviewed by anyone prior to publishing.
The grass is green. It’s good to be
Monday, August 30, 2010
August 30, 2010 at 6:28 PM
Well done, Cow Queen. ;-)