Practice makes perfect, and My First Letters from Channie’s Visual Handwriting & Math Workbooks is a perfect fit for my son who is learning his ABC’s.

Channie’s Visual Handwriting & Math Workbooks are consumable student workbooks that have a patent pending method for handwriting practice.  They may look simple at first glance, however they have several special features that helps kids improve handwriting skills.

The special features in all of Channie’s Workbooks include a thicker quality recycled paper that won’t rip as students write on it.  They also give the student the option to write on the pages while in the workbook, or remove the pages and then write on them if desired.  Every page in these workbooks includes color-coded shaded “writing blocks” with lines (both vertical and horizontal lines) that clearly establish the placement of the upper-case letters, lower-case letters, and numbers. These writing blocks are the key in establishing mental habits of neater writing skills. The goal in using this product is that through confidence building and repetition of consistent letter placement within the writing blocks, a student’s handwriting skills will become neater and independent.

These workbooks were created by a mom who wanted a better way to help her son improve his handwriting skills.  The method she developed made a big difference for him.  Since that time she has created several easy to use resources (nearly 26 items for sale including bundled options) to help kids practice and improve their handwriting skills.  Her products are available for sale on her website and several retail stores.

These are just a few of the products Channie’s has to offer:

• My First Letters: Is an 80 page handwriting pad with letters to trace, corresponding pictures to color, and shaded blank lines to practice handwriting letters of the alphabet. (PreK – 1st Grade) $12.95
• Easy Peasy Alphabet:  Is an 80 page workbook with two letter tracing pages for each letter of the alphabet and blank pages to practice handwriting. (PreK Grade – 1st Grade) $12.95
• Quick & Neat Alphabet Pad: Is an 80 page handwriting pad with blank color coded pages for handwriting practice. (PreK – 1st Grade) $12.95
• Easy Peasy Cursive: Is an 80 page color coded writing pad for practicing cursive handwriting.  It includes pages with letters to trace, pages with words to trace, and blank pages too. The vertical guide lines are slanted to help improve proper letter placement. (1st Grade – 3rd Grade) $12.95
• One Page A Day: Double Digit Math Problem Workbook:  Is a 50 page math and numerical writing workbook.  Each page contains 25 double digit math problems to solve.   These pages help children learn how to consistently write numbers correctly and neatly in line for addition and subtraction equations, and improve their math skills.  (1st Grade – 3rd Grade) $12.95

This video helps explain more about this patent pending handwriting method in Channie’s Workbooks.

Our Experience:

My youngest son is enjoying using the My First Letters Workbook.   I have added it to his daily homeschool workbox and it only takes a couple of minutes for him to do.  We have used some printable worksheets for handwriting practice so far this school year, but he is a beginner and is not confident in writing just yet.  Having this workbook for more practice with the correct letter placement and confidence building is a nice to addition to his daily routine.

Inside the front cover is a reference for each letter and number the kids will practice while using this workbook.  There are 3 practice pages per letter, including tracing the capital letter and coloring a corresponding picture, tracing the lower case letter and coloring the corresponding picture again, and writing both upper and lower case letters repeatedly without tracing.

My son did not want to write the letters without tracing during this review, though I am sure he will embrace this task as his confidence increases.  So after a few tries getting him to write them, I decided I would not push him to write the “on your own” letters yet, and let him just work through the tracing pages for now.   So we mainly concentrated on tracing the capital letters for the purpose of this review, and will practice the lower case letters and writing the letters without tracing soon.

He was aware when he slipped with the pencil and missed tracing on the line.  The shaded color coded boxes with guide lines make it very easy to see when you get off track.  He tried to erase a few of his stray lines and re-trace them, but I told him not to worry about trying to do it perfectly and just give it his best try and we would move forward so he did not become frustrated with this task.

We are still working on how to hold the pencil correctly and he insists on holding it his own way.  However, at age 5, I am not pushing him to be perfect with these skills just yet. We have an upcoming review on a pencil gripping device for beginners that will hopefully help him improve his pencil holding skills which will help him complete this handwriting workbook with even greater accuracy .

As long as he is trying his best, that is acceptable to me.  I have raised 6 kids, and 5 of them are boys, and most boys seem to do things their own way at this young age.  I have noticed that as they get older, they develop a desire to perfect their skills, so I am not worried about perfection right now.  My daughter was always more receptive to instruction about “how” to do a specific task correctly, however her brothers on the other hand at this age and seem to be more of the mindset when they tackle a task to just “get it done”.

These handwriting workbooks are very easy to do, they take very little time, and are practical for teaching kids how to write neatly.  I would encourage everyone to pick up a few of these books for daily practice at home and on the go.

Social Media

Be sure to check out Channie’s Visual Handwriting & Math Workbooks on their social media links for all the latest news, tips, and product updates.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/channiesworkbook

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbWgCFOVT77TeTsf_5fzufA

BLOG: https://www.channies.com/blog/

Homeschool Review Crew

Be sure to check out what others on the Homeschool Review Crew had to say about using products from Novare Science and Math in their home.