As a background for my review, I’d like to share where Tornado Boy was with his writing when we began this program. He had been working on handwriting activities for about a year. He knew how to write all his letters and numbers, but his writing was not fluent. He required time and typically a model in order to create some of the letters and many of the numbers. When I approached the review, I wasn’t trying to teach him how to form the letters, but rather how to become more fluent in his writing.

I was given a copy of the PDF by Hand – Print software to review as part of the TOS Homeschool Crew. PDF by Hand is a software component that is an extension of the Peterson Directed Handwriting program. I was also given electronic, writeable/printable copies of the three Peterson print e-workbooks. The print workbooks that I recieved do have instructions on how to form the letters if that is where you’re starting. The print program is geared towards 4-5 year olds. The three books in the print program are available for review before purchase on the Peterson website. You can look at the books, but not print from them until you purchase them. If you go to the linked page, search for the PDF By Hand E-Workbooks For Print Writing section on the page and you’ll find links to all three workbook files. In order to fully understand what the PDF by Hand software adds to the program, it is helpful to have some basics on the Peterson program.

The Peterson Program:
Peterson Directed Handwriting is different from many other handwriting programs that I’ve seen in that it is really based in the mechanics of building good fluency in writing. The Peterson website has a lot of documentation for the extensive research that they’ve done into the handwriting process. One of the most interesting things for me was a video that explained why tracing letters with a pencil is such a bad way to start the writing process. In lieu of that, Peterson recommends a four-step process for learning how to write – 1)Explain and model the letters, 2)the student practices “air tracing” the letters, 3)the student moves to “finger tracing” on paper and 4)writing letters on paper with pencils. This methodology teaches the “muscle memory” for the child in order for them to be able to internalize the steps that it takes in order to make the letters.

PDF by Hand is, at its heart, a software that allows a person to be able to write on a PDF file with a Wacom tablet and pen. Tornado Boy and I used the software in conjuction with the Wacom Pen & Touch tablet. I think that for the Peterson program, having both pen and touch possibilities is important, as it allows the child to finger trace directly on the tablet and to see their letters on the computer screen. Most pen tablets only support pen input, a finger on the tablet wouldn’t record a stroke.

The first thing that I needed to do in order for Tornado Boy to use the Peterson program was to teach him to use the Wacom tablet. It wasn’t something that he had used before. I typically use it for photo manipulation and I don’t always have it hooked up to my computer. I used the built-in tutorials to teach him how to navigate using gestures and how to use the pen on the tablet. This process took about two hours of our time for him to understand how to use it and to use it well enough that we could use the PDF by Hand to start working on handwriting.

One of the things that Peterson offers that we didn’t get but I think would be helpful to a new writer is the CD of Animated Letter Cards for $17.95. This disc shows the child how to form all of the letters in three formats: print, slant print (pre-cursive) and cursive. This is a great visual way to show the child how to air trace the letters. You can find examples of the animated letters here. Peterson’s also offers print cards for $12.95 to show the steps to form each letter. I’ve found that having examples posted on the wall above Tornado Boy’s desk has been very helpful for him. It allows him to check the letter if he’s unsure of how to form it.

The PDF by Hand software:

This is a screenshot of the PDF by Hand interface. On the left is a column of available PDF documents. You can use your mouse or pen/tablet to select the item that you want to use. The right side is the “writing” space. You can control how the writing looks by setting the thickness on your pen tablet definitions. As the child selects a practice sheet, they can opt to save a finished copy on the computer or print the sheet before moving on to the next practice sheet. One of the nice things about this is that it allows you to see the child’s progress over time without having to save a bunch of printed sheets. The three Print e-books contain practice lessons as well as assessment tools so you can see your child’s progress in fluency over time as well.

A side-benefit of the PDF by Hand software is that allows you to pull in any PDF file in order to write on it with the tablet. We found this to be fabulous thing to have. This allows you to be able to write on any document numerous times. You can also save or print a copy of the document with the child’s writing on it if you want. This makes electronic documents infinitely re-usable. If you have access to Adobe Acrobat (not just the reader software), this really gives you a lot of flexibility in what you can add to the program for writing on the computer. You use the PDF by Hand software to pull in any pdf file and it will appear on the left window so that you can see a writable version of it’s pages on the right side. This worked great for me as a I had a couple of print workbooks that came with a disc version. We could then play with the pages without having to waste paper printing out copies. I really liked this!

Wrap-up:
We enjoyed learning with the Peterson method, but it definitely had its pluses and minuses. Here are some cons and pros for you if you’re thinking about the program:

Cons:

• The ramp-up time was substantial for me. I had to do extensive reading on the Peterson Website to really understand what the program was about and how it worked. I didn’t feel that the software and e-books on their own were enough for me to jump in and teach the program.
• While there is extensive research and support materials on the website, I found them a bit hard to find.
• The tablet can be hard to use as it lacks the visual feedback that writing with a standard implement provides. While this is intended in the program – the child is supposed to rely on what his muscles “know” about forming the letter, rather than relying on watching the pencil marks – it is a difficult adjustment. Think about how difficult it is to write a legible signature on a credit card pad in a store. Most of us do not rely on this type of feedback when we write.
• The PDF by Hand software is NOT compatible with Mac computers.

Pros:

• I do believe that there is a lot of validity to the research on the negatives on tracing. Tornado Boy did not learn to write well with the tracing program at his preschool. He learned once we looked how to structurally form letters.
• Rand Peterson, the owner of the company was exceptionally helpful and offers extensive support on his website.
• There are numerous product combinations available from this company. Once you understand how the program works, you can pick and choose what you want, or order the materials as a bundled package.
• I used a supplemental finger-tracing program on my Droid cell phone. This allowed Tornado Boy to practice finger-tracing letters and number anywhere we went. This methodology definitely did help build his writing fluency as it made the finger-tracing task more of a game. I really do think that this is a better approach to learning to write than pure tracing with a pencil is.

The PDF by Hand software can be purchased as a stand-alone item or in conjunction with the print or cursive workbooks that Peterson Handwriting sells. The cost for the software alone is $29.95. Bundled with the print software that I received, the cost is $75.00. That price includes the three print e-workbooks that cover material from just starting to learning printing through the slant-printing that is a pre-cursor to work in cursive. If your child is ready for cursive, there are bundles available for that as well. If you own the software, the workbooks are available separately as well.

We enjoyed learning with this program and will continue to use PDF by Hand as a part of our handwriting program. Tornado Boy has definitely made gains in fluency in the past month and is becoming more confident in writing his letters without having a model to look at.

If you’d like to see what other TOS Review Crew members think of this product, you can visit our Crew blog. Different crew members reviewed different parts of the program, so you can check it out if you’re interested in something like their cursive program.

Thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: I am a member of The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew for 2010-2011 and receive free products and services in exchange for a thorough and honest review. Though I am compensated with free products, I am not compensated in the form of cash for my reviews. My reviews will always reflect my honest opinions, findings, beliefs and experiences with the products and services that I have received.