Teaching Strategies

Handwriting Without Tears® has unique strategies that work for diverse learning styles.

Lessons and Activities Introduced in Developmental Sequence

The Handwriting Without Tears® curriculum teaches the easiest skills first, then builds on prior knowledge. Letters are taught in a sequence that makes sense developmentally: in groups of similar formation. After children master the easier letters, they are ready for more difficult letters in both print and cursive.

Multisensory Lessons

We help children develop their writing skills through multisensory play-based instruction. Activities with hands-on materials—Wood Pieces Set, Capital Letter Cards, Mat, CDs, Slate Chalkboard, and Blackboard—address different senses to teach correct formation, spacing, sequencing, and other writing skills.

Children move, touch, feel, and manipulate real objects as they learn the habits and skills essential for writing. Other multisensory lessons in the teachers’ guides use voices, letter stories, door tracing, imaginary writing, and mystery letters to teach letter formation and placement on lines.

Review and Mastery

Mastery of concepts is reinforced with three levels of Review and Mastery activities throughout student workbooks. The sections follow a group of letters and focus on reinforcing the formation of all previously taught letters.

Learn and Check

In all of our workbooks, we teach children to check their letter, word, and sentence skills after new lessons. Letters are checked for correct start, steps, and bumping the lines. Words are checked for correct size, placement, and closeness. Sentences are checked for correct capitalization, word spacing, and punctuation.

Instruction Based on the Three Stages of Learning

Our curriculum teaches children to write correctly and easily following these three developmental stages:

1. Imitation: The teacher demonstrates the letter formation. The child imitates the teacher.
2. Copying: Children are asked to copy a model of a practice word by looking at the word.
3. Independent Writing: Children are asked to write a word without demonstration and without a model. They have to write from memory.