Barchowsky Fluent Handwriting has been such a blessing to our family. I have a three children who excitingly helped me open this box and pull out the wonderful things that were inside. My 5,4 and 3 year old knew that this was just for them! We have really enjoyed this simple, fun, easy and very effective curriculum for writing.
Nan Jay Barchowsky based the BFH method principally on the early 20th century revival of italic handwriting in the United Kingdom, and on her own classroom experience. I have tried other hand writing programs and I have always felt either it was overwhelming or lacked enough instruction to be effective. This would either become frustrating for me or for my children. Often ending in my children crying and not wanting to do it.
My 5 year old has not had an interest in writing very much. She loves to draw but has not quite been ready to tackle writing those letters outside of her own name. Which really needed some improvement. With BFH my daughter happily ask me if she can write now. I wish you could see the big smile on my face now because she LOVES writing.
I have found with Nan Barchowsky's wonderful program that she uses a lot of fun things that children love. Like writing in the air. Writing in sand or whip cream on the table. Children love that. Our favorite game was writing letters on each others backs and guessing what they were! Moving easily from this fun learning to practice writing on re-useable sheets on an easel. We used the Beginners Handwriting that was accompanied by large sheets that were reusable. You attached them to the easel. All 3 of my younger children loved using these sheets. I loved the fact that I could reuse the sheet for each child! This makes the program so very affordable and easy to use!
BFH letters are taught in a font that really save time in the long run. The letters used move easily flowing into teaching cursive as they connect smoothly without extra effort. It's not the typical block style that most writing programs teach.
Beginners' Handwriting come with Twenty-eight, reusable, large sheets (11 x 17 inches, or 28 x 43 centimeters) come with a Teacher's Guide. It cost $29.95
We were also sent the BFH Fluent Handwriting Manual with CD-ROM. This great manual is full of information that is easy to understand and comes with two CD-ROMS. One for windows and one for MAC. So it covers your needs up front. You can print out sheets for practice like the ones below for any level that your children are at. This is such a wonderful way to practice what they are learning. The technique of this fluent flow of handwriting is amazing to me. It makes perfect sense. This manual and CDROMS cover 4 levels of handwriting. The CD-ROM also contains videos, instructions on how to teach the handwriting, activities as well as the printables for practice. I very affordable investment into your home schooling curriculum. What I love about this is that Ms. Barchowsky does not expect every child to write as beautifully as her, but to cultivate thier very own style that is just as beautiful!
BFH gives you a complete instructional package for all ages. The manual is for reference. It has all the essential information to learn and teach the BFH method. The CD-ROM has additional help, and exemplars for lessons. For just $65.95
Samples of the print outs on the CD-ROM
Breaking the boundaries of my 5 year old to reach her and give her not only a love for writing but pride in her work has been phenomenal in our home! My 4 and 3 year old have made leaps and bounds in their pre-writing as well. I would highly recommend this product to anyone. Its very affordable, easy to use for both child and parent and it's non-consumable which means you can use it with many children. Barchowsky has other products as well on their site HERE. You can purchase the fonts to download on your computer and you can also purchase Fix it...Write which I plan to try out with my soon to be 4th grader next year. It corrects writing skills and habits! I'll let you know how it goes! I had planned to include photos of my daughters progress in this blog but we are still up to our ears in boxes with our move so keep checking back for the pictures I plan to attach! | 
