Training Children up for Christ: Rhythm & Writing with the Get Write Crew/ TOS Review

There is such an age gap between my last two children that I am not in the loop anymore when it comes to new homeschool programs. I am amazed at some of the new products that have come out in the last five years.

Rhythm & Writing is a company that I have never heard of before. They have a program called Rhythm & Writing with the Get Write Crew.

This is an ingenious approach to handwriting, in my opinion. How this program works is very simple. Your child gets to watch some really cool videos that show them how to form the letters. The videos have really upbeat music and your child will love to sing along to the songs. That's another benefit to this approach. Your child learns the songs, and then when he is writing, he can recall how to form the letters.

Here is a video of my son jammin out to one of the videos. You can get an idea of what the videos are like here as well. There are also four more videos for you to look at on their website so you can get an better idea of what the videos are like.

You can let your child watch the videos as many times as you want before actually tackling the letters. You could have your child watch the same video every day of the week then practice on Friday, or you can have them watch the video and practice writing the letters every day of the week.

The second part of this program that I also think is ingenious is such a simple idea, but one that I have not thought of. Your child can use a dry erase overlay to place over the workbook pages. This way a child can practice all they want or need to before actually writing in the book! Like I said, such a simple concept but so smart!

The handwriting book is set up to begin with the letters that are easiest to write and progresses to the harder ones. The book also uses green, yellow and red lines that resemble a stoplight, to help the children see where to start, slow down, and stop.

In the past I have repurchased handwriting books because you only get one chance to write in them. I will never have to repurchase a handwriting book again with this program. Brently can write in it as many times as he needs to with the dry erase overlay. I LOVE this!

Practicing his favorite letter, B.

When he has mastered a letter, then he can write that letter in the workbook. His workbook will then be filled with nice handwriting and become a keepsake.

The book itself is very nice. It is spiral bound, which I love because it is easy to write on no matter which side you are writing in. Handwriting books that are not spiral bound are harder to write in because you can't get the pages flat and you cant fold the other pages underneath either. Having it spiral bound is a great function.

The pages inside are super cute. They offer something to color on each page. Each letter page has a learn section and a practice section. In the learn section it shows the child step by step how to form that particular letter. In the practice section they start off tracing a bold line and progress to a dotted line and eventually they are writing the letter all by themselves.

Another thing that I really like about this handwriting program is that there are not too many letters on each page. Children have such short attention spans and their hands get tired because they are not used to writing very much at their age, so the shorter lessons are perfect for them.

Inside the book you will find short stories for each letter type that corresponds to the videos.

The same terms that your child hears in the videos are in these short stories. (Long line down, across, jump up, etc.)

There is also a Pre-Assessment and a Post-Assessment so that you can physically see the difference in your child's handwriting after they finish the program.

Here is a video of a full lesson that Brently and I did together.

Sometimes my back really gets me down, so we have even done some of our handwriting lessons in bed!

I really like this program. I love the idea of the dry erase overlay and I LOVE the videos. I like that this program incorporates more than one learning style by having the videos. Your child can not only see, but hear how to form the letters. This is a program I will continue to use. I used a different program with my other two children and planned on using it again with Brently, but... I didn't know about this program. Now that I have used it, this is the one that I will continue to use with him.

You can get your own Rhythm & Writing book for only $19.99. If you prefer you can get the digital version for $12.99. The Dry Erase Overlay is only $1.00. I highly recommend you get this! You can also find practice pages on the website as well.

Now the videos can be purchased two different ways. You can purchase individual videos for $4.99 each. Some of the videos only cover one letter and some cover two or three. There are 20 videos total. If you were to purchase them individually it would be over $99. Now if your child has most of his or her letters mastered and only needs help on a few particular letters, then this would be a great option to purchase those particular videos. If however your child is just beginning and will be learning all of their letters, there is a video subscription option for $49.99. You will receive all of the videos for half of the price. This is the way to go, in my opinion. Remember, there are samples of the videos on the website so you can see how helpful they would be before purchasing them.

I really think that you and your child will love this handwriting program. I am not the only one who reviewed Rhythm & Writing. Some of my fellow crew mates also reviewed this, so be sure to check out what they thought of it too!