HWT Cursive- need to buy teacher's manual?

[daisychics]

Hi, I'm ordering some things from Rainbowresource.com and was wondering if I needed to buy the teacher's manual or can I do without it.

Thanks for the input.

[Karen in CO]

My dd is working through it, and I haven't felt a need for the book yet. I could probably make it more interesting and exciting with some activities from the book - if that is possible with handwriting. Each letter has a page on how to form it which is all we use. I have her trace it with her finger and we read the little memory directions for it - "make the magic c, straight up, slide down, bump and travel away". They help her to remember how to form the letters.

I am going to start my youngest on the pre-school level this fall, I might use the TM for her.

[Suzanne in ABQ]

I liked it for the troubleshooting. The author drew from her experience to predict problems children would most likely have in the formation of each letter, and wrote possible solutions to those problems.

For instance, for the lower case /b/, kids have trouble making the lower loop (she calls it a "bag") close enough to the vertical line. The /b/ ends up spread out, looking like an /l/ and an /i/, or something like that -- not legible at all. She says to think of the lower loop as a bag filled with gold (or something like that -- I'm not looking at my book). "You have to make sure you close the top of the bag so that your gold won't fall out." I have used that little ditty with both my kids (who both had that very problem), and it worked for both of them. No more "open bags"

Anyway, the teacher guide isn't essential, especially if you've used HWT before, but the Cursive Teacher's Guide is much more useful than the Printing Teacher's Guide.

[Karin]

We're not quite up to that, but I bought the teacher's manuals used and then the workbooks new. I can't say I use the manuals all the time, but I like having them for reference.

[daisychics]

That's a great idea, I'll look for a used copy of the teacher's guide (just in case) and buy a new workbook.