Teaching Little Man to Write His Name

            Realized this week that I have shared that I’m a homeschooling momma, but that so far none of my post have been about our homeschool.  Neither of my children are “school age” yet, so some would say that we are not officially a homeschooling family.  However, since it is our intention that we will not send our children outside of the home for their education, and because we decided to forgo a public or private preschool for our son, I have considered ourselves officially homeschooling.  Additionally, I have used this past school year as practice for our son’s Kindergarten year. 

I will share our reasons for homeschooling at another time perhaps, but we knew soon after our son was born that this was our desire, so I started collecting any free online materials I could get my hands on.  Anything from preschool to high school that I thought there was even a remote chance I could use, because I knew that for now—our resources for buying curriculum for homeschooling would be very limited. 

From my research, I’ve learned some families spend little to nothing per child, per year, to homeschool (around $200 or below).  Some families are blessed to spend quite a bit per child, per year (around $1,000-$2,000+).  According to the HSLDA website, the average is $900 per family.  The reasons for the large price range is because the money you’ll spend depends on many things, including your preference for curriculum, how many subjects you want to cover, and what your homeschool teaching style will be.  For example someone whose method is “unschooling” might spend less than someone who takes a classical education approach. 

Again, at this point in our lives, our budget was zero—a big, fat, goose egg.  There were no extra funds to put towards a beautiful, shiny curriculum.  Therefore, I began to pray.  I prayed that God would show me if this was truly His will for our family, or if it was just my desire and everyone was placating me.  Then I prayed that if this was His will, He would provide what we needed.  As usual, God works in a way that is true to the verse my blog is based on…He does infinitely more than I could ever think or hope.

In spring of 2013 a new, Bible-based, online curriculum came on the market through Dew Learning.  It is available on iPad, or your PC.  I entered a drawing for a free year worth (over $500) of curriculum and never gave it another thought.  A few months later, I learned I had won!  Isn’t God amazing when He shows Himself in such an awesome way?  I was worried how we would pay for homeschooling...worried if I was making the right decision…and then He blessed us beyond what I imagined.  He answered my prayer. 

Kindergarten is the lowest level curriculum they offer (no preschool) so that was another reason I decided to begin my son’s Kindergarten year.  His birthday is in July, and the only thing he lacked at that time to attend Kindergarten (when he was only 4 years old), by the standards of our state requirements (if he were going to public school), was the ability to write his name…which he learned just a few weeks after his birthday.  People are very impressed that he can write so well at 4-years-old and that he can write all of his upper and lower case letters.  We haven’t been focusing on handwriting as much lately as we had been, and I can tell he has regressed a little, but we’re back to doing what has worked for us.  I feel like there are a few things that have contributed to our success that I wanted to share.  I will give you a disclaimer—I’m not claiming to know everything, or saying that this is what you should do for your child…I’m just sharing my opinion and what worked for us.

First, is recognition of the alphabet.  Since I am a musical person, we do a lot with music in our household; however, you don’t have to be a music teacher to incorporate it into your home.  My point is children, and in fact, anyone—retains more information when it’s shared in song.  It involves both sides of your brain…so even something as simple as singing the ABC song with your little one is beneficial, even at a very early age.  A little after my son’s first birthday I was surprised how much of the alphabet he had retained just from that simple act.  Then we began matching the letters we were singing with the image of each letter.  You could use flash cards, magnets, or simply write them out on a piece of paper, which is what I did most often.  We would sing as I pointed to each letter.  Homeschool Creations has some wonderful Alphabet resources, including sheets that you can print on card stock to create your own flashcards.  There are several options to choose from on the website.  It’s a wonderful free resource.  I recently found a website called Reading By Phonics that has some useful free worksheets as well.  If you just Google “alphabet activities” you will have a TON of free resources at the click of your mouse. 

One of the things that helped in Alphabet recognition, and in my opinion helped once he started writing, was tracing the letter with his finger as we talked about it.  There are sheets on the Homeschool Creations website specifically for that.  We also purchased a LeapFrog Printing dry erase tablet at WalMart.  Very inexpensive and great for an “on the go” activity.  We were also blessed to find these Melissa & Doug dry erase mats (one for numbers and one for letters) secondhand:fr Numbers and Letters Again, they are great to occupy him when we’re on the go, or to reinforce what we’re learning at any point in the day.

Probably the most beneficial item for helping him learn to write both upper and lower case letters has been his LeapFrog LeapPad 2.  He also has a Leapster Explorer which we bought first.  We still use it for trips to the grocery store and long trips in the car.  Both include a pet game that teaches writing that my son loves.

Now that my son can identify and write the Alphabet, another tool that I utilize quite a bit is printable handwriting practice worksheets.  This free website lets you type whatever phrase you desire (letters or numbers), up to 17 characters, to print out as practice.  I often use it for his name.  You can make your own here: Practice Writing Printables

Whatever method you choose, as with anything you teach your little ones, having fun is really the key—and finding what piques their interest the most.  For example, on the LeapFrog products, whenever my son writes a letter on the pet game, the pet does a trick or shares something that starts with the letter he has just completed, and he thinks that’s the greatest.  He was learning when he didn’t even realize it.  Therefore, I encourage you to find what it is that motivates your child to learn as well.  It makes the process a lot easier.  Want more Homeschooling ideas?  Visit my board on Pinterest: Infinitely More Than I Think on Pinterest  Blessings!