2.23.2013

TOS Review - Handwriting Without Tears App

What is it?
Handwriting without Tears Logo

Handwriting Without Tears is an awesome company that helps children learn to write while making it fun.  They provide full writing curriculum with lots of hands on manipulatives to help students learn proper letter formation.

We were given the new Wet, Dry, Try app to test out.  This new app simulates the long time favorite Handwriting Without Tears activity called The Slate Chalkboard.  Children are taught the correct way to write all the capitol letters and numbers while having fun.

Homeschool

How we used it:

This came at a great time for us.  I've told y'all before that Josie does not particularly enjoy writing.  Part of that is frustration over getting her letters to look like mine.  She gets some backwards and some sideways and some just plain won't work for her.  This app gave her a chance to work on correct letter formation without feeling any stress about it.  If she messed up, she could just wipe it clean and try again.


Josie loves using my iPad so this was easy to work into our daily lessons.  Most days, I gave her time to use this app while I made lunch or dinner.  She was able to work by herself and made excellent progress in her letter formation.

This time of year is very travel heavy for us, so this app came in handy on a couple of long road trips we took.  Rather then just testing her Angry Birds skills, we actually got some really great writing practice in.  If you are on the go a lot, this app is excellent for on the go practice.

I also let Gabe take a shot at it.

He didn't get it at first, but caught on after a few tries.  I'm planning to work this in with his preschool to keep him from learning the bad habits Josie picked up when she was learning.


My Opinion:

I think this app has great potential.  It won't teach the letters for you, but it is a good way to practice.  Not only did it help Josie enjoy writing practice, but she actually has made remarkable progress in the little time she's used it.  She now better understands where to start and end each letter to get it to look right.  I also loved that she could work on this independently.

There was a bit of frustration over getting the letters exactly right.  Josie did not enjoy being told to start over if she went off the lines at all.  I used this as a chance to remind her how important it is to do your very best work and to go slowly, but it still put a damper on her eagerness to continue with the app.

I plan to use this for both kids to help them learn the basics.  My only gripe is that I wish it taught lowercase letters as well as uppercase.  It would be wonderful if we could make the same progress with those letters.

If you have a child that enjoys the computer and could use some writing practice, this app is a good one.

Product Details:

www.HWTears.com
Wet Dry Try App - $5.00
www.WetDryTry.com

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Disclaimer:  I received this product, at no cost to me, in exchange for my honest review.  All opinions are mine.


1 comments:

Unknown said...

Thanks! We use the workbooks and I was not sure if we needed the app. I think I will look into it now. I would love the boys being able to practice while we were out and about or travelling!