We have the BrainQuest workbooks. Got them from Amazon, but the day after I ordered I saw that they had these, as well as another option, at Costco for a little less. Unfortunately my kid is at a phase where he does not want to be told what to do, so the simplest thing as showing him how to trace the letters results in a defiant stance. Fun. :)
Thanks for the rec! That's so cute, I still remember being in first grade and having my teenage babysitter laugh at me because I wanted to do "homework." :-)
Yeah well we'll see how far we get. We tried to play a basic board game with Katie last night and she did not want to hear the rules. If you are the PURPLE player then you go to the PURPLE square, and you don't spin the arrow, instead you move it so that it points to PURPLE, see, then go to the PURPLE square.
Basically any new thing we get her, if I say something like "Let me show you how to do this" she grabs it and says, "No, let me show YOU how to do it." So maybe these preschool books will end up the same way. But someday she might like one, maybe?? :-)
we have the kumon ones and I think we also have a BrainQuest one. but for initially learning how to write her letters the iphone app "iwritewords" was awesome!
The Kumon ones are good: upper and lower case letters, mazes, tracing... Anya has to be in the right mood, which is not every day, but sometimes, she seems to enjoy sitting down and doing them. Also, the starfall website is really fun (www.starfall.com)--start with the "abcs" section.
There are also some Sesame Street math ones for tracing numbers and counting, which are kind of fun.
I know what you mean though; I really wanted to teach Anya to write her name, and she LOVES spelling out letters for words and telling you what letter a word starts with but doesn't have much interest in writing. She'll write an "A" now and that's it. Oh well.
Preschool recommended the "handwriting without tears" series for 4 year olds; you can buy them online, but I haven't bought any yet.
Thanks! A little girl who is turning three next month wrote "Lucy" on her birthday card for Katie completely legibly -- not even wobbly. It made me think that I should at least try to figure out a way for Katie to practice moving a crayon on paper!
Katie's the same way -- she loves figuring out what words start with what letter, but has very little interest in writing. She can draw a circle and that's about it. I think part of the problem is that she can't do much and she gets frustrated as soon as she can't draw what she wants. But the other part is that she just isn't that interested in coloring/art to begin with.
Anyway, I'm not really worried, but think it would be fun to try a workbook with her and see what she thinks since she does like letters and numbers.
Yeah, I looked up what are the basic milestones for 4 in writing, and by 4, they should be able to make "v"s, "t"s, and "x"s (which I think my kid can more or less make at 3.5, but it's definitely not a strength of hers...she could NOT write Lucy, I'll tell you that). But anyway, v, t, x might be easier letters to start with.
I have some guilt that I read to Anya a lot, but do not do enough art/writing activities, so that was one of my New Year's resolutions to add in some more art/writing activities! She doesn't like to color though, unfortunately. I haven't been doing that great at it, but I'm trying to make it more fun for her!
if it makes any of you feel better, molly was totally uninterested in writing letters at all until she turned 4. and she got good at them much faster than jesse who has been interested in writing them for over a year.
i feel like such a slacker mom not knowing about these workbooks. totally going to get some!
Comments 13
Reply
Reply
Reply
Basically any new thing we get her, if I say something like "Let me show you how to do this" she grabs it and says, "No, let me show YOU how to do it." So maybe these preschool books will end up the same way. But someday she might like one, maybe?? :-)
Thanks for the rec.
Reply
Reply
Reply
Also, the starfall website is really fun (www.starfall.com)--start with the "abcs" section.
There are also some Sesame Street math ones for tracing numbers and counting, which are kind of fun.
I know what you mean though; I really wanted to teach Anya to write her name, and she LOVES spelling out letters for words and telling you what letter a word starts with but doesn't have much interest in writing. She'll write an "A" now and that's it. Oh well.
Preschool recommended the "handwriting without tears" series for 4 year olds; you can buy them online, but I haven't bought any yet.
Reply
Katie's the same way -- she loves figuring out what words start with what letter, but has very little interest in writing. She can draw a circle and that's about it. I think part of the problem is that she can't do much and she gets frustrated as soon as she can't draw what she wants. But the other part is that she just isn't that interested in coloring/art to begin with.
Anyway, I'm not really worried, but think it would be fun to try a workbook with her and see what she thinks since she does like letters and numbers.
Reply
I have some guilt that I read to Anya a lot, but do not do enough art/writing activities, so that was one of my New Year's resolutions to add in some more art/writing activities! She doesn't like to color though, unfortunately. I haven't been doing that great at it, but I'm trying to make it more fun for her!
Reply
i feel like such a slacker mom not knowing about these workbooks. totally going to get some!
Reply
Leave a comment